Here goes my year-end wrap up, the ordering is super rough, because TBH I think the top 4 or 5 stand above all the other battles and the Top 15-25 are kind of equal in quality. Not everyone has the same tastes here (and nobody can watch everything) so I want to hear what y'all liked and why, so I encourage others to do this as well.
Best Battles of the Year:
1.
Rum Nitty vs. Steams
2.
B Magic vs. Ty Law
3.
Th3 Saga vs. Prep
4.
Bigg K vs. Ill Will
5.
Conceited vs. Dumbfoundead
6.
Gjonaj vs. Gutta
7.
O'fficial vs. Jaz The Rapper
8.
Tay Roc vs. Calicoe
9.
Danny Myers vs. Chilla Jones
10.
Chilla Jones vs. Math Hoffa
Battler of the Year: Chilla Jones
Battled Math, Con and Diz, and now a rookie on the menu?
It's a fucking mismatch, just for putting me against you
I'm nice with the grammar-see? (Gramercy) That's why they booked me for the venue.
- The way I look at it, Danja Zone has a better record than Chilla (Chilla lost to 100 Bulletz at the top of the year, smfh) but didn't face as good competition. Tay Roc also had a good year, with two big grudge matches with Surf and Calicoe, and still managed to make both of those debatable. Ultimately, I think the legends Chilla battled are one tier above the Calicoes and Surfs, and he also managed to make those debatables or wins, while ALSO providing classic bodybags and rounds outside of those marquee match ups with Prep and Danny most notably. Chilla had the full package, and it shows.
Rookie of the Year: Gjonaj
- I know one of his battles actually happened in the Summer of 2014, but IMO none of the rookies of 2015 showed more promise than Gjonaj, even after getting bodied by Dizaster. He's still the most talented and probably has the biggest ceiling to work towards in 2016 and beyond.
Moment of the Year: Hollow destroying Clips' style as Clips comes unprepared to the biggest battle of his career
I ain't saying your shit wack
But bro, it's the same move every time you kick that
Set up punchline, set up punchline, that's how you spit that?
Just a candy rapper with 4 bars th- See how easy it is to predict that?
Performance of the Year: Fresco vs. The Saurus
- There were a LOT of great performances this year, and perhaps greater overall or more well-rounded performances, but Fresco gets this one because people just kind of forgot about him and when he came back it was like dude got possessed by a punchline demon or something so it had that surprising element that pushed it to a whole other category.
Bar of the Year: Rum Nitty against Steams
I run up on his whip, if he try and Speed
I'll have to buss over 50, I'm Keanu Reeves
League of the Year: URL (or Don't Flop?)
- Reflecting on my top battles of the year, most of them are on URL. They delivered many high profile big and small room matches that gave us 6 great rounds. Roc and Calicoe, Gjonaj and Gutta, B Magic vs. Ty Law, Rum Nitty and Steams, O'fficial & Jaz, Th3 Saga vs. Prep, the list goes on. I think they kind of owned this year as the competition was fairly weak unless 2-on-2s are your thing, TBH. Honestly it was a great year for every league in their own way. RBE secured a lot of the best match ups of the year, KOTD pushed out probably the greatest quantity of good content this year, and DF's expansion and what they've been doing with the 2-on-2s has perhaps been the most influential with KOTD and URL also feeling the pressure to conquer more markets, both physically and within battle rap. I feel like DF are the most influential this year, if you're going off of influence and not necessarily battle quality.
Best Comeback: Shotgun Suge
- I mean, Shotgun Suge was essentially one of the worst popular battle rappers before this year and he turned things around considerably. He's at the top because he had the furthest distance to climb and he did it. The Charron battle last year helped, but that could have been a one time affair, and it wasn't. Honourable mentions include Ty Law, K-Shine, Dizaster and Danja Zone.
Biggest Disappointment: Charlie Clips
- After hyping up his battle with Hollow and promising not to have any excuses this time, Clips walked in unprepared and got his soul snatched permanently in Hollow's first round. I think what makes this disappointing is not that Clips had a shitty performance, because we're used to that now, but that it cemented that Clips is far past his prime and his legacy is essentially tarnished. He hasn't had any great performances since (his last good one was probably Marvwon?) and I think it goes without saying that Clips took himself out of the GOAT conversation long ago.
Best Crew: Writer's Bloque
- There's more of them that have been having consistently good performances (Danja, Chilla, Steams, Chef Trez, Magic). It's really just K-Shine with a side of DNA if you're talking NWX.
Bodybag of the Year: Danja Zone bodying Lotta Zay.
- Sorry, but nothing beats your opponent throwing the towel in literally and the video editing showing your death GTA style. As a huge Zay fan, this hurt me. Honourable mentions include Real Deal bodying Sno, Hollow bodying Clips, Dizaster bodying Gjonaj and Chilla bodying Prep.