The 2006 Rap World Championships forever changed the battle world as it introduced fans of the freestyle era to the widely popular acapella format.  From the jump, we all knew that Illmaculate and The Saurus were special - they tore through some of the world’s best competition finishing an astonishing 12-1 and taking home the $10,000 Grand Prize, as they crowned themselves World Rap Champions.  The performance they put on against Hommy Hom and Piff James in week four put the fans (and the rest of the competition) in awe.  The Saurus and Illmaculate had reached a level in freestyle battle rap that many of us didn’t think was possible at the time.  By mastering flips, rebuttals, “multis” (compound rhymes using two or more syllables) and teamwork, the two laid the blueprint that many aspiring battle rappers would follow for the next five years.  I know this battle by heart line for line.

These guys performance helped white battle emcees break into the spotlight on the back end of a time period that still considered them a novelty.  A lot of us were like, “Daaaaamn I didn’t know white boys went so hard!”  When Grind Time first started, I remember speaking with Goodz on the phone, who proclaimed, “I’ll come over there but I’M NOT battling The Saurus!”  Haha classic.

Memorable Moment - The rebuttals.

“He said when this guy was 5, his momma died/

well I hate to break it to you, but I’m the guy that put out the homicide”

“You’re Cobra Commando?  I know that I’m Rambo/

But you’re broker than Camp Lo and know that you can’t flow”

“You’re the rookie type/

I’m Markie Mark, but this pussies’ wife is one of the bitches I banged on Boogie Nights”
 

March 21, 2012 Aye Verb vs Hitman Holla was uploaded onto URL’s youtube channel.  By March 28, 2012 it had became the fastest battle in history to reach 1 Million views.  Its not that often that we get to see two highly ranked emcees perform their A+ game, but when we do ... it is always a guaranteed classic.  This battle proves that fans love storylines: they want to see friends, family or teammates settle their differences in the ring.  Everything from crowd reaction to both emcees pace and delivery was perfect.  Just when we thought one person was winning, their opponent kept finding a way to get one up on them.  I wonder if JR Smith has seen this ...

Memorable Moment - Big Gerald - best ending ... ever

When Arsonal made it known that he would be returning to Grind Time to take on Conceited, we all knew it was going to be great.  In an attempt to either prove his worth or feed his ego, Ars agreed to three untimed rounds, which was Conceited’s forté.  In classic fashion, Conceited killed the first round, spitting one of the most memorable verses in battle history.  Arsonal made a historic comeback in the second, when he spit (literally) the longest verse we had ever heard and closed out his time by rapping over Conceited’s head.  The third round was a toss up.  I was there - in the venue, Arsonal destroyed it.  After his second round, everyone was saying he won the whole battle.  BUT ... Conceited always find a way to look good on camera.  The battle reached its height in popularity when rapper Fabolous tweeted, “Conceited won the first, Ars got the second and the third was a tie.”

We didn’t anticipate the battle being 45 minutes in length, so one of the main camera angles had a battery death in the middle of Arsonal rapping over Conceited’s head, but that part was still classic.

Memorable Moment - Finding out Arsonal is a school bus driver

If you have been paying attention to this list at all, at some point you would have realized that Illmac and The Saurus’ names appear many times in the top 100 - sometimes as partners, and other times by themselves.  Due to their huge success winning the World Rap Championships twice, fans often think of these two as best friends or brothers - you form a relationship when you go through rough times, right?  So, when this battle was announced as one of the main events at Battle of the Bay 5 ... shit got real.  This is one of those moments where fans say, “OMG ... these two actually battled?”  (It should be noted that in 2006 these two battled in the semifinals of Jumpoff’s “Spin The Mic” event, which ended as a highly debatable).  After 3 crazy rounds, the judges sent it into overtime where Illmaculate closed in classic fashion with a unique idea that involved him citing all the specific instances where he helped The Saurus write a line - many would try to copy this scheme for years to come, but none would have as big of an impact as Illmac’s; it was the perfect scenario.

Memorable Moment - “THAT was me!”

