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Summer Madness X May Have Been the Event of The Year … Damn URL Did it Again

Summer Madness X
By: Kershaw St. JawnsonCategory: Features

Summer Madness X may been the best one yet!

Summer Madness X may have been the best card of the year.

In fact, the talent put on with such professionalism, viewers forgot that the headline act was supposed to be the highly anticipated grudge match Murda Mook and Brizz Rawsteen. This may have been the best Summer Madness ever (better than even SM2), with five chess rattling battles (a couple of classics).

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The first battle was for the Ultimate Madness 2 grand prize of $25,000, featuring Loud Brothers Holmzie the God and Bill Collector.

This battle was an example of hunger beating creativity. Bill Collector will go down in history as the most successful dude from his crew, the battle emcee outside of Cassidy and Meek Mill who stands as the most recognized and competitive from the Philadelphia area and the inventor of the super-duper scope.

While having UM2 as another title on his mantle would have been nice, his brother Holmzie the God gets that honor and the cash. Both came to the table fighting in memory of two of their beloveds, they showed the community that when integrity and good sportsmanship leads the charge — no