Tsu Surf is a battler in the rarified air of being able to pick and choose his opponents, the settings and the time. Spend any time in a space he’s in and you’ll hear him say it at some point, but with that power, combined with the level of content he’s brought to the game in his last four battles you can see why. Tsu is an elite “Jack of All Trades” battler, he might not be a perfect 10 in every category of battle rap but he’s no less than an 8 in any category, mix that with his high levels of star power, crowd control and understanding of the game you get one of the best battlers of his era. There are endless battle possibilities for him and it’s difficult to even find an unappealing battle involving the Wave, but that’s why I’m here. These are the top five names Tsu Surf should battle with reasons why, with a danger meter between 1-5, and the setting I’d like to see them take place in.
#5
JC
DANGER
LEVEL
JC and Surf have had a back and forth for a few years now, every time it feels like the time for a battle has passed, something gets said that sparks it back up and the fans have maintained a vested interest in them matching up. Consensus is that if this battle took place in a small room JC would have a huge advantage, but if you look closer you’ll see the flaw in that logic. JC has been clearly beaten in smalll rooms before, we’ve seen names like Loso, Ave, Twork all overpower him in the more controlled and confined settings. On the contrary in his big stage showings we’ve seen JC take out the likes of DNA, Rum Nitty, Chess and Shotgun Suge in stellar performances.
JC doesn’t have “Performance” in the traditional way we battle fans think of it but he does have an impeccable level of control and ability to force the crowd to allow him to get through his material cleanly. The level of penmanship JC can reach can present a very interesting challenge for Surf, this battle is only 5th on my list because the others provide a higher level of intrigue for me but make no mistake this is a big room headlining matchup on URL.
#4 EAZY TBC
DANGER
LEVEL
Lets get straight to these payments! Eazy TBC is one of the fastest rising stars in URL history, if this was basketball they’d call him a generational talent truthfully the only reason he’s fourth on this list is beaus I want to see him handle some other business(Geechi, Calicoe, Goodz) more than I want to see the GunTitles on GunTitles violence. Nevertheless Tsu Surf vs Eazy is a great matchup, Eazy has shown the ability to shine in a big room or small room alike, his combination of personal storytelling to his constant evolution as an angler(PLEASE watch his 2nd round for Aye Verb again) and ability to consistently create jaw dropping moments makes him vs Surf a very interesting battle.
We’ve yet to see Eazy give us a subpar showing and he’s been in every type of setting in the URL, there were those who doubted he could translate on a big stage and then all he did was participate in the battle of the year against Chess on Summer Madness to silence those critics. The scariest thing about this matchup, is we really don’t know what Eazy’s ceiling is and by the time he and Tsu Surf lock in he could be on another level. Give me this battle on a Volume and let us watch fireworks take place.
#3 VIIXEN
DANGER
LEVEL
Vixxen is in the middle of her transcendence to superstardom, her seamless transition from the small rooms to big stage performer has elevated her to new heights, which is funny because last year she made comments being against big crowd battles before she stepped on those stages and now we see she’s actually built for those environments! Her performance vs Tay Roc in what was battle of the night and could make some end of year top 10 lists for Battle of the year was the final confirmation that this woman can be a superstar. One has to wonder if she was able to be that potent vs Tay Roc on short notice how much better could she have been if her battle with Surf had happened.
This battle already being set up once elevates its position on the list, the danger here is that Surf has only battle a woman once and while he might’ve gotten an app win, the reality is it was a very underwhelming performance vs 40 Barrs that lead to him sitting out for almost a full year and had fans questioning his place. Tsu said in the spaces after the Cortez battle that he’s still very interested in the battle with Vixxen and said “She owes me blood.” That’s all I need to hear, set it up, big room, I’m not even mad to see this battle take place on a NOME card, lets get crazy.
#2 CHESS
DANGER
LEVEL
It’s time to set the tone. Chess at his peak is without a doubt one of the most dangerous battlers on the planet. If you’ve ever heard Surf speak about him then you know he refers to him as Jack-Jack, the superpowered baby in The Incredibles 2 who has so many powers and can do so many different things he creates headaches. It’s a great description of Chess who is really a DBZ fusion Tay Roc and Tsu Surf, there’s really nothing you can say Chess can’t do in the ring, he has the ability to do anything in that ring and while it might not be a perfect 10.. You know the rest. Chess mirrors Surf in so many ways good and bad, his biggest adversary has been himself but this past year one can argue he’s hitting his prime. There aren’t a ton of battlers who have both Roc and Surf on their resume, if anyone should be on that elite list it’s Chess. Tsu Surf and Chess standing across from each other at Summer Madness in Houston where both of them put on career high performances last year sounds perfect to me,
#1 B-DOT
DANGER
LEVEL
YEP. B-Dot the god is absolutely the most dangerous matchup for Tsu Surf left. If you don’t know this was supposed to take place at Resolutions 2, but B-Dot had real life things to take care of and couldn’t do the battle at that time. Look I’ve bet against B in the past… I’ve lost, so I don’t do that anymore. He is in that space where we know how potent he is but when he battles it’s like a reminder that unless he steps on his own feet he won’t be knocked down. The tricky thing about B-Dot is you’re combining believability with elite level rapping while being indisputably the best angler in battle rap AND so much substance that it creates constant replay value on all of his matchups.
B-Dot reminds me of Devin Booker before he finally got that playoff spotlight, he’s a star level player who is just waiting for that breakthrough so people fully understand what’s going on, I see the Tsu Surf battle as that spotlight and opportunity. Without a doubt B-Dot would be the best writer and angler Tsu Surf has ever gone up against, I’d like to see how he competes vs someone who can pack so much substance inside a 3 minute round and take unique approaches that the masses don’t see coming. Tsu has largely been angle proof his whole career but part of that to me is because he hasn’t seen someone who know how to be a pinpoint sniper with their approaches. Give me this battle in a medium sized room and lets see what happens