The Trenches: Anniversary Recap

By / August 13, 2024 / Editorials

LTBR Award Recipients

Battle of the Night:   #1  Riggz vs Tex | #2 JJDD vs Serius Jones | 

Performance Of The Night: #1 Eazy The Block Captain | #2 Ave | #3 John John Da Don |

Biggest Wins of The Night: #1 Eazy The Block Captain | #2 Ave | #3 King | #4 Muuu Wop 

Salute to The Trenches & all of the staff making this event a successful one. And Salute to Eazy, a few of his key traits as a league owner really stood out to me this weekend. Eazy has a remarkable knack for not only spotting talent but also for curating a vibe for his events. While Friday night lacked face-offs, the preceding event showed something to me. Friday night’s event featured one-round battles and on-beat matchups, which crafted an engaging room. This ability to set the right vibe shows Eazy’s deep understanding of event dynamics, enhancing the overall experience and branding of The Trenches. His events are marked by a distinctive energy that gives the audience in attendance extra reason to cheer and show their excitement as much as possible. For those watching on camera, one could feel that it’s gas, but you can say that just about any room in battle rap that generates a compelling atmosphere for battles. Hence the branding “It Sounds Better In The Trenches.”  

As a league owner, Eazy has also strategically positioned his talent for broader exposure. Notably, an interesting fact that most haven’t noticed is that every single event The Trenches has thrown, regardless of size, has been streamed live. Whether it’s Rapgrid or YouTube, Eazy knows the power of live streaming to maximize reach and impact. The anniversary event, filled with hosting by T-Rex & Johnny Mack from Philly 1st 48, to commentary from Vada Fly & Sho Time SP and the featured battles with top-tier names, thrilling back-and-forth matches, dominating performances, and the crowning of a tournament finalist—all for an action-packed night. 

Undercard Standouts

The opening battles, the under under card in this case, was heavy on members on members of Trenches roster. The standout showing here was from Dre Majesty, battling in the opening battle vs Baby James. It was a completely dominant showing from beginning to end, landing haymakers in abundance and being at his best when he was in his real talk bag. James was solid but it was just a mismatch in content and another good Dre showing, and he keeps showing he’s not just a piece of the roster but one of the better people of the class overall and a performance that should get him an upgrade in opportunites.

Sco vs Bo The Great also happened. So did his job; he had a solid showing and put together some good pockets and some comedy to outclass Bo all 3 rounds. Bo showed some flashes in the tourney and even a couple bars in this battle, but between the choking and really the overall pace of delivery he has a lot to work on if he plans on making an impact on the Trenches. 

Zan vs C-Bri The Lyricist

3☆ Rating Recapped by J Smo​

Ladies added nicely to the night, with Zan vs C Bri being a solid and competitive battle, emphasizing different strengths. 1st round, Zan showed what she does best: her pure rapping ability and aggression. With some solid C and Bri flip in the 1st, it wasn’t a crazy round when it came to the content, but combined with good delivery, it was serviceable. With a more layered approach, C Bri 1st was her best of the battle, and she got to landing witty lines early on. With her one share of name flips, her Zan/Xan flips in the 1st are some of the best wordplays in the battle. While a shorter round, which all 3 of hers were in comparison to Zan’s, she had the better bars of the first, and even with having to earn a little more from the crowd in a road game, she even built momentum consistently. Had C Bri 1-0 to start.

The 2nd was not close at all, as Zan completely took over and just outpowered Bri with her rapping and energy, landing a couple of haymakers, too, to take the energy right back. Bri wasn’t bad in the 2nd, just not close, and it was 1-1 heading into the 3rd. The 3rd is neither of their best, content-wise being nearly dead even. 

The main separating factor was the ending of Zan 3rd. While Bri 3rd was short, it was clean, as opposed to Zan, who had some significant stumbles towards the end after being clean all battle. She ended up ending the round very abruptly and messy, and in a close round, this was the difference, as it edged Bri the 3rd and the battle overall. 2-1 C Bri, 1st and 3rd, in a battle that many have called either way—good road game for Bri and another solid battle for Zan in the Trenches. 

K1NG vs Z The Dropout Finals

3.25☆ Rating Recapped by France

Back in March of this year. I stated, “This may be an unpopular opinion because I was unfamiliar with King before this tournament, and although J Morr is the more seasoned battler, King should be the favorite in their battle, and I would put the bets on King to go the rest of the way in the tournament and win the whole thing.”

King went and ran the table! First and foremost, salute to the younging, and congratulations on winning the tournament. These are the milestones in his career that will always stand out. His gauntlet to the path consisted of 2 of the top talents from the Trenches, and King withstood the challenge to be now called The Face of The Trenches for the following year.  

