LA Magazine: June KOTM winner

7 entries this time around & as a reminder the topic at hand was a diss to the mod team (as if we could've expected anything else when Art was in charge..."an Open Mic challenge, eh? WRITE A DISS!!")...the thought did cross my mind that the participation levels were so high because you guys just don't like us, but that couldn't possibly be true...could it?

First up was Kiki Spirez with the cleverly titled MODerate violence, was this a subtle hint that he was going to take it easy on his old LA kin? Not so much...this was a solid drop, good play on the penguins meme that Art dropped in the original challenge, shit punch against me (but who can cause damage to the infallible greatness?!)...all in all it was a consistent release of shots across the piece, strong disses to Neek & Nigs in there as well as a good shot at Scotty. I liked the very UK orientated references, e.g. Jack Wilshire and Tesco car parks, gives that air of authenticity...like Keeks will draw on what he knows about. At times it felt a bit formulaic, particularly with the transitions, which took the edge of it a little for me. But overall it was a very solid drop from someone who has been around and knows what they're doing. 

Next up was Stalin, who if I'm not mistaken has served on the LA staff in the past with great aplomb whilst managing to remain universally well liked and respected. Essentially he's a professor of the dark arts and should be watched very closely. Another 'moderate' play in the title of his drop, but not really sure what an Optometrist will have to do with what he's written...maybe it just sounds cool? Anyways, he opens with a shit punch about me (still infallible, bitches) but the flow was super nice so we'll let him off. Followed up with a clever punch against Art & another penguin reference...although the rhyme was a bit suspect for me, particularly following a super clean scheme in the opener. Next one was back to the super smooth & signature Stalin style..."purge with words" was a great setup and I liked the concept. Only downside is you don't really get that sting from that type of hit, but it was good hit and lots of bonus points for the buildup and general style. I think from this point on you could tell that Stal didn't really have that fire in his belly to get at the #modsquad, punchwise it was quite tame although I did absolutely love the flow in this part:

That's just sick!! Then moved onto a pretty sharp set of dissing to the mods, 'solve a Nigma', 'rape you Neek and spray my art on your in laws'...was pretty dope actually, initially I struggled to catch a rhyme in there but I guess if you bend Nig-ma you could match it to "in laws" and there was a potential multi builder in there but had a bit of a mismatch on stressed/unstressed. Regardless, I thought it was a dope concept that could've been slightly reworked to really nail that rhyme and translate it into a haymaker. Then the closer was shit coz it mentioned my name!

Exo was up next going for the Ronseal approach to the topic title (bet y'all didn't think I'd be analysing these when you came up with em)...strong opener from one half of our newly crowned LA tag champs. Good combination of rhyme scheme, Netflix simile and then no show shot at Law. Probably the heftiest hit of the lot so far, so a great way to open up. Loved the style on the next one, real strong personality and command in there...next one had that same energy but landed a bit flatter for me, personally if you're gonna follow on with the same diss it should be immediately after & a stronger second hit otherwise it loses impact...and this one didn't tick either of those boxes. Next one was shit because it was about me!! #infallibility...liked the follow on approach this time but didn't really feel like it did much damage. Scotty punch was funny & relevant...lot of style and energy throughout this, which ties the whole thing together nicely...means you keep that intensity even when you don't land the hits as ferociously, very strong effort. Next was generic but nice flow to it. Closer I liked the concept behind (good harmony between concept and diss) but felt it got a bit too over-elaborate / intricate to do maximum damage...there was a body bag hit in there and for me it landed more as a good hit. Overall, for the style and finesse plus the heavier punches that landed this put Exo out in the lead at this point.

Like clockwork, the other half of the newly crowned tag champs rocked up to have his say. Beans dropped through to give us a staff infection and assures us we'll be resting in peace. I hope it's not HIV related, that would be most unpleasant. Opening segment was aggressive but ultimately pretty tame...when he finally gets round to throwing shots, Beans does some damage...weirdly I was kind of expecting more of the Exo style approach, strong energy mixed with really sharp personal shots. For me something was lacking in the tip of the blade here...really liked the aggression and the style, but equally there was a lot of generic material mixed in there & even when there was a direct shot I don't think it landed with the ferocity you'd expect from someone like Beans. Like for instance, if I compare the tag attack on Law/Nigma from Beans to Exo's drops...Exo's just feels like he landed it with more solidity than Beans. That said, I did love that teething/biters punch, that was pretty dope & attacks the mod team as a whole which nobody has really done up until this point, so bonus points on that one. No show/lead by example was on a similar vein and another pretty hefty hit. Good aggression & attack on Art at the end as well & a pretty brutal Orlando shot to close out with. So yeah, reflecting back on the verse...it was a pretty strong showing, the high points were high quality but were too back loaded for me, could've taken out some of the the more generic/lighter stuff and nailed it more towards the front end with the same mix as you got at the back end & this would've been very tough to beat. As it is, you're around about the same level as Exo and I might put him just ahead for the overall consistency.

