URL’s Outside Day 2 Recap

Outside Day 2

Event Rating

Event Recapped by France & Moni

URL Outside Podcast Recap

LTBR Award Recipients

Battle of the Night:   Swervoo vs Cortez | Danny Myers vs J2 | Shotgun Suge vs Sheed Happens |

Highlight Rounds of the Night:  Swervoo 2nd & 3rd | Cortez 3rd round | Sheed Happens 3rd | Shotgun Suge 2nd |
Snake Eyez 1st | Danny Myers 1st | Saflare/Footz 3rds | T-Top 2nd | Tay Roc 1st | J2 1st round

The biggest win of the Night:  Swervoo over Cortez |

Best Individual Performances of the night: #1 Swervoo | #2 Danny Myers  | #3  Snake Eyez | #4 Saflare/Footz | #5 T-Top

Snake Eyez vs Anderson Burrus

We start the night with an entertaining style clash that had a lot of well-built-up anticipation from the promotion that went into this match. 

Anderson sets the tone for this battle and has a very witty first round. He is able to land some abstract punchlines and found a comforting pacing on the stage. He is connecting on most of his lines in his first round, He’s got some a good mix of content going between the jokes, the 4 bar build-ups, and a chain punching sequence.  Anderson has a really good first round to start the battle…And then Snake Eyez snatches all of the momentum from Anderson in the first.  

Snake Eyez opens the round with aggression and instantly connects with a couple of punchlines within his first 8 bars. Once he was able to take off he caught fire and became a locomotive with a head full of steam. In case you couldn’t tell, yes Anderson Burrus is white, so when Snake Eyez pulls out the bars about him being white or beating up another white boy close to  Black History Month, it’s 100% super effective (insert Pokemon Font) 

Snake Eyez has a masterful Luka Doncic Bar that evoked the whole room to react and the rest of his round was rolling like an Avalanche. Snake Eyez builds up a comfortable lead for himself. and is officially in the driver’s seat at this point of the battle. Anderson’s second round fell a bit flat in comparison to his 1st round and it’s possible that he may have peaked in the battle in his first round. Snake Eyez picks up in his second round right where he left off in his first and puts a ribbon on the battle in my opinion within the first two rounds. 

Anderson does have a solid angle in his third round about how he was the Director of Midnight Madness, the league that got Snake Eyez Lit again. And While it was a good compelling angle, he didn’t drive it all the way home with a massive point of emphasis to really leave a definitive statement or set a commanding bar for his third round. Nonetheless, It was a good enough round that would still require Snake Eyez to win the round. And Snake Eyez third round was probably the least powerful out of his 3 rounds, he did have some wordplay in the third that didn’t land well with the crowd but he had enough range to still make the round competitive. Most impressively, Snake Eyez got out of his comfort zone and decided to implement some more humor in his material, and it landed very well. I gotta give kudos to him for taking the risk of implementing new aspects into his performance. I walk away with this battle with Snake Eyez convincingly having the first two rounds and the third being the closest and can go either way. Snake Eyez sets the bar to start the night and is one of the best performers of Day 2.

It’s evident that Anderson’s style could be an acquired taste for those that have a high preference for the idea of believability, or for those that may not like his rap style. But he packs enough variety of skills, he’s witty, can chain punch, can counter write if needed, he has a solid battle rap IQ, understands the significance of crowd control, and most importantly, he can angle/break down his opponents. He will need to space out the content and probably conserve his round with the most hard-hitting punchlines for his second or third round to close out the battle strong or use it to snatch momentum. The formula he had in his first round can render a little more success with a more calculated approach. 

Cortez vs Swervoo

Coming into this battle, Cortez was the favorite winning 64% of the votes in the polls. Not extremely lopsided, but the masses didn’t have faith that Swervoo would easily beat the veteran Cortez. Typically, the experience can be the separation a veteran needs to pull off a win-but I must say, that wasn’t the case. 

