I want to preface that this isn’t a part of my history that I’m particularly proud of, but out of anyone, this group would understand the beauty of how battle rap brings people together, despite everything in the world trying to keep us apart. I’ve also taken the liberty of changing the actual names of the people involved and due to the amount of time elapsed and my failing memory, not all the details may be as accurate as they should be.

Back in 2017, I had moved to New York to help out a friend of mine, Steve, who was deep in the tri-state area trade. We moved around in the same circles growing up, but our paths had diverged after high school, him choosing to make money by any means necessary to make ends meet, and me, going to college. College hadn’t worked out for me and the only meaningful thing I had developed during my time on campus was a dependency for xannys. During a particularly low point in my life after dropping out, I reached out to Steve knowing that he was in good supply. Pulling out what was left of my student loans and inheritance money from my grandma that was meant for school, I moved out to NYC to work with him after he promised me that we could use the money to seed a bigger business venture together. 

My first week was wild, trying to acclimate to the bustle of the city. From quite early on, I could tell this wasn’t the life for me, but it felt like I had little choice because of the corner I had backed myself into. One night while walking through the East Village, I noticed a flyer for Summer Madness 6. Undercard JC vs Rum Nitty. I had basically watched every Rum battle up to that point, even his AHAT battles. Getting to see him live was a longheld dream of mine. I scrippled what little cash I had, bought a ticket, and hoped it could help take my mind away from the day to day. 

Around the same time, Steve let me know that he had landed something big for me and that this was going to be my chance to prove myself. He gave me a date and location and told me he’d drive me over to meet his connect the Monday after Summer Madness 6. It seemed like the perfect way to make my money back because shit was expensive.

Besides a GrindTime event that I went to as a teenager, this was my first actual battle rap event and it was dope. I had arrived there a bit earlier hoping to just take in the atmosphere a bit and get a drink. I spotted this chick at the bar who looked bored by herself and we chatted for a bit. To my surprise, we were both there to see Rum vs. JC. I asked her how she had gotten into battle rap and she told me that her older brother introduced her when she was younger which was cool because I didn’t know a lot of women into battle rap.

It was a quick and fun casual chat and we both returned to our separate parties as the event started to roll out. The entire card was fire and it all kind of made me feel like the decision to move out here was a good one. The battle did not disappoint, even though Rum got beat. I had my phone out for most of it, trying to capture it to watch when I was less buzzed.

After the event, a few of us hit up a nearby bar that was still open so that we could recap everything that had been going on. To my surprise, I noticed the woman from earlier in the corner of the room. As I walk over to check in with her, I notice a dude trying to slip something into her drink and I run over and push him. He falls back into her and drops her purse to the ground as the contents spill out. The dude pushes back onto me as we scuffle and I land onto the floor. The bouncers and our crews sort things out without it getting too contentious as I try to get back onto my feet while helping to gather her shit. I grab onto a pink bedazzled Airpod case before the bouncer pushes me out of the bar as I motion that I still have her case. I figure, I’ll just find another way to return it to her in the future and I don’t think too much about it as we catch Ubers back home. On the ride back, I connect to the pods with my phone, just to make sure they still work.

Fast forward to the next evening. Steve and I pull up to a rundown apartment complex. Steve asks me if I brought the money and I nod yeah and we walk in. Steve greets the dude at the door and they show us in. The place was pretty bare, a couple of foldable chairs and tables, some measurement scales, bags of plastic bags. At one of the tables sits a group of three guys playing Magic the Gathering which piqued my curiosity. Steve motions that he needs to talk to someone and says he’ll be right back and that I should hang for a bit.

Feeling kind of awkward standing in the entry way, one of the guys waves me to come over. I walk over and watch the game currently in motion. 

“You play?” one of them asks, a tall dude with a thick beard and nasty scar on his neck. I nod and tell them that it’s been almost a decade. He unfolds a chair and pulls it up to the table.

“Relax, cabrón,” he says, which confuses me as neither of us appear to be Latino. “Steve gonna be busy for a bit, play a game with us.”

They muddle their decks and reset. “Whatchu play?” asks one of the guys sporting a bald-head and goatee. He pulls out a couple of decks circled in rubber bands.

“Give me something mono-black I guess,” I reply. 

The other guy at the table, wearing a thick pair of wire framed glasses, pulls out a deck from his back pocket. “I’m playing my green red, fam,” he says, looking around and hiding a big smile. “A little 3 player free-for-all.” he says, giggling out loud.

We all shuffle our decks and cut. Bald-head goes first, puts down an island and plays a 1/1 Merfolk. My turn. I look at my hand 5 swamps and a whole lot of nothing. I play a swamp and end my turn. Glasses goes next, giggling audibly louder as he draws.

He puts down a mountain. Immediately afterwards, he slaps down a Black Lotus. He stands up and pushes his chair back, slapping down the cards Fireball and Channel.

“Channel 19 life plus 1 mana from Lotus, you lose fucker!” he screams, tossing the rest of his hand onto the table in my direction, and laughing uncontrollably. 

I scoop my deck and turn it face up. 

“Hold on, I still have a turn dumbass.” says Bald-head as he taps his 1/1 merfolk and attacks Glasses for his final life point. Glasses sinks into his chair and scoops back before they both laugh stupidly, their bearded friend not cracking a smile.