Next up was another empirical entry, with RKB taking centre stage...Rutts cleverly returned to the theme of moderator plays in the thread & his one was actually pretty witty, fair play. Right off the bat I liked the style, short and sweet opening lines and then a funny punch to follow. I actually generally liked the approach you took to this, quite refreshing really, this is the old 'unlimited lines' style battling that used to take place way back in the day...read more like an audio diss really, so you weren't spraying loads of haymakers but even when you were lower key it had an underlying diss to it, really nice stylistically. Same followed in the Law segment, really liked that Achilles line in particular. LMAO @ hyper links than ADHD. I'd maybe have written the next one as "but he just a..." rather than "this dude just a", but minor sidenote really. The next segment was shit because it was against me...but you get bonus points for recognising I'm dope (oh I misread that, nevermind)...haha, but seriously you are the first person in a LONG time that made me laugh at a diss directed at me, so fair play, nicely done. And man, this got dope as fuck towards the end...that whole miss thing @ Nigs was dope and then the way you closed it out was fire really. That was a pretty impressive drop, I must say, competition is getting heated.

Endeeze!! Say it aint so!! Mi hombre moderato!! This shit was like poetry...gave me a fucking headache tryna read it! I hope if we ever do get to dance on the Street Fighter battlefield your assaults aren't this vague & confusing or I fear for your soul!! But seriously, an unique and different approach to dissing...I got to say, before you did the translation for Droid I actually missed some of the references. Was a clever approach as I've now only just realised the topic in hand was to write a diss aimed at the mods...so it's pretty genius that you've gone at that from a subliminal point of view. Pretty much everyone else (which the exception of Rutts) has interpreted that as "write a battle verse" and that's not actually what the exam question was, so fair play for interpreting the brief in a unique and creative way...and in it's own right you gotta say this has got to be up there on that basis. Really solid drop broseph. Plus you barely said anything about me!! A wise strategy.

Last and definitely not least was the homie Ridley Squat with another homage to Art's lovely penguin meme with the suitably titled "March of the Mods" coupled with another equally funny meme of penguins about to get murked. Foreboding. Right off the bat this was turbo charged aggression. Feathers McGraw punch was superb, brilliant to build on the penguin reference and brutal opener to then do a penguin simile in the follow on. The elevation is real. Then you followed on the follow on with a redirection onto me & got a pretty hefty (but equally shit) shot off on the slightly less infallible one. There's just no let up in this one, Neek gets brutalised then you're back on me with some shit diss about "allegedly classic" (it hurts!!)...even that Ice C / Damager segment was brutal, like every bit of it derogatory, clearly done your homework as well...which is impressive. Not going to keep breaking it down line by line but it's just a continued assault...the Law of Diminishing Returns was just absolutely fucking wow punch. If it got a little 'flatter' towards the end it's because you had such a high standard of approach all the way up until that point & I actually think was was still solid dissing you were throwing in the last run up bit to the end. Closer was nice, stylish, cool way to close out.  

So yeah, it was an exceptionally high standard this month, for sure, it's funny that I'm now actively discounting verses that didn't really have much wrong with them (Kiki, Stalin) as contenders just because the standard was so high. Beans & Exo both wrote high quality battle verses but I think they were both blown out of the water by the sheer intensity of Ridley's drop. Then you've got to consider RKB & Endeeze based on the approach they took overall. I can understand why Art has been ducking this one as it's a really tough call to make.

Fuck it, given we're in Olympic season I'm going for a podium:

Bronze = Endeeze

I really liked his interpretation of the brief to "write a diss"...nobody said it couldn't be a subliminal diss! Originality points & creativity points...plus for a short verse it was packed with plays spread right across the whole mod team. It was a bit cryptic to give a real 'wow' factor though, and that's what dropped him down to third place

Silver = Rutter Knows Best

Was definitely a photo finish...this was a really great diss piece that was a proper throwback to a time where it wasn't all about capital letters, exclamation marks, twisting things to make them seem personal & stretching your content. For me it's the sign of a great verse when you see how long it is & go "for fucks sakes" but when you start reading you can just go all the way through without really realising how long it is. 

And there you have it, if you enjoyed the verses post up here & let the guys know...if you disagree with the winners or medal positions - who'd you think deserved the crown? And don't forget, August's KOTM is live NOW...

http://www.lyricalassault.co.uk/forum/august-kotom_topic43436.html

lol this was a dope write up cubes thanks for taking ya time to do this.  I love shit like this