Battles of the month: April
What with our Vendetta 2 coverage/trip to LA/busy lives in general, we never got around to doing our monthly installment of the five battles to watch from April. Here’s a quick version, for posterity’s sake.
Tagged: 100 Bulletz
Everything you missed at Blackout 4: Day 1
The Great Experiment has finally arrived. King of the Dot’s much-anticipated Blackout 4 kicked off last night in Toronto. The card features arguably the deepest roster of talent ever assembled for a single event, plus it also boasts a novel concept: the majority of battles are being announced live at the event, rather than weeks/months in advance.
Top 10 battle rappers of 2013
[UPDATE: We have a new list that reflects what’s been going on throughout the first six months of 2014. Check it here.]
Here it is, our last list of 2013.
It’s an attempt to boil down every aspect of battle rap culture, by looking at every battler in every league, to find the definitive best battlers of 2013. It is an ambitious task, and it wasn’t an easy one. Our final picks come after much debate among the writers at T.O. Battle Blog, as well as a few expert sounding boards.
The criteria we used to make our choices include: quality, consistency, impact, achievement, frequency of battle, and difficulty of opponent.
We broke it down into a ranked Top 5, a “Next 5″ for numbers 6 though 10 (in no particular order), and a few honorable mentions. The last group could’ve included a lot more people (namely J-Pro and Lotta Zay) but we had to draw the line somewhere.
But enough explanations. You’re here to read about 2013′s top battlers.
World Domination 4 predictions
The days before an event are always the most exciting. Every battle still has potential to be the greatest ever, and every battler is poised to have the next scene-shattering performance. Right now, battlers from around the world are congregating in Toronto for the biggest battle rap event the city has even seen. The whole rap landscape could be changed after this weekend. Legends will rise, reputations will be destroyed, etc.
Here’s how we see it happening:
Dizaster vs Arsonal
Becomes the highest-viewed battle of all time. Everyone on RMBVA hates it.
Arcane vs Pat Stay
Arcane has the performance of his career until Pat Stay noogies him.
Charron vs Shotgun Suge
Suge no-shows, and if he doesn’t Charron pocket-checks him in the first round. If Suge shows up and loses, he’s going to his car, getting his other gun, and shooting everybody’s ass.
Q&A: 100 Bulletz
100 Bulletz is arguably the best battler to come out of King of the Dot’s Ground Zero league. Since debuting on GZ in early 2011, he’s quickly climbed the ranks of the main channel, with matches against veterans like Arcane, Kid Twist and, most recently, Dirtbag Dan. Next weekend, he faces his toughest opponent to date: The Saurus in Don’t Flop. We spoke with Bulletz shortly after the match-up was announced, and he revealed how he approaches battles, whether his URL debut will get released, and which leagues have the best and worst crowds.
How did the battle with The Saurus come together?
We were both at the same Don’t Flop event last October. It was his first time at Don’t Flop. It was my first time. And we both had pretty solid performances. I think this is the link. He had a rough third, and I had a rough third. It’s like, ‘Bring Bulletz back, bring The Saurus back, and we’ll put them against each other and see what they do.’ It’s actually been in talks since back in January. We were maybe going to battle on Eurgh’s birthday event.