Every few years there is a battle that comes along and grabs major attention from media outlets, fans and emcees across the globe.  Tantrum vs Dumbfoundead was one of the first of its kind, as it was a match between two asians purposely set up for entertainment value (1:10 into the video you can actually hear Dumbfoundead saying, “you need to label this ‘Asian vs Asian.’”).  Upon its release, the video was featured on every major urban american and asian site, garnering a huge amount of attention.  It earned Tantrum a huge amount of respect after years of grinding on the battle scene outside of the spotlight and helped boost Dumbfoundead to a superstar status.  Had Dumb and Sahtyre not been late on their ride from LA due to wildfires breaking out in Cali, this battle would not have taken place outside and may have changed the awesome atmosphere that adds to the video’s worth.  Guess everything happens for a reason.

Memorable Moment - “My dicks bigger and I DRIVE BETTER!”

After a lot of back and forth and a huge amount of built up hype, Loaded Lux had set up Word War vs Lionz Den (STL vs NY) for first quarter 2009.  Due to some mishandling of money and other unknown issues, the battles, including Aye Verb vs Head Ice and Yung Ill vs Goodz, never happened.  The St. Louis emcees' long road trip did not come in vain, however, as Aye Verb delivered a legendary performance in an impromptu street battle with SB that was hosted by Murda Mook.

This heightened the New York vs St. Louis beef online and resulted in Street Status sending an open invite to NY emcees to come battle in the Show Me state.  The Challenge was met by the likes of Rich Dolarz (who battled Hitman Holla) and Hollow Da Don.

There was a lot of tension in the air during this battle.  On the back end of the NY vs STL beef, no one really knew what to expect.  Regardless this is one of the battles where you really get to see the raw talent of two individuals really shine.  Verb proved he is one of the best lyricists in the battle game while Hollow showed he could adjust to any circumstance and deliver in the clutch.  After Hollow delivered his "Just For Me" line in the first round, two women broke out fighting and killed a crowd buzz that took forever to build.  Verb delivered a devastating first round and Hollow bounced back with a crazy rebuttal and birthed one of his famous "evil" schemes.  Verb matched his first round intensity with another classic round that solidified his spot amongst the top battle rappers.  Its a shame this battle was only two rounds, as fans have been arguing over who won for four years.

Memorable Moment -

"Large clips enter rides, cars flip - injure guys/

Ill beam his whole team up … Star Ship Enterprise"

Jae Millz was a New York Street battle legend that earned his rep by traveling all over the city and DESTROYING people.  Murda Mook was a young talent that felt he could beat Millz, so he put his money where his mouth was - $5,000 to be exact.  This could have went down like any one of the other legendary battles that preceded this classic, but there was one difference: SMACK showed up with a camera.  This is the first time I ever saw someone use a personal attack in a rap battle.  I remember Mook saying, “He got a wife name Ceetha, everybody skeets her / All I had to give her was cab fare and some pizza.”  I was like, “Oh shit!  Does Millz really have a wife named Ceetha?”  This battle gave birth to so many styles and rappers and influenced the humble beginnings of this whole culture.  Its amazing to me how these two had such crisp delivery without ever seeing themselves on camera.  You’re lying if you are a battle emcee and say you weren’t influenced by these two - Murda Mook is the reason you say “EASY!” at the end of your verse.

A lot of people in the crowd actually thought Murda Mook won the battle, but Millz refused to pay him (maybe because Millz thought he won?)  Mook was mad until the dvd came out and he saw the huge response.  He had become an underground celebrity overnight and thus began a new era ...

Side note: Looking back on it, its crazy to hear Mook talk about Vado getting beat up and Millz sharing jerseys with Charlie Clips - small world huh?

Memorable Moment - Make you hold the camcorder

Off of two performances (Murda Mook and Yung Miles), many would argue that Loaded Lux was the best battle rapper and maybe one of the best lyricists on the planet.  When it was announced that he would be returning to the ring to face the likes of Calicoe ... the world stopped.

If the hype of Loaded Lux returning wasn’t enough, Calicoe ended up on the news for his potential involvement in pitbull and cockfighting.  It was even rumored that Cal had to miss the battle due to the fact that he may have been facing jail time.  Fortunately for us, Calicoe made it to the battle to take part in this historical moment.

