Civil War 3 Recap

By / December 13, 2022 / Battle Rap, Editorials

Civil War 3

Event Rating

Event Recapped by France & J Smo

LTBR Award Recipients

Battle of the Night: Rum Nitty vs Fonz 
Round Of The Night:  NJ Twork’s 3rd round | Tay Roc 1st 
Best Individual Performances of the night: #1 NJ Twork | #2a Rum Nitty | #2b Fonz  | # 3 Eaze | #4 Real Sikh

Eaze vs Hansel

The opener of the night was 2 of the Crucibles season 2 top prospects, identical to the Volume 10 opener. Going into the battle I thought Hansel was the more polished battler capable of landing more bombs, and Hansel’s opening 1st was extremely heavy and gave me even more confidence in my pick. Between his Australia/Continental haymaker, Diabetes scheme, and overall pace, Hansel had a very fire and impressive 1st. But man, Eaze was ready for ALL that. His 1st in response was extremely powerful, landing Exorcist, Carbonated Water, and Hands-Free/Buffering bar, all haymakers. Very high level and debatable 1st but I edged Eaze.

As for the rest of the battle, while Hansel kept a solid rate with dope material and polished performance, it was simply Eaze night. From his Ying Yang twins haymaker in the 2nd, to his very potent real talk in the 3rd, Eaze put on a statement performance in my opinion, the best showing we’ve seen from anyone from his class yet. I was critical of his showing vs Qleen on Final Exams, but it’s time to reevaluate, because we may have another potential star on our hands. And s/o to Hansel, they very fire and respectable performance as well. Although he didn’t walk away with a W, not the type of performance that puts him back either. 

Result: Eaze 3-0, 1st extremely debatable. Can also be 2-1 Eaze with Hansel winning the first round.

Chef Trez vs Nunn Nunn

2nd battle up was Nunn Nunn vs Chef Trez. This battle was the least entertaining on the card, plagued by dry spots but more importantly a talkative and restless crowd. Whether a battler’s material is good or not, they are the talent and we bought tickets to watch them, so to be talking and disrupting at that level was corny and unacceptable to those in attendance who did. With that being said, from 1st to 3rd, both battlers struggle mightily with picking up momentum and crowd control, maybe excluding Trez 1st round where he produced 4 good rebuttals and a couple of heavy bars that were just shy of haymakers (Dog do a trick and Whiteside/Center bars for example). This was in response to a lackluster 1st from Nunn and led to Trez going up 1-0 clear. 

The rest of the battle plays out a bit similarly with some decent lines here and there from both (Nunn’s Clue bar in the 3rd and Trez College vs NBA bar in the 2nd as examples), but the content from both was spotty with multiple dry spots and missed bars throughout. With one of Nunn Nunn’s rougher showings of 2022, and an okay-at-best Trez, I called it a 30 for Trez in a battle I don’t believe the people will enjoy very much and will have low replay value. Expecting both of these gentlemen to bounce back strong though. 

Result: Chef Trez 30, 3rd possibly debatable 

Stumbles vs Kitchen Qleen

Next up was Qleen Paper (Kitchen Qleen now, whichever you’d prefer, all the names getting flipped anyways) vs Stumbles. Stumbles opened with a solid 1st and truly, was solid – good mostly throughout the battle. The story here though is Qleen’s first 2 rounds. Although Stumbles was decent and clean in his delivery, he still has structural issues that are beginning to bleed more and more into the quality of his performances. Qleen on the other hand was as well-rounded as one can be, with comedy, angles, punches/haymakers, real talk, and performance. This is the Qleen we speak of when we speak about his potential.

With standout bars such as his Soul Train and IG Connection haymakers, Qleen handily took the 1st and 2nd over a good Stumbles. Will say, he mailed the 3rd in with a sloppy and joke-heavy round, but at that point the crowd was already over the top impressed with his performance, myself included. Stumbles takes another “good” loss, but at some point, the results will need to show, and its def time to get in the lab and work heavily on some of the pacing/structure flaws he has that make his rounds come off as random at times, and as for Qleen, with performances like this you’ll likely be seeing him in matchups with high mid-tier/possible top tier talent in the soon future, especially if he keeps performing cleanly. 