Swervoo opens his first round with intense energy. He gets a feel for the crowd and starts cooking. He lands some fire bars on top of performance and some clever lines here and there. His first round was dynamic. He definitely set the tone for the battle. Unfortunately, Cortez’s first round didn’t match Swervoo’s, not in terms of writing or energy. He landed some bars sparingly, but there were plenty of dry spots and parts of his round where the lines just didn’t resonate.  Swervoo takes the first round. 

And it gets even better, Swervoo opens his second round and he is rapping like there is no tomorrow. His second round is even better than his first round from the “Pete Carroll, he should’ve ran” to the “I wouldn’t ask Jesus to take the wheel, he don’t even know what’s in the whip.” He was clicking on all cylinders in that second round. Swerv is even more comfortable and he’s interacting with the fans. The crowd runs his lines back with him and it is amazing to see how he has them eating out the palm of his hands. What a vet move. Swerv’s second round was the highlight of the battle. Similar to the first round, Cortez doesn’t match Swervoo’s round. While Cortez was better in the second round and he landed more punches, it still wasn’t enough. They were far in between. Swervoo takes the second round clear. The crowd is screaming 2-0 as Cortez closes out his round. 

Swervoo takes a fire approach in his third round. He addresses Cortez’s career and compares it to the likes of his peers. Within the scheme, he speaks on how guys like Tsu Surf, Hitman, K Shine, and many others have made impactful moments in the culture. He ends up flipping Cortez slogan, saying, “But when it’s get to you, ain’t sh*t we gotta speak about.” He shakes the building once again. Much of the crowd is in complete shock. No one can fathom what’s happening and it doesn’t stop there. He keeps going and continues to land more heavy packed punches and breaks the building a couple more times. Swervoo eventually closes his round out and it’s back on Cortez, but the crowd is already screaming Swervoo 3-0. 


Cortez responds by delivering a heartfelt third round as he dedicates the round to his mother who beat cancer. The crowd was receptive towards this approach and it was definitely a moment that transcended battle rap. Salute to Cortez and his mom! This was Cortez’ s best round of the night without a doubt. He was effective and more assertive in this round. However, Swervoo’s third round was just overwhelming for him. Swervoo takes the third round comfortably. 

Every round, he was electrifying and landing bomb after bomb after bomb. Swervoo elevated every single round. This was Swervoo’s breakout performance on the URL and debatably performance of the week, over vets like Nu Jerzey Twork and Ave. His writing was extremely more potent than in previous showings, he rapped way better, got into more intricate pockets, and performed at a high level. This was also the most comfortable I’d seen Swervoo. Smack says Swervoo was his standout performance. He goes on to say Swervoo elevated and proved his presence belongs in the culture. Swervoo says he belongs here, “I used to say I’m happy to be here, but I ain’t just happy to be here no more, I want my spot.” 

T-Top vs Real Name Brandon

T-Top and Real Name Brandon take the stage and Top sets the tone for the battle by going first. This was a standard level T-Top performance where he’s able to implement crowd participation, have some humor, perform very well, and entertain the crowd while also consistently attacking Brandon.

Brandon’s first round was impressive to me, for the fact you can definitely see that he is ramping up his pacing. He is punching at a much faster rate and by him doing so, he’s able to find ways to create momentum for himself. He’s showing slight improvements when it comes to implementing more performance and giving the crowd attention. The audience craves attention so that they can be evoked and engaged with your round. Brandon has his thunderous projection which helps him deliver a lot of his material. 

Often times Brandon still has a handful of wordplay that we would consider to be a little “outdated” i.e. his Armageddon bar.
And I do believe some of his outdated references or wordplay it’s just a mere reflection of not studying the game tapes. Brandon has said in the past that he doesn’t usually watch a lot of film and I would implore him to do so because it’ll only help you to analyze what works on the stage, what’s been successful, and what isn’t. It can also help you stay away from commonly used references.

