Kings vs Queens 4
In The Building Rating
PPV Rating
Event Recapped by staff Writers France, J Smo & Cece On Air
LTBR Award Recipients
Battle of the Night: DNA vs Casey Jay | Ms.Hustle vs Tay Roc
Best Individual Performances of the night: #1 Nu Jerzey Twork | #2 Shooney Da Rapper | #3 DNA | #4 Ms Hustle | #5 Casey Jay
The Biggest win of the Night: Shooney Da Rapper over Shotgun Suge | NJ Twork over Coffee
Highlight Rounds of the Night: DNA 1st | NJ Twork 1st | Shooney Da Rapper 2nd | Ms.Hustle 1st | Jaz The Rapper 1st | Tay Roc 2nd | Casey Jay 2nd
Shotgun Suge vs Shooney Da Rapper
Recapped by J Smo
1st battle of the night was Shooney vs Suge, a battle many predicted to be lopsided, and it was. Just not in the way most expected. From out the gate, Shooney brought energy and flexed her pen, with some of the more creative Shotgun name-flips you’ll hear. Her Funnel Cake and Babysitter haymakers landed early, and as the round went on you can see Shooney gaining more and more confidence, tightening up her delivery the more she cooked. She also took the time to weave in comedy in the 1st, and throughout her performance, giving her attacks variety and keeping the crowd engaged in a multitude of ways.
Suge wasn’t bad in this battle, and one could argue he even wrote uphill, getting better every round. But simply put, he just didn’t have enough to keep pace with Shooney. The 1st was extremely clear, with Suge trying to push the pace so fast to build momentum he tripped over his words a few times. No major stumbles, but enough to notice. His rapping ability was still elite though, building momentum to land some of his heaviest punches. Would say he was a little too over the top on the Shoe flips, but even with a little editing not sure if that would have been enough.
Shooney 2nd and 3rd would also show extreme levels in elevation, from her Percolator performance bar to her perfectly executed angle regarding Suge taking the Kyd Slade battle in the 3rd. She showed all-around capabilities, and supreme confidence, and gave possibly the best performance of her career. Shoutout Shooney for stepping up when it mattered and congrats on the career showing. And Suge and Fonz facing off post-battle? Seems like Suge is nowhere near done in 2023.
Shooney Da Rappers gives the Queens a 1-0 lead in the series. #KVQ4 #LTBR pic.twitter.com/bkjB91CFRm
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) March 19, 2023
DNA vs Casey Jay
Recapped by Cece on Air
The road to this battle kicked off when DNA said Casey was the least talented Bardashian. Casey definitely made DNA eat his words at Kings vs Queens 4. Didn’t take long going first, she had some good name flips with DNA, Case, and high-energy, performance. She played to the crowd, and they were eating it up. Casey was amazing showing her pen with bars like the Craig Sager, her version of GTFOH, “I killed two Mount Rushmores, you ain’t amounting to much.” The black seed oil, sea moss, elderberry, and soursop bar was freaking crazy. Counter-wrote was on point knowing DNA was going to talk about witches and voodoo for most of the battle. Played on DNA’s ongoing critique of believability, how he is “Clip’s son,” and stole K-Shine’s style. I love what Casey did and this performance will be added to the list of her best performances. The only critique I would give her is the breath control, which was constantly mentioned in the chat and timeline.
DNA knew he better not play with Casey and go down with another L to a woman. He didn’t waste time bombing back at her in the first. His Gunna/Thug bar was fire. His first round was my favorite round in this battle due to his witch scheme, which I appreciated and didn’t want to end. I love DNA but his fake choke wasn’t convincing when he landed the punch, “I’m the only one that can stand next to the Barbie, Ken,” and “You know the one thing that can stop a voodoo doll…a PIN (pen),” all was forgiven (lol). DNA was ripping the stage and fell but with his high battle rap IQ he used an almost embarrassing moment to end the round with the “electric slide” haymaker. His name flips were creative and constantly stated his mission was to end the Casey curse. The third round though is tricky. On the one hand, he had fire bars like the Apple pay bar and “Chrome, it ain’t Eazy to block,” both were freaking amazing. He did a great job breaking down Casey and some of her critiques in her style. However, I’m not gonna lie…I am with Babs he rapped for mad long son (lol). With that said, the round was fire and it paid off for DNA as he won the fan vote.
Overall, Casey may have lost the fan vote but she won by proving DNA and critics wrong that she is a weak link among her Bardashian sisters. Like she stated at the end of her first, GTFOH if you don’t think this woman can rap. She put up a great fight, and I give her the second round, I think DNA pulled a vet move and made sure he closed that door in the third completely shut. Can we also stop saying DNA is boring too! This man fell on stage and flipped into a haymaker. I enjoyed his material, but I noticed those Jaz sneak disses too (KVQ5 maybe Smack).
DNA evens the score with a win against Casey Jay by the caffeine fan votes. The series is tied 1-1 going into the 3rd battle. #KVQ4 #LTBR pic.twitter.com/t2Ls0gznoY
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) March 19, 2023
Nu Jerzey Twork vs Coffee
Recapped by J Smo
Another battle with some lopsided expectations, and this one went a little more as the masses expected. Coffee would start 1st, and her initial round was a worrisome start for Coffee fans watching. OBC, bad pace/structure, and a choke combined for an extremely light start which many knew she couldn’t afford in this battle. Twork’s 1st round let us know very early how locked in he was. Starting from his Ford Focus bar, his 1st was a chain of haymakers. The Get Comfortable flip, Brown vs Board of Education Angle punch, and many, many more. Was an UGLY 1-0 to start.