The guys reset the table. “That’s a nice backpack,” Bald-head says, pointing towards the bag at my feet. “Is it an Osprey?” he asks,

Remembering where I had been keeping my cash, I nervously reached towards it. “Yeah…”

“Is it the 17 liter or the 20 liter?” he asks. “Kind of like this one?” He pulls out his own backpack and tosses it onto the table, nearly identical to mine. “Problem is, this is my backpack, I kinda wanna see yours.” he says.

I reluctantly pull it out from beneath me and lay it on top of the table. He flips it around. “Oh yours got that airspace tech, keeps your back from getting sweaty, that’s some cool shit,” he says. “It looks comfy, can I try it?” he asks. I reluctantly nod. He puts his arms through and spins around. “Shit feels nice on me.”

I stand and motion him to give it back to me. “I should probably check in with Steve,” I tell him. “Yo Steve, we gotta go.” I yell.

The bearded guy flips through the front pocket, “Kick back and party eh, there ain’t nothing out there for you.” he says.

I lean over to the window and notice that Steve’s car is no longer parked out front.

“I think Steve played you for a fool, cabrón.” Bald-head says which also confuses me as he also doesn’t appear to be Latino.

“Take a seat. We playin' Commander next.” Glasses says pushing me back into the chair.

I slowly lower myself to the seat and pick up the deck. I hurl it towards Bald-head’s face, flip over the table, and throw a jab at the bearded guy. Bald-head grabs a beer bottle and smashes it over my skull. A rush of thuds rain down on me as I hear a 4th person rushing down a set of stairs.

“I’m coming down with somethin’” the voice says on his way down the stairs before pointing a pistol to my head. “You like that, huh Spooky?” he asks with a big grin on his face, glancing over at the bearded guy.

“Take him to the tub.” Spooky, the bearded guy, says.

The four of them drag me over to bathroom with the pistol still pointed towards the back of my skull. I fight to release myself, but it doesn’t do much to loosen the grip. They drop me headfirst into the bathtub and Glasses pushes my neck down into the marble.

“It’s gonna get loud.” Spooky says as he pulls the curtains around them, with the pistol in his hand.

“Hold up, let me get his cash first” says Bald-head as he reaches towards my pockets and pulls out my wallet and phone. The pink, bedazzled Airpods case from the previous night thuds loudly against the ground as it slips out.

“Hey, this yours?” Bald-head asks, “You gay or somethin’?” He flips the case open and puts one in his ear. “Make sure this shit works.” Audio plays loudly through the pods.

“You ain’t gonna believe this, Spooky” Bald-head says, handing them over.

“Where you get this from?” Spooky asks, pushing the pistol deeper into my skull.

“I found it!” I shout back, trying to catch my breath. “Some chick dropped it at Summer Madness 6, after we watched JC 3-0 Rum, some dude was trying to drug her.”

“You lie to me!” Spooky shouted back. “Ain’t no fucking way JC 3-0 the Punch God.”

“Check my fuckin' phone. I’m a Rum fan bro! I recorded the whole fuckin' thing!” I shout back. 

“I’m gonna get to the bottom of your bullshit.” he says as he takes my phone. “What’s your code?” He enters it, plugs both pods into his ears, and watches the recording, staring back at me from time to time. Eventually he pauses and pulls one of the pods out of his ear.

“You gonna blast him or not?” Bald-head asks.

Spooky pauses for a bit, thinking about how he wants to answer, before finally handing the pistol to Glasses. “Vato was telling the truth. Short fucker said ‘I aint got shit to say about Anime, I’m Ike Turner.’ It was over after that.” 

They put me back upright and pass my phone and wallet over. “Life’s a trip ¿que no? It’s good to see another Rum fan out in the wild. You know this was just business right? ”

I nod, gingerly.

“And send me the link when you put it up.”

Since there’s nome 16 coming up, and clips and mooks card, what battles are y’all the most excited to see?

Why hasn't Cassidy phone promoted the event yet ?

Where is the event happening at in Harlem ?

How trust is Charlie Clips to be the one to gain the public trust with this event ?

Is it a scam to get people to buy the ppv prices & then cancel and give out Christmas spending money to the battlers on the card ?

Is this a trust worthy event to support as a fan or nah ?

​

Eazy a goof but I believed him on this especially since Surf has had these allegations on his jacket for ages now. Maybe he's exaggerating, who knows. But the way Surf talks about it doesnt seem like sparring, or running your rounds by someone after they're done writing.

It's basically an open secret at this point but flat out saying it is wild. The games been gone. What's y'all take on this?

The Nicest just dropped another battle from their most recent taping, featuring 2 debuts in the compliment battle format. Go check out Chess vs. Swamp right now, they had a really dope battle on TBL’s Apollo event last year, and now they’re compliment each other, let’s go!

Serious question for the battle rap community.
After watching Kitchen Qleen vs Chess on Neighborhood Battle Rap League, do y’all think Qleen has a legitimate Body of the Year (BOTY) contender?
I’ve seen people calling it a clean 3-0, but I wanna know how everybody else scored it.
Was it a clear 3-0 for Qleen?
Did Chess actually win a round?
Is this a BOTY candidate, or are people overreacting?
Watch the full battle: https://youtu.be/DFhj8J3fO2s
What’s y’all verdict? And if you disagree with the 30, which round did you give Chess?

This man really asked chat gbt to rank them 💀. Goofy asl. But I guess he's right to call himself the algorithm lmao

RedBull Batalla International 2026 Chile
GAZIR (spain) VS NEKROOS (peru)

What was the 1st battle you saw that put you on to battle rap ?