T-Top ramps up in the second round and really puts an emphasis on the battle and snatches back the momentum that Brandon built for himself in the first round while the battle is 1-1 going into the third round, the third round is still very competitive and truth be told the battle can go either direction. But I do wanna give T-Top a ton of credit for being able to comfortably take back the momentum and then flip the crowd onto Brandon. T-Top used the fat funky song that ill Will used against him, and he used it on Brandon. Top had the whole crowd cheering and I’m sure Brandon was standing in front of T-Top, and was able to notice all of the little strategic details Top uses to make a crowd go against his opponents. Top is a master of entertaining an audience while exhibiting his character assassination skills.

While I give Brandon kudos for showing improvements in areas that can enhance your performance on a stage and command of a crowd, I still feel like there are parts of his game that haven’t been unlocked yet. He will need to continue to progress in his skills to have an impactful impression on an event. But he is steadily focused on finding ways to extenuate his skill set. 

Danny Myers vs J2

Boy oh boy this battle had a lot going on and yet it was ever so entertaining. I truly enjoyed the back-and-forth between Danny and J2.(Yeah I know what I did there).

Smack kinda set J2 up for a bar before the battle even started by calling all of the women to come to the stage and stand behind J2. Danny Myers instantly capitalizes off of this it makes it into a freestyle that gets the crowd laughing. Danny Myers is one of the sharpest freestylers in the game, so you can’t willingly give his brain a spark because he’s so clever, quick, and creative

Danny first round was absolutely on fire! (NBA jam voice). He’s clicking on all cylinders and he’s landing all of his punchlines. Of course, he did go for the low-hanging fruit that’s available for J2, but he was able to find ways to reference J2’s sexuality with witty lines and some really good wordplay in his punchlines. Danny gets into different flow pockets to drop haymaker after haymaker it was honestly a very difficult round for J2 to overcome. While I don’t have J2 winning the round, I was extremely impressed by the level of effort he gave in fighting back. J2 instantly started his round addressing why pussy scares him, with a funny family guy reference and performance bar, and it sets the crowd on fire and everyone is enjoying it.

J2 will have moments where he can get to a punchline fairly quickly, but he has other times where he really caters to a long setup to build a punchline. And sometimes those longer build-ups don’t always pay off despite the punch being clever and tailored to Danny Myers. It’s difficult to be in front of someone who is relentless and explosive but the key attribute to notice from J2’s performance is that he is not afraid of anyone and won’t back down on the stage. In fact, he’s able to give the audience a bit of variety in his content. Personally, I would like to see him try to implement some more humor because the handful of the jokes he did, registered well with the crowd.  And he’s able to make a moment with his banter as well.

Danny second round was along the lines of his first round, except it was a little bit more graphic. Which leads me to question…how is the same crowd that paused Qleen for every single reference he made and yet they let Danny Myers get very descriptive with some of the same details???????? I do think Danny lost a bit of steam in the second round but he closed it off with a giant haymaker in regards to laying straight in a closed casket bar.

I have trouble finding a round that J2 was able to definitively snatch in his favor, but I do feel like he put a vigilant effort in every single round and J2 has progressed since the first time he battled Danny. J2 also showed progression as a performer on the stage, which is a very net positive takeaway. This is one of the better back-and-forth battles of the night. Danny Myers has a very intrusive and deep layered third-round angle that I’m not all the way comfortable divulging, and I’m not necessarily sure if I agreed with his ideology of men adopting habits of feminine traits because they’re being raised without a masculine figure available. It was a bit of a bizarre third round and personally, I think Danny had much more success when he was implementing the humor and punching, as opposed to angling in this battle. But nonetheless, this was a good three-round performance from Danny Myers and a solid three rounds from J2. Dope battle.

Saflare Sole/Footz vs Chef Trez/Nunn Nunn

The only two on two match of the weekend. Two on twos are often considered “exhibition” matches, so there isn’t as much applied pressure as a traditional three round battle. However, it is a way to sharpen your skills and showcase them to the fans. This matchup is ironic because Chef Trez and Nunn Nunn are coming off their battle versus each other at Civil War and Saflare Sole and Footz are coming off their battle versus one another at Volume 10. It’s pretty interesting seeing former opponents team up, it makes for a fire matchup. 