King’s dynamic punching style is a winning formula, and the blueprint is perfectly tailored for judged battles. The back-to-back chain punching not only grabs the room’s attention, but King can also sustain it throughout three intense rounds. His writing is sharp, even thought some of his punches fall flat; his energy and delivery compensate. So if he misses a couple of jabs, an uppercut or a left hook is on the way. King’s ability to level up with each round of the tournament really highlights his consistency, and The Trenches got a special talent in the pocket with him. He’s going to have a very unique career as he continues to grow his game.  

Despite the clear talent gap between Z The Dropout and King, Z delivered a commendable performance that earned him respect, even in defeat. Z did suffer some mic issues in the first round may have derailed his momentum, but Z’s relentless effort to attempt to close the gap was evident throughout the battle. He laid it all on the line, and you can certainly say he has heart and determination; his fundamental skillset is what got him to the finals. This tournament should solidify your respect for Z’s commitment that consistently brings to the stage.

J-Morr vs Muuu Wop

2.75☆ Rating Recapped by France

If you are at your nearest stock market trying to buy some shares in Muuu Wop, you’ll have to pay a premium now. His stock is soaring like a rocket, but I guess no one wanted to fuel up when I offered them a seat on the launchpad!

This is someone who has found ways to up his game in the little details and it really start to show throughout the 3 rounds of a battle. He is always poised, which enhances his presence, but for this battle, he wrote uphill where each round was inclining at a higher level, and he had his best round in the 3rd. The battle was on course to show separation in the first two rounds; Muuu was sharper, his bars were tighter, and his performance was more powerful overall than JMorrs. But the third round felt like watching an NBA team go on a 20-2 run in the 4th quarter to blow out the score.

Muuu is getting better every time he hits the stage, and his latest performance was nothing short of a triumph & dominance— this could be considered his actual breakout moment for most, being the heavy underdog and shining when the lights are the brightest. Watching him from his earlier trenches battles with LND, where his performance wasn’t clean or polished, to his incremental improvements in the Quban battle, where he found his footing and his run in the tournament, even with a second-round exit, I found much to be impressed by. Each appearance revealed new layers of his talent. This latest performance culminated all his previous efforts, addressing the gaps from earlier shows and finally delivering a complete package. While many may feel he’s arrived, I can genuinely say I saw the potential for this kind of talent the whole time. The goal’s been hit, but now the real work begins—it’s time to turn this victory lap into a marathon.

Listen, for most, JMorr was the first “Trenches Roster” talent that made an impact on the talent development system Eazy was beginning and so far has successfully built. But unlike a large majority of this talent class, Morr isn’t by any means a new battler. Going back to the Proving Grounds, Morr will say he’s been through almost every league development process one can name. He’s been in the game for 10+ years, and this most recent rebrand might be his best yet. 

There’s no question he has a dope drug talk bag and also has at least a sliver of an It Factor with the electric highs he’s reached before. But this Muu performance was a dreadful one, and more than any other battle; it shows that Morr has to learn to do more as a battler on the writing, tailored, and overall rapping front. It’s one thing to play to your strengths or have some signatures to your style, but we are seeing identical setups, the same performance moves, and the same style of round, and it’s starting to water down the content.

You add the fact that he’s been outside with a high volume of battles, and it becomes a compounding issue. He’s battled more frequently over the course of the last two months, and while Morr has people’s attention, this could/hopefully will be the adversity he needs to take that next step. But with a career already a decade long, if we are not seeing that improvement by now, when will it happen?

Riggz vs Tex Saygo

3.75☆ Rating Recapped by J Smo

In what was widely considered Battle Of The Night, Riggz vs. Tex showed the hunger and aggression that’s become a staple in many of the Trenches’ top battles. With both having 3 good to great rounds, it’s a battle that will benefit both of their stocks. Before going into the round that decided the battle, it’s worth talking about both their highlights first, starting with Riggz second.

Riggz 2nd was the round of the battle and the clearest round of the battle as well. Riggz is the most skilled writer of the 2, and from a rhyme structure perspective, his 2nd is crafted nearly perfectly down to the details. Turning his rapping ability up to its peak, Riggz performs, punches, and raps consistently and intensely the whole round, creating a moment with his Joey Jihad concept towards the end. Tex’s 2nd was good but the weakest of his three rounds in comparison, and he had nothing that could go against that 2nd. Inversely, Tex 3rd was his best round of the battle. With an excellent rapping ability himself, I think the most noticeable thing about Tex in this battle is a clear effort to improve his pen, lyrically being more sound than he was in his previous battles. His “1 drop of blood worth more than a gallon of gold” bar sat as one of the best examples of Tex style, with the type of real talk that comes off more as a bar of wisdom. While not as clear as a margin that the 2nd was for Riggz, this still felt like Tex round and has them splitting the 2nd and 3rd evenly. 

