Category: Event recaps

Everything you missed at KOTD’s World Domination 4 (Day 1)

World Domination 4 got off to a stellar start on Friday, with six battles that were (mostly) good to great. The event went down at Toronto’s Opera House — the nicest venue that KOTD has ever thrown an event in — and it drew a big crowd with plenty of new faces and out-of-towners. T.O. Battle Blog watched the action from the first row, and in between battles, we found time to interview a selection of battlers. You’ll hear more about those later.

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Without further ado, here’s a rundown of the six battles from Friday. And as always, be warned: there will be spoilers.

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Everything you missed at GZGP Round 3 (TO/VAN)

With the Ground Zero Grand Prix brackets narrowing headed into the quarter finals, last weekend’s events in Toronto and Vancouver only had one or two tournament battles going down. That meant there was room on the cards for some KOTD main-channel battles and a place to showcase some new talent.

We have the details from Toronto, and Vancouver up-and-comer Pigsty has details from his hometown event.

There was no clear Battle of the Night in Toronto, which just shows how hot the card was. People mostly went with Notez/Wize Guy, N-Pose/Yung Casper and Kinaze/Twizzie. Standout performances came from N-Pose, Notez and Bulle.

If you’re not caught up with the $1500, winner-take-all Ground Zero tournament, check our introductions for Toronto and the West Coast and our recap of the first and second rounds.

***Recaps have spoilers. Be warned. As always, this is our opinion and analysis. Not everyone saw the battles the same way.***

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Everything you missed at KOTD’s Takeover

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The Deadman. Photo from KOTD.

Last Friday in Los Angeles, KOTD put on what was, by all accounts, a solid night. We talked to LA rapper The Deadman about his battle with The Saurus and how things went down at the sold-out event.

TOBB: Tell me first about your battle. How did it actually come about?

That shit’s funny actually. I did a battle last November in AHAT and saw a YouTube comment on the video from The Saurus that gave me a compliment. This was in a smaller league so I was surprised he watched it. I hit him up on Twitter and asked if that was him that commented and he said yeah, and I thought damn that’s crazy that The Saurus is actually a fan of my work because I’m a fan of his. [Note: The Saurus's comment said "Deadman is that dude."]

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Everything you missed at GZGP Round 2 (TO/WC/CGY/VAN recap)

The Ground Zero Grand Prix is shaping up to be the hottest ticket in North American battle rap. Round 2 has a strong crop of hungry battlers with well-defined personas from all over the stylistic map. The best part though, is that there’s actually something at stake: wins and losses mean something.

If you’re not already familiar with the battlers competing in the $1500, winner-take-all Ground Zero tournament, check out our introductions for Toronto and the West Coast and our recap of the first round.

We were at the Toronto event last night, but we’ve also got recaps from Vancouver, California and Calgary from league presidents La Sparka, Aspect One and Sketch Menace. Scroll down for those, but read Toronto first.

A good recap is going to have some spoilers. Be warned.

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Everything you missed at KOTD’s Alcatraz

Caddy Ron on his way to Alcatraz
Caddy Ron on his way to Alcatraz

We couldn’t make it to King of the Dot’s Alcatraz event ourselves, so we talked to Hollywood’s own “Black Tar Rap Star” Cadalack Ron for the skinny. He spoke to us from the Oakland airport on his way home from the event. Ron’s always colourful and candid in his interviews (see more at the end of this post) and doesn’t disappoint here either.

TOBB: So you’re all through security?

Cadalack Ron: Yeah, I always have a hard time going through. I always get pulled out of line and screened but I tried to wear a polo shirt to blend in but it didn’t work. I’ve been trying to smuggle these energy supplement drinks and I’ve been having a harder and harder time getting them through security.

Are they illegal?

They’re looking to make them illegal. The FDA has actually recalled all products with DMAA in it. They can sell the back stock but it’s tough to get more than three ounces of liquid through security anyways.

Ah… so how was the event?

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