This battle pretty much played out the same way every round. Chef Trez and Nunn Nunn opened each round with rebuttals, some worked and some fell flat. They had some dope writtens here and there. Saflare Sole and Footz were entertaining and electrifying every round. They delivered some heavy punches, one being, ““How the f*ck the white boy get away and the brother slump, damn that ain’t even who the f*ck I want, well so much for his slow friend like Bubba Gump.” 

Another highlight of this battle was when the crowd boos Nunn Nunn rebuttal and the unthinkable happens next. Chef Trez rebuttals his partner’s rebuttal, “Y’all gone boo my partner…we some of the craftiest centers/sinners like Nikola Jokic// that just mean it’s gonna be easy for them to pass away.” It shakes the building. Chef Trez is so observant and crafty. He thinks of the rebuttal as everything is happening. The way his mind works is sometimes mind-boggling. 

Trez and Nunn had fire material here for the most part, but the continuity just wasn’t there. However, it was their first time performing as a team and that is difficult to do, especially when your styles don’t complement each other. Chef Trez and Nunn Nunn are good rappers individually, but it didn’t seem like they were fully in sync. Whereas, Saflare Sole and Footz were completely in sync. They had optics working for them as well, with the matching fatigue outfits and just looking comfortable together. 

At the end of the day, Chef Trez and Nunn are still dope mc’s and hard workers. They can still get busy, just maybe not as a two on two team. Freestyles and rebuttals are major parts of their arsenals, and if they can continue strengthening that skill, they can continue to elevate as rappers. Saflare Sole and Footz are just electrifying and fun to watch. They also are creative writers and phenomenal rappers. They did exactly what was expected of them. It’ll be exciting to see what’s next for these young fellas because the ceiling is extremely high. They looked like veterans on that stage and they both deserve more opportunities.

Shotgun Suge vs Sheed Happens

The battle I was most looking forward to was between two dynamic & electric performers in Sheed Happens and shotgun Suge.

I want to take the time to give both of these emcees a ton of credit for staying committed to their performance despite a very fatigued crowd. By the time both emcees took the stage, we were already about 6 1/2 hours into the evening on a second day of battles, so you can only imagine how tiresome this must be for a lot of the fans in the building. Both of these emcees are electric, captivating, and dynamic with their performance and the way that they both command a crowd. One emcee is a little bit more conventional and straightforward while displaying aggression, while the other emcee other is a bit more unorthodox and strings you along into a riveting puzzle that you unlock along the way.

Both emcees do require engagement from the audience to further their momentum and increase their intervals of energy to be the best version of themselves. In the first round, the pacing for Suge was a little bit faster than normal and Sheed’s first round had a lot of layered and witty lines that didn’t necessarily connect. The first round is extremely competitive and debatable and depending on the rewatch you might just have either one of these emcees winning the round, but the second and third round is evenly split between the two of them.

Suge second round is very much on par with the level he’s been performing at lately and he takes a commanding lead to the second round. He deserves a ton of credit for finding pockets of his rhyme pattern and reved up aggression where he was able to spark back life into the battle. Suge woke up the crowd and had a much more powerful second round, and wins this round clearly. Suge had a few highlights in his third of recapturing that energy but didn’t sustain the momentum for the whole round. As for Sheed’s third round, Sheed has a different approach to an overused angle. Most impressively Sheed’s third round had a unique moment. DJ Danny Ocean accidentally pressed a button and did a DJ drop in the middle of Sheed’s third round and he. completely cut off the round and created an awkward silence for about 5-6 seconds.

Sheed was able to instantly think of a freestyle on the spot in regards to that DJ drop, which is something we have never really seen Sheed do. To be totally honest I didn’t know he was capable of having a mid-round freestyle for a spontaneous action like that. And now that I know that this is something that he is capable of doing, I’m curious to see if he tries to ever factor in rebuttaling into his skill set.

After that spontaneous freestyle, Sheed ended his 3rd round on some very high points. I personally edge the first round to Sheed, but this is easily a battle that you can debate either way I guarantee you the constant is available for both of these emcees despite the fact that the energy was absent.