Backtracking to the 1st, this is covered last as it’s the closest of the battle. Both gave good but not their best material of the battle, and both suffered from different factors that could take away from their round. Firstly, Tex started just a bit slow, not really hitting heavily till around 10-20% into his round, but when he did pick up pace, this was when he began to show that improvement in pen. The Rich/Richard flips were fire, and the Riggz flips were good as well. They also put punches together back to back before the round ended. Riggz, on the other hand, didn’t have a slow start, but by the nature of his style, his build-ups at times were much longer and debatably drawn out. Many of them paid off with good punches, but throughout the round, they create a lot emptier space as opposed to more of a rapid-fire approach from Tex. Both are good rounds and lead to a very contested call.

Now to be transparent, the majority of people did seem to have Riggz 2-1, within the 1st 2 rounds, showing once again how consistent Riggz has been on the Trenches platform with more great footage and for many a W. However, while in the minority, I did think Tex rapid-fire style played into his favor in this 1st and found myself edging the round to Tex, giving him the battle 2-1, 1st and 3rd. In classic battle of the night fashion, people will disagree, and their will be debates, but all that is is the hallmark of a great battle with replay value. Tex passes his 1st mid-tier test in only his 5th battle to date, and the battle also shows that it is about time for Riggz to get another chance vs top tier competition and see if this momentum can be what takes his career another level up if that is something Riggz sees for himself.

John John Da Don vs Serius Jones

3.5☆ Rating Recapped by J Smo

3 days prep. One of the night’s best, most competitive battles was on 3 days prep. Before even recapping. Both John John and Serius have to be applauded for performing clean given the circumstances, let alone giving a high-quality battle. Legends show why they are legendary and the mental sacrifice they made for the culture that ended up adding to one of the best events of 2024.

With that said, the battle started on John John, who had a STRONG first. Once again, it is crazy to think the material was made in the time given, but the fact this 1st is also perfectly tailored to Jones is also awe-inspiring. Although the never-ending Math/Serius angle is as expected as any angle, the parallel between that and his infamous fight with Hollow led to one of the best haymakers of the battle, and also, just like his Cal battle, he was very effective, just off punches/name flips alone. It was an all-around great round from John, setting the bar high for Jones. While he started slower than JJ and was more of a slow burn round, Jones was able to damn near reach that same level of quality as John. Getting in his scheming bag (The Phone Unlock scheme) and punching with witty lines all throughout, I’d go as far to say as this is the best Jones round we’ve seen since he returned vs Geechi Gotti. This was the most contested round of the battle and the best from both, and honestly, it can go either way, but John was just too efficient with his time and landed so heavily and consistently that he edged him the round 1-0.

The 2nd both took a step down but still with solid content, John punching back to back but not with the same level of peaks. Overall, it was a solid round, but it felt like if Jones had another one of his 1st, he could take the round, and for about half the round, it looked like that was the case. Jones picked up right where he left one and successfully carried the momentum. But two significant factors played into Jones losing this round: he clearly was rapping material for Verb, and he rapped so long that he lost the momentum and rapped himself out of the round. It’s not be too critical cause of the prep and the fact that he already had three rounds for Verb, but the round with material towards the actual opponent will score a little higher than 1, that’s not. As for the rapping time, this has been something that hurt Jones in other battles as well. It’s not that there isn’t fire material; it’s mixed in with a lot of not-so-fire material that doesn’t always have to be there. If this 2nd was more condensed, I genuinely think Jones could’ve taken it pretty clean, but with the few issues named, this was the clearest round for JJDD in the battle, now up 2-0.

Last round and John John’s 3rd was about on par with his 2nd. While at this point, it felt like his energy was definitely down a level from the start, he still competed with great material, and he also had a section addressing the culture and its recent pocket-watching behavior that any true fan of the sport can agree with. But this round was about Jones, who gave a very tailored round of his own and showed some diversity in the approach, with a comedy section that led to one of his more significant moments of the battle. While still keeping his patent writing style, Jones looked exceptionally comfortable in the round and did enough to take it, albeit not by a large margin. Overall, the battle JJDD 2-1, 1st and 2nd, with the 1st being close. Once again, thanks to both for adding to the card, even when not battling. Not only was it accepted but logical, and it was an excellent look for both, especially for JJDD, who want to have a Top 10 (at least) kind of 2024. 

Hollow Da Don vs Ave

3.25☆ Rating Recapped by J Smo

Legacy match time, Ave vs Hollow for many (including myself) was the most exciting matchup on the card, between 2 high level battlers who have exchanged words for quite some time. With that, you’d expect an elite version of both, but in this battle, only 1 battler fully answered the call.