Cal went first talking about everything from his personal situation with the animals to how he moved up the battle rankings on his own - the round was crafted perfectly and set the stage for an epic match.  Lux started off in classic fashion and then the unthinkable happens ... he chokes.  #SummerMadness was literally trending on twitter and fans were in disbelief at what had just happened.  Calicoe comes back with a dope second round and then the unthinkable happens again ... Lux spits a second round that leaves people in awe to the point where they actually start saying that he’s winning.  If that wasn’t enough, he also projected an image on the venue’s big screen that showed Calicoe skinny dipping with some of his friends (and “six bitches”).  With the pressure on to deliver a classic third round, Calicoe lost some of his momentum and Lux went on to spit what many people believe to be the best round in battle history.

Calicoe vs Loaded Lux is more than a battle: it represents growth, poise, fanfare, marketing, competition, respect and everything else that is important to an emcee belonging to a REAL self-made grassroots movement.  It garnered attention from many celebrities including: Lupe Fiasco, Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Redman, Method Man, Drake and ASAP Rocky.  Jay-Z quoting one of Loaded Lux’s lines on his twitter was the icing on the cake.

Memorable Moment - The whole third Round: “You goin’ get this work!”

Iron Solomon dominated and obliterated his competition on every single outlet that he appeared on from 2005 to 2010.  He successfully became the first emcee to break the barrier between outlets like Scribble Jam and Fight Klub.  Math was known for his crazy performances in Fight Klub videos that were leaked to Youtube and punching Dose in the face on Smack DVD, which ultimately ended up on a few popular tv shows.  I didn’t hear any rumors about this battle going down, it just popped up on youtube one day.  The battle community went into an uproar as many proclaimed this to be the best battle in history.  Iron Solomon started off with one of the all time best verses, flipping a classic Math line used against Nems in his intro.  Math’s first round response seemed pale in comparison and the battle was hugely tilted in Solomon’s favor.  Math was able to fight his way back in the second and third round by using his wit and creativity mixed with street related content to downplay Solomon’s character like no one else had before.  This is what battle rap was all about - a photo finish in a clash of styles that united battle fans on many different fronts, as both emcees successfully appealed to one another’s fan base.

Memorable Moment- “We had the chemistry, attracted physically / taught her sex ed. and woodshop, now math is history” - may be the greatest scheme all time.


 

Most of the time, great rap battles are created by circumstance; friends having a fall out, instigation, egos, etc.  Its not often that a random match up with no history behind it is classic on both ends.

The recurring theme amongst battles in the top 10 is that they had history behind them, received a huge amount of exposure from media outlets or help change the culture.  Any one of these ten could easily be number one depending on who you are talking to.

Hollow vs Pass is great in the sense that without having any prior knowledge of battle rap or insight into this world, anyone can see this and completely understand what this movement is all about.  There were no disrespectful blogs or complicated backstory, no props, the crowd was great, hype men were not ruining the footage - it perfectly highlights the talent, who relied on skill alone to get their point across.

Another thing that makes this match so classic is the back and forth; it is almost impossible for an unbiased viewer to tell who won.  In earlier rounds, its easy to pick Pass, but as time rolls on, Hollow’s strengths start to show and one has to rewind the battle to start forming an opinion.

Real Talk, Creativity, Jokes, Delivery, Rebuttals, Name Flips, Freestyle, Bars - anything you can think of is exercised by these two.

Often, people make the mistake of believing the two biggest names in any sport clashing is equivalent to the best mast.  In reality, its those great performances that give us the defining moments.  Hollow didn’t have to do this battle - he was already popular.  I remember him saying that he wanted to give back to the culture and give someone else a chance to put their name on the map.  Pass rising to the occasion made the moment that much better.

For the most part, hip hop is a culture that gives its “legends” preference over any new comers.  For instance, its blasphemy to say that J Cole is better that Big L - people aren’t going for that.  The beautiful part of battle rap is that people recognize growth and have no problem saying a legend may have to prove themselves in the ring with a newcomer.  At one point, that constant need to prove yourself against healthy competition is what made battle rap one of the best outlets for aspiring emcees to prove and test their skills.  Hopefully, the full force of that feeling comes back soon.

Memorable Moment - The whole battle was great, ill just leave you with some quotes:

“How is New York a stand up division when their foundation is Hollow” - Pass

“The last I heard he was a wack nerd that aint been seen since chaps shirts/

I’m like thats normal - y’all ain’t supposed to see him ... he’s a Password” - Hollow

The whole thing was quotable.

See you at the end of the year when I update the list.