Result: Qleen Paper 2-1 clear 1st and 2nd, Stumbles 3rd clear 

Tru Foe vs O Red

 One of the more competitive matchups to predict on the card, Tru Foe vs O Red was the most closely contested battle of the night, and one could argue all 3 rounds are debatable. Both MCs brought very good material all 3 and picking a winner for most simply will come down to preference of style. 

Red 1st to 3rd showcases his elite pen work, particularly the 1st with him Roger That and PhotoBombing bars that are some of the most creative Foe flips we’ve heard to this point. Tru would respond in the bottom of the 1st with his own haymakers, with his Tru to Allegedly opener being the highlight of the 1st. I edged Red 1-0 but purely comes down to valuing the layered writing over some of Tru’s approaches, a complete toss-up round. 

The 2nd and the 3rd would play out almost identically, with the only change being as the battle went on, both battlers (but especially O Red) were criminally slept on by the crowd as the battle went on. I had Red edging the 1st and 2nd, with Tru edging the 3rd, in a high quality, extremely debatable battle, and a net positive effect for both battlers. 

Result: O Red 2-1, 1st 2 rounds edge, edge Tru Foe the 3rd

Rum Nitty vs Fonz

Rum Nitty vs Fonz

The battle many were looking forward to most this weekend was postponed from Volume 10, but with a quick turnaround and another battle on CW3 being postponed (Geechi Gotti vs Jae Millz), Nitty vs Fonz filled in. As someone who predicted a 30 along with many members of the community, I can gladly say my prediction did not go as planned, and we got the best-case scenario: a BOTN, one of the better battles of the year, and an absolute punch-fest. 

Fonz would kick it off, and his 1st was solid but did give the “is it enough feeling?”, with some great jabbing but a lack of high-powered haymakers Fonz would need for the battle. Nitty 1st in response was nothing less than sensational. His Screenshot bar (possibly bar of the night) and his incredible rapid-fire pace led to chaining powerful punches back to back, which is why Nitty is so revered in this culture as an all-time great. He showed clear separation in the 1st and after 1 round, Nitty was up a dominant 1-0.

And this is where I want to give Fonz the most praise I ever had. Major underdog, down a deep 1-0, many battlers would have and have folded in this scenario, but Fonz would go on to give one of the best rounds of his career in the 2nd. With a blend of power punching and real talk/angle punching (ex. Payne/Pain in her face bar), he was landing at an insanely consistent rate and seized the moment. Nitty himself would respond with an extremely high-level 2nd, giving one of the best back-and-forth rounds of the year. Highly, HIGHLY debatable round with tons of rewatch-ability, this is what we wanted from this battle. Due to slightly more layered writing and preferring some of his peaks, I edge Nitty purely on preference. 

The 3rd once again is a close and high-quality round, but I comfortably can edge it to Fonz as it felt he rapped a bit longer and had higher peaks in his 3rd, giving another sensational round. 

BOTN, and truly battle of the weekend, this punch-fest lived up to the hype, and to add some extra fun to it Conceited flipped the coin and was front row the whole time. Nitty showed why he’s one of the best alive, and Fonz showed he is destined to be a top tier with a perennial NOME/SM making career in his future. Amazing battle and like many battles on the card, a net positive for both involved. Thank you, gentlemen, for your work. 

Result: Nitty 2-1, 1st clear 2nd RAZOR edge, Fonz 3rd edge 

Nu Jerzey Twork vs Real Sikh

Real Sikh vs Nu Jerzey Twork

In the 2nd to last battle of the night, this battle pitted 2 young Jersey talents against each other, both needing bounce-back showings on the URL stage. This, like many battles before it on Civil War 3, was a fantastic battle. Both brought incredible energy and high-level material, ranging from punches to pockets, and well-executed angles from both sides. 

Twork would kick off the 1st, and although retrospectively it was his lightest round, was still a very solid and clean round. High energy with punches such as his Sycamore and Kalashnikov bar made up the peaks of his round, but some of the in-between writing was a bit spotty, with examples such as his Corndog bar (lol) not being the most structurally sound. On the other hand, Sikh responded with a 1st that’s about as good as any round he has had on URL. Using his pockets as set-ups for haymakers, as appose to overly relying fully on his flow, he landed multiple bombs in the 1st, one being his Medium bar which was also a heavy bar of the night contender. After 1, I had Sikh up a comfy 1-0. 