To speak on Hollow 1st, his opening round was good enough to think we were getting a surgical Hollow in this battle. He showed his versatility early, hopping in and out of many pockets and landing some clever name flips early. He also started getting into an angle about Ave being a DVD bootlegger, he initially brought up BS TTop vs Ave on SM6. This was a funny angle, but I couldn’t have guessed we’d hear as much as we did throughout the battle. Hollow had an excellent round, but one beatable by a great round. And as Ave went, early in the round, he was punching but not maybe at the level expected. It was a consistent round, jabbing throughout, but it wasn’t until about halfway through that Ave really put the pressure on. Not only did the haymakers start landing, but Ave was extremely tailored and angling, which would play a factor in all three rounds. While Ave did rap longer, which was vital in winning the 1st, this doesn’t play a factor into the next couple of rounds of the battle. Ave did his job and was up a clear but not dominant 1-0 vs Hollow.

The last two rounds of this battle can be recapped at once cause the result was uniform: Ave made an example of Hollow. Hollow’s last two rounds against Ave had angles, had jokes, and even had a good freestyle about some bikes passing by for a good moment. But the execution was all over the place, and something he said in this battle describes how his approach felt: he was bored and had nothing to write about Ave. While used as a joke usually to play at Ave’s lack of character, the problem for Hollow is Ave was not bored and had quite a bit to write about Hollow.

 From everything to character assassination, breaking down key elements of Hollow’s career, to his bomb of a flip of LOM, Lights Out M**********r. Ave just overwhelmed Hollow, and even with, yes, a longer 2nd and 3rd, he would’ve won the rounds either way and was elite throughout. Ave finally got himself that God Tier branded match and got one of the cleanest 30s he’s ever had vs top competition. For Hollow, it’s another L in a bit more inconsistent chapter of his career. But for Ave, it’s not just a match that helps his current 2024 run but one that should affect where you rank Ave in your all-time talks. He got his biggest battle and won in an extremely versatile performance. What more can you ask for? 

Eazy The Block Captain vs Ill Will

3.5☆ Rating Recapped by Q Moody

The Score of this battle is solely based on the elite performance Eazy displayed. This was supposed to be one of the best battles of the year. A clash between perennial Champion of the Year list makers. Everyone was excited to see two of the elites go head to head.

What we got was pure domination. On the one hand, this is unfortunate, given the excitement levels going into this battle. Ill Will, just not having it together at all really sucks, and as someone who has Will in his top 5 favorites ever, it was especially painful. But on the other hand, what we saw Eazy do was an essential reminder that he is still very much one of the top 5 battle rappers in the world at the least, and on any given night can look like THE best. This Ill Will battle was one of those nights for Eazy.

Eazy’s first round was just bomb after bomb. He came out strong and didn’t let up at all. This round might not be in the pantheon of some of Eazy’s legendary first rounds against K-Shine, Hitman Holla, or Chess, but it isn’t that far off from terms in quality, and it set a highly necessary tone.

In the second round, we see Eazy get back into the stuff that makes him such a deadly writer: angling. Going into this battle, imagining what approach Eazy could take with Will was hard. A lot of people who say Eazy “cherry-picks” battles are wrong. You can argue that pre-Eazy battle T-Rex and the last 3-4 years of Big T weren’t the toughest opps going into a battle, but that’s all you can pinpoint. The real “critique,” if there was one, was that Eazy was blossoming into this incredible angler, but he was doing it against these legends with 15 years of old stories and ammo to use. The question for some was, “Can Eazy do this to someone in his era?”.

The angle choice in the Geechi battle made that question hold some weight. And Ill Will isn’t necessarily Eazy’s class per se, but he presented something harder to craft an angle for. Eazy’s 2nd is just masterful and some of his best work in a long time. I started by questioning Will about why he would let Mackk Myron sign to URL and saying Michigan failed because they linked up with NY cliques. I’ve never seen Will angled as effectively as I saw on Saturday.

The third round is usually where we get more of the “personal” Eazy, and this took on that same formula. This was the weakest of his rounds, but it was still super explosive and packed with a ton of memorable lines and moments. It was an emphatic end to a statement performance.

You probably noticed how I haven’t said a word about Will yet. And that’s because he doesn’t give me anything to write about here. He starts with some jokes in the first and chokes immediately, but it’s a while before he finds himself again. And even when he does, he’s completely lost the crowd. So, not only is Will choppy, and he takes long pauses between lines at points, but even when something he says is good, the crowd doesn’t react. Some might try to write that off as the crowd being pro-Eazy, but we saw Eazy/JJDD and how much props the crowd gave there. Will just wasn’t good. He heats up in the second, and then the round ends quickly. 

There’s nothing to debate here. Will got smoked. He’s embracing it himself and owning up to his mistake, which is admirable. But it still disappoints everyone who thought a potential classic was coming. 

For Eazy, though, on a resume of mostly clear wins, this is one of his best ones. I don’t think this is the best Eazy ever. It might not be in my personal top 3. But for what was needed, the message that needed to be sent across all of battle rap, it was delivered loud and clear.

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