Thankfully, Coffee 2nd did show huge improvement. While not perfect, with a very “hit miss hit miss” style of writing, her peaks prove to be much higher (i.e., Coffee/Mourning, Burning Bush, Rooster/Cockback bars). Being it’s her 1st big stage performance, growing pains are expected, so seeing her elevate from her 1st to her 2nd is a good sign not just in the battle but for Coffee’s future big stage performances. Unfortunately, her 2nd was better but not enough as Twork continued to bomb, this time incorporating more flow pockets and varying the pace.
Following a clear 2-0 lead, Coffee 3rd was better than her 1st, but not as good as her 2nd. Some x-rated material about her and Twork garnered lots of love from the crowd but failed to follow that with point-scoring material, butchering a few angles and choking once again in her 3rd. Twork, top of his 3rd, lands one of the better freestyle/rebuttals you’ll hear in recent times with his “Give It Up For The Ladies” bar aimed at Babs. From there, he got out maybe 1/4th more of his round before the crowd quite literally told him to stop rapping, which Twork obliged. Coffee has things to work on but showed flashes of what a big stage Coffee can look like, while Twork has another INCREDIBLE performance and walks away with a 30.
Nu Jerzey Twork gives the Kings a 2-1 lead for the series, after beating Coffee Brown by the Caffeine fan votes. #KVQ4 pic.twitter.com/2zdT0JoP4q
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) March 19, 2023
Charlie Clips vs Jaz The Rapper
Recapped by J Smo
*Sigh* Clips vs Jaz was one of the bigger blockbusters on the card coming in. Battle started on Jaz, and she gave what would easily end up being the best round of the battle. From her opener about her and Clips grandmothers (RIP) to her Nickelodeon scheme and Spades bar, Jaz has a solid 8/10 level round.
That is where the good things about this battle end. Clips 1st, and his whole performance, showed what’s been a remerging consistent pattern with Clips: he does not care. Missed rebuttals to start the 1st, followed quickly by a drawn-out “writing a letter” concept, that led to a scheme of battle rapper names opening for Clips this battle. While his freestyling ability is an extradentary gift that even in this battle produces some flashy moments, he’s using this ability as a crutch and a cop-out from having any structure within his rounds. His 2nd is somehow a step-down, once again with a mixture of disconnected freestyles and very outdated references (i.e. his 9/11 scheme). While his 3rd was a small step in a better direction, it was too late and still not high-quality material either, which was just enough to win him that round.
Jaz isn’t free of blame either, her 2nd consisted of in-depth angles about Clips being into “butt-play”. Not great! This then led to her Black Jesus prop, bringing out none other than Benji Lo Lo dressed as Christ himself. Even THIS came with some airballs, and Jaz 3rd simply was even less structured, less serious, and just worse.
Not a good battle either way, although Jaz left a little more in the ring to appreciate. And as for Clips, a legend and great of the highest level, it seems like the fans would like 1 of 2 things: be picky with your battles, and when you do step in the ring give your best, motivated effort or simply don’t step in the ring at all and enjoy the fruits of your labor from what made you a legend.
Jaz The Rapper defeats Charlie Clips by the caffeine fan votes and ties to series for the Queens at 2-2. #KVQ4 pic.twitter.com/2GN1BniHVY
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) March 20, 2023
Tay Roc vs Ms. Hustle
Recapped by France
The main event takes the stage and it is a special battle for both emcees. Tay Roc is registering his 50th battle on URL and it will be across the Woman who is regarded as the first lady of URL, in Ms.Hustle. The face and the First Lady being the main event for this inter-gender-themed card is only fitting.
Roc sets the tone for the battle and has a pedestrian round. The pacing of this round seems to have been missing a bit of emphasis and energy they were normally used to seeing from Tay Roc and you have to give him his hustle credit for always being able to sell and generate energy for herself at the end of every single night after long hours of standing and waiting. She amplifies her own delivery, as she aggressively performs and she’s hitting Roc with punch after punch after punch. 4 bar build-ups, two bar punches & chain punching The biggest critique I have of Ms. Hustle’s performance is the way she ended her rounds abruptly had a bit of an awkward ending.
After Roc tastes blood in the first round, he was able to give us one of those signature second rounds where he turns up. He increases his intensity and was able to receive momentum from the crowd. Once he was powered up, he even has a moment with some aggressive banter during the crowd reacting to one of his bars. “YOU’RE GOING TO HELL” became a wonderful highlight and a Twitter sensation.
Ms. hustle pretty much stood the course and was able to maintain the same level of energy for all three rounds. Both emcees definitely had a handful of bars that has been a little overused, and I don’t necessarily feel as if the battle lived up to its highest expectations, however, there was a lot to admire from Ms. Hustle’s performance and how she’s able to sustain this new peak level of performance. Her last 5 to 6 battles have been the same level of production on the stage. I walked away thinking Hustle won this battle clearly and she was going to be the clear victor on the votes, however, the fan votes had a different result that was quite shocking to many people in the culture. The votes are in Tay Roc’s favor, giving the Kings a 3-2 lead over the Queens. The kings ended up winning the series on paper, but the eye test of this battle will tell you a different story.
Tay Roc wins the caffeine fan vote over MS. Hustle to give the Kings the series over the Queens, 3-2.
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) March 20, 2023
Total vote count: pic.twitter.com/XlezkzruiP