The 2nd round and on shows the danger of a prepped Twork, especially one writing uphill. The constant energy and powerful delivery of Twork just becomes a near-impossible task to overcome, especially when the writing matches it. With witty lines, performance haymakers, and elite crowd control, Twork 2nd is as good as it gets. Sikh 2nd in response is very good, truly every round of this battle is, but he leaned more into the pockets once again here. While his flow is very impressive and lands points, it’s tough to match more direct rounds, especially when he’s rapping about a minute longer as well. Twork took the 2nd clear, 1-1.

And the 3rd? Man, God DAMN. Twork produced one of his all-time highlight rounds, from his breakdown of Sikhs beliefs, performance haymakers, coming at Smack, and even a good ol’ fake choke haymaker, Twork just does EVERYTHING in this 3rd with an 11/10 round. Once again, Sikh’s 3rd is GREAT, with his ender (Twork Hands bar) being masterfully crafted, as well as working the Car Crash angle heavy and landing some of the better punches out of it we’ve heard. But, while still high quality, it just didn’t measure up, and I gave Twork the 3rd convincingly. Great battle.

Result: Twork 2-1, 2nd and 3rd clear, Sikh 1st (edge)

Tay Roc vs Kyd Slade

Just when we were on the verge of completing a successful battle rap event with no issues, having a night free of drama, and the controversy…Tay Roc decides to say hold my beer.

Tay Roc and Kyd Slade hit the stage to start their battle. And no coin toss needed, Tay roc elects to go first, and out the gate within the first minute of his material Roc opens up an angle about paperwork regarding Kyd Slade’s reputation, Roc begins to paint the picture of what the paperwork details to the crowd. And literally, three minutes into Tay Roc rapping his first round, a scuffle breaks out on the stage. This scuffle took almost 15 minutes to separate.

Once things settle down and Roc begins to rap again. Shortly in a matter of minutes another scuffle. The crowd is now fully invested in the angle Tay Roc has brought to the battle.

Kyd Slade did make a post on Instagram with insight that this angle was coming. He also sent a direct message to Tay Roc once he caught wind of this.  It is a bit off that Kyd Slade was fully aware of this coming, and yet he doesn’t prepare any prebuttals or material to counter this. 

Kyd Slade starts his round he has a very slight rebuttal of the paperwork, he doesn’t necessarily rhyme or say a bar but he speaks to the crowd briefly addressing the paperwork. And shockingly, the crowd responds very positively and gave Slade full attention to his round. To Slade’s credit, his first round was received very well by the crowd but he did have a hard stumble due to having an adrenaline rush in the middle of this round. So Slade wasn’t entirely clean.

Tay roc has a short 2nd round and he’s fully frustrated with the way things played out on the stage. You can hear him talk to himself saying “I’m Tight I’m tight”, as he needed his 2nd round. Tay Roc has a really good third round but he also seems to have a bit of an adrenaline rush where he was out of breath for a moment and stopped rapping for about 15-20 seconds and recovered and finished his round very strong.

Tay was visibly upset with the scuffle from the first round for the rest of the battle. Slade proceeds to finish the second and third rounds with some good material that was well received by the crowd, but this battle is beyond the content and more about the principles of street code and ethics.

It’s a very odd battle to judge and I don’t believe some people will focus on, nor discuss the objectivity of the material within this battle. And it makes sense. Once paperwork angles come out and they are true, it pretty much nullifies everything your opponent has to say. The S in smack stands for Streets and once the paperwork is presented with you being an alleged snitch, you lose the respect of your peers and a portion of culture that will reject having any reception to your bars.

After the battle, Tay Roc releases the paperwork on his social media and there’s an interview with hip-hop Israel in regards to actually speaking with the person who provided him the paperwork.

Kyd Slade decides to go on his Instagram live to address the paperwork in a six-minute video discussing the details of it himself.

This is very damaging to Kyd Slade’s career and image, especially when you recognize his brand and the contents he raps about. 

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