The Lot
Rating
Event Recapped by staff Writers Q Moody, J Smo & France
LTBR Award Recipients
Battle of the Night: #1 NXT vs Dizaster | #2 Saynt vs Cali Smoov |
Best Individual Performances of the night: #1 NXT | #2 Dizaster | #3 Danny Myers | #4 Saynt | #5 Cali Smoov |
The Biggest Win of the Night: Danny Myers over FoetDev | Fate over Billy Boondocks | Kamakazie over Da Kid Clutch
First and foremost, You have to take the time to salute Dizaster for this battle. Over 120+ battles in his career, and he still has a passion for battle rap where he can give up and comers an opportunity. Diz gives NXT a shot to be a headliner on his league and battle a God-Tier emcee and NXT took the shot close range. GTX returns with a fun event that is headlined by a clash of generations, that was was a fitting end to an evening of west coast celebration.
Purchase the $20 VOD on Rapgrid for these dope battles, the main event is worth every penny!
Dizaster vs NXT
Recapped by Q Moody (Senior Staff Writer)
The originator of God Tier facing off against one of the west’s brightest and most prominent newer faces. Coming off of the Nu Jerzey Twork battle at Outside in January, where NXT did very well but still lost according to the URL app votes, this battle was another huge test for him. Starting his year off facing Twork, Dizaster, and Danny Myers is an extreme change in competition from who he was facing in 2022.
All that being said, if there were still questions about NXT’s ability, all that should be laid to rest after this battle. The energetic punchlines and haymakers he’s come to be known for mixed with his strong drug talk and developing angling ability to make an explosive performance. We even saw him utilize some multisyllabic rhyme patterns that would make the most ardent Grindtime fan blush. This was a strong showing from him in all 3 rounds, but NXT’s 2nd and 3rd rounds in particular were stellar. NXT understood the assignment and left with possibly his best performance to date
On the Dizaster side of things, he’s been doing this so well and for so long that it’s easy to take him and what he’s done for battle rap for granted. To still have any desire to rap after all he’s accomplished is an admirable thing by itself, but deciding to use his star power to give another person putting on for the region a chance, is how battle rap continues to thrive and survive. But beyond how dope it was that he did that, Diz didn’t come up there coasting. Personally, the joking segments from Diz in his rounds didn’t do a ton for me, but once he flipped the switch and started building to bigger bars with the angles he was setting up, it was on full display as to why he’s one of the best to ever do this. Diz being at this stage in his career and still trying to find new ways to keep himself and his battles interesting by making slight changes in his style and trying different approaches is a thing we beg of so many battlers so huge props to him for doing so.
This “plant” dialogue surrounding NXT should have been done already, but if it wasn’t then this should be the nail in its coffin. It was a factually incorrect narrative that erased the context around his whole career and URL run. It diminished years of work from text battles to being in the PGs to becoming a staple on west coast events that preceded The Crucible. He’s more than the Twork comparisons. His skill set has vastly improved over the last year without getting a ton of credit or praise for it. He can’t force anyone to think he’s “believable” or that he’s not “forcing” his performance or delivery or that he’s not trying to be another battle rapper, all he can do is improve. And that’s what he’s done for over a year now and it culminated here in a battle vs a name 99% of newer battle rappers will never get a chance to face. NXT was picked for a reason and those reasons were on full display in this battle.
After u guys see nxt shit when it drop on youtube u gon have no choice but to respect him. I knew he was this good and knew everyone would act surprised now…We litterally just created a another reliable headliner For our future battles. After that performance theres no goin back
— 𓃵 DIZASTER #LLPS (@DIZASTERBANNED) April 26, 2023
Saynt vs Cali Smoov
Recapped by France
A dope-style clash between Saynt & Cali Smoov. A battle filled with tempo, punches, flows & real talk angles, for a competitive back and forth. Cali Smoov kicks things off with a bit of a slower pace and doesn’t really get a chance to build a lot of momentum but he slowly connecting and finding his jab with the crowd. Saynt takes full advantage of this in the first round. Saynt is relentlessly attacking, with back-to-back punches, and he gets right back into his material despite any of the crowd reactions he garnered. He was able to sustain his fluidity while he continues to decimate Cali Smoov with punchlines. Saynt lands a wedding scheme about bachelor parties/broom & bride which was his biggest bar of the first round and gives him a comfortable 1-0 lead.
Cali turns up his tempo in the 2nd round and is rapping at a faster gear which was able to fill in the gaps that he left open in his first round. While Saynt keeps up the same level of rapping & punching from his first round. Saynt is actually landing heavier punchers earlier in his 2nd round & had some more performance added in this round. While the 2nd round is competitive, I do feel you can edge this round to Saynt.
Cali Smoov 3rd round may have been the best round of the battle. Cali opens up the round with an angle that is filled with substance as he differentiates what Saynt does for his community as opposed to what Cali does for his community. Cali talks about his Non-Profit Org, and his movement that enlightens & empowers the Youth in their community, while Saynt brings them down.
“You know how many character letters I wrote explaining our road despite the differences? You write raps saying Free the homies, while my pen actually got my homie lighter sentences.” – Cali Smoov
UFFF!! This bar gives me chills. The substance in this angle was impactful. Cali talked about about his organization, what he does for the west, and the true stories of his struggles growing up “Imagine watching two gangs beef and you’re related to both of them.” – Cali Smoov
Cali Smoov has a slogan where he says “Sometimes you have to put the weapon down. You have to sacrifice bars to get the message out.” Well in this round, I don’t feel he sacrificed anything. This angle gave him massive momentum that allowed him to end the round with gun bars that turned into haymakers. At this point of the round Cali Smoov was on FIRE (NBA Jam Voice) And it was a masterful closing to a good performance.
