100 BARS MAGAZINE 007 Mar/Apr 2014 | Page 17

battles of the month The month of March was a tad slow for battle rap. However, there were a few gems that dropped this month – and they had no shortage of bars. Here are the nominees for the first-ever, 100 Bars Magazine’s “Battle of the Month”: Black Ice Cartel – QP (Quantam Physics) vs. QP (Qleen Paper): This was a grudge match that was years in the making. Both rappers feel that they are the true “QP.” In my opinion, this battle lived up to the hype. In the past, Qleen Paper has been criticized for not bringing his best in the third round of a battle. Against Quantam Physics, the third round was arguably Qleen Paper’s best. As usual, Quantum Physics brought his witty style of associative wordplay. As far as declaring a winner, it depends on your style preference.   Spit Dat Heat – Brixx Belvedere vs. Danny Myers: This battle, from Spit Dat Heat’s “Pen Game Mean” event, was pegged as a slugfest between two of the best writers currently in battle rap. As expected, both battlers brought a plethora of bars, but with vastly different styles – Brixx with the cool, calm and collected delivery and Danny Myers with the loud, aggressive delivery. This is another battle where calling a winner comes down to your preference.   Queen of the Ring – O’fficial vs. C3 This battle from Queen of the Ring’s “Caskets or Classics” event is arguably the best female battle of the past couple years, “Young Gattas vs. Bonnie Godiva” being a close second. Both of these ladies brought the whole package: bars, humor, personals, crowd control, presence and a level of conviction & hunger that’s missing in a lot of male-versus-male battles lately. Going forward, both of these ladies deserve bigger names. King of the Dot – The Saurus vs. Charron: This battle, from KOTD’s Blackout 4, pitted two very similar emcees. Both are known for mixing in freestyle bars to complement their written material. While there was not as much freestyling as expected from either of them, both brought heavy punchlines. The consensus online seems to be that The Saurus was the clear victor, but there were a few fans still vouching for Charron as well. Either way, this was one of the best battles from Blackout 4.   King of the Dot – Soul vs. Sketch Menace: To be completely honest, most people were not expecting this to be a particularly memorable battle, however, Scotland’s Soul and Calgary’s Sketch Menace surprised everyone and put on what might be the best overall battle from KOTD’s Blackout 4. Soul displayed why many consider him one of the best writers in the world, and Sketch Menace had his best performance since he held the KOTD Title. Most fans seem to feel that Sketch Menace won, but Soul was no slouch in the punchline department.   Ultimate Rap League/UFF – Sno vs. HA Double: This battle was from the first round of URL’s “Ultimate Freestyle Friday”, in collaboration with BET. In what might be the biggest bodybag of 2014 to date, Sno put on an absolute clinic. Although HA Double choked, he also had some moments of dopeness.   And the winner is... Spit Dat Heat – Brixx Belvedere vs. Danny Myers What else did you expect? The name of the magazine is “100 Bars”, after all. For the month of March, we’ve got to go with bars over everything. 17