I do think this is a great reminder of the significance crowds play in a battle. They have a full effect on the way content is received in heat of the moment. The battlers are there to make the crowd react and the crowd is there to react to the performers. Both parties have a symbiotic relationship for creating entertaining and exciting battle rap content.

This is an interesting lesson for Sheed to learn, mainly because hitting the wall of a very dead crowd shows that you need to stay committed to your energy and find ways to revive energy and spark back life into the audience.

This is a little bit of a taste of what it would be like if Sheed Happens were ever to be a headliner for a URL card by battling toward the end of the night. While being the main event on a URL stage is an honor and an amazing accolade to add to your career, heavy is the crown that is placed upon the king that is built to carry an event. This was the best possible scenario where he could have learned a lesson of this magnitude, it’s still a good back-and-forth battle where no one lost this battle clearly.

He will take this lesson and get better.

Tay Roc vs Stumbles

Yet another grudge match for Tay Roc. He and Stumbles had been going at it for almost a month or more on social media and within the battle rap community. Tensions and tempers were extremely high going into the battle. Roc made it clear, “You do anything more than rap then you’re crowd surfing.” Tay Roc is coming off the Snake Eyez battle on the previous Outside installment, which was also a grudge match. Stumbles is coming off his performance against Qleen Paper at Civil War as he faces the toughest opponent of his career. 

This was the last battle of the night. Tay Roc catches the coin midair and starts off his first round. He opens his round with, “This my 49th URL.” The crowd salutes him with applause, acknowledging his level of consistency over the years. He continues with the opening bar, “That’s super cold/ and the 49ers just lost, ima take this Eagle to the Super Bowl.” The crowd cheers once again and Roc gets into a pocket. He comes back with another crazy bar, “Revolver tucked, I hit the button and make it spin, electronic toothbrush.” Tay Roc has the crowd hanging on to every word as he gets into an insane rhyme pocket with back-to-back punches. It was an electrifying first round from Roc. Stumbles tries to match Roc’s energy in the first and falls short. He’s just not as electrifying as Roc in the first round. Stumbles has some pretty good lines here and there, but it lacked the powerful punches and the intense performance that Tay Roc brought. Roc creates clear separation in this first round. 

At the top of Roc’s second round, a heckler from the crowd gets into with someone on the stage, which stalls the battle. Then, Roc and Stumbles get into it with one another. Another “almost fight” ordeal. After things are sorted out on stage, Roc starts his second. The energy is visibly on the decline in the building. Roc’s second wasn’t on par with his first round, which left the door open for Stumbles to fight back-which he did. Stumbles turned up in the second coupling some powerful imagery with heavy-hitting bars like, “The devil just moved in, he got his own room/ the reaper in the basement, and I can’t eat at the table unless it’s soul food.” The second round could go to Stumbles. 

In the third round, Roc brings more of what he did in his first. Out the gate with the back-to-back punches and insane rhyme pockets. Stumbles’ third seemed a little shorter than his first two rounds. It could’ve been because of the drop in energy or just how he wrote. He had some solid bars here and there, but the energy just wasn’t there anymore. There was a clear separation in the third round, the clearest round of the battle. 

A big takeaway from this battle is the fact that Tay Roc’s still at the peak of greatness and his first round was indicative of that. He had a 32+bar on the same rhyme scheme and it was structured almost perfectly. The multi-syllable rhyming and rapid It truly speaks to Tay Roc’s incredible rapping and writing ability. He continues to elevate as a rapper this late in his career. As far as Stumbles, Stumbles did what he usually does; deliver heartfelt content coupled with street talk. More importantly, he was clean all three rounds. He was completely focused. Unfortunately, the argument and slight scuffle brought the energy down from the battle dramatically. The persistent chatter and loud conversations took away from the battle as well. This battle deserves another watch on the replay because both Tay Roc and Stumbles had some fire material and it was overlooked in the building. Moving forward, it would be intriguing to see who Tay Roc battles next after completing his set of grudge matches. As far as Stumbles, it would be dope to see Stumbles get another opportunity to showcase his skills.

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