Danny Myers vs FoetDev
Recapped by J Smo
It’s really not a true West Coast card if Danny Myers isn’t battling on it, and Dev vs Danny gives you the usual Danny Myers punch out while giving a shot-style matchup. Dev would rap 1st in the battle, and his 1st would be cleanest of the battle, although nothing too overpowering.
Some standard punching in the 1st, with his Hasbulla bar and flip of Danny’s Yikes/Too Cold slogans being the highlights, coupled with a very early pocket check the round, Dev had a solid but beatable round. In now what is typical Danny Myers fashion, he started off his round with a rebuttal and a freestyle, rebuttals Devs “Talk to God” bar and freestyling about Dev’s GF who was in his corner for the battle. Both super-effective haymakers nearly winning the round within 8 bars. This doesn’t even consider how the rest of Danny’s 1st contains tons of haymakers, such as his Express Lane and Ryan Garcia/Liver Shot concepts. Very dominating 1-0 for Danny.
Spent a lot of time on the 1st cause from there, the battle takes a noticeable drop off. Dev 2nd material wise probably his best of the battle, landing some of his heavier haymakers of the battle such as his Elvis Presley and Black Compass bars. Unfortunately, that momentum was found after an early choke in the 2nd, basically giving the round to Danny by default if he rapped clean, which he did. Danny had a solid 2nd as well while not nearly as good as his 1st, at one point altering his signature move to “Do you believe in a Parallel Parking Spot?” (LMAO?).
As for the 3rd, Dev has a real talk approach that falls flat due to stumbles and is cut extremely short. Danny follows this with his own attempt at a real talk 3rd, talking about the comparison between his family in battle rap and outside of it, but clearly begins to lose placement in his round and basically forfeits it. Neither 3rd is anything to really talk about, and a friendly, exhibition-like end to the battle. Chokes aside, decent material and a solid battle overall.
Da Kid Clutch vs Kamakazie
Recapped by France
Da Kid Clutch & Kamakazie have a decent battle that’s filled with punchlines, multi-syllabic acrobats, and aggression, but most of the entertainment in this battle came from one party.
Clutch is someone who’s been putting in work in the west coast circuit for quite some time. And while Clutch is supposed to be the “more experienced” emcee, in this battle you wouldn’t be able to tell.
Clutch is able to land a few solid lines, but his cadence is all in one gear. He doesn’t really have a variety of flows so all of his bars start to become mundane after a while until he finally lands one dope punch, but he doesn’t sustain the reaction he builds for himself, so it’s like he has to rebuild that momentum all over again. Not to mention he had a hard stumble in his 2nd round & even harder stumble in his 3rd round. If he claims to be the gatekeeper of the west coast, then every emcee is probably going to be able to kick down the doors. With an anemic performance of this caliber from Clutch, I would be hard-pressed to believe anyone would have a difficult time getting through the gates.
Kamakazie was able to showcase more range in his performance. He was able to connect his material a little more with the crowd. He showed some humor and good rhyming pockets. He had a bunch of unique transitions with his rhyme patterns & he used the octaves of his voice to add an entertainment factor to his rapping. This is a skill that Clutch glaringly lacks.
Kamakazie’s rhyming pockets were filled with slick internal rhyming that was able to build up his punchlines to connect even better. All of the flows Kamakazie was able to display created a level of suspense because you didn’t know where or when the punchlines were coming. He also had sharper wordplay and a more entertaining/clean performance overall. Kamakazie kicked the gate down with ease.
Real Name Brandon vs Aktive
Recapped by J Smo
Real Name Brandon and Aktive both represent the West heavy and have very blunt force type of styles, with a lot of chain punching where the references may not be the craziest but it’s all about the momentum the build. You mix in some real talk and realize both MCs really match up similarly on paper. The 1st round was the best of the battle from RNB, finding that momentum that makes his style effective, showing good pace which has been one of his more common critiques. Aktive also had a solid 1st, his opener being of flip of RNBs “Zoo out here” slogan, with his punch being “addressing the elephant in the room”. The only separator in the 1st is a stumble by Aktive and his theme of the battle.
The 2nd is closely contested, RNB landing a very unexpected and heavy rebuttal to start it, but a hard stumble in his round edged what would otherwise be a close round to Aktive. Both battlers lost steam in the 3rd, but where RNB simply had more of a dry round, Aktive choked, giving the round and battle by default to RNB. Decent wreck overall.
Fate vs Billy BoonDocks
Recapped by J Smo
Billy Boondocks would start off the battle. Clearly going for the layered writing approach, Billy had a lot of schemes and even double schemes, but most were very convoluted and Billy found himself explaining the bars as he went, leading to an honestly bizarre form of delivery overall. Fate came with his standard 3 rounds of punches, and at times caught good momentum, his Joe Rogan, House of Representatives, and Hammer of Dawn bar being some of his best of the battle.
Billy did have a bright spot in the 2nd, doing more back-to-back punching and landing, but the delivery was still all over the place and at times had some reachy material. Fate clearly punched his way through the 1st and 3rd, and the 2nd in debatable in a rather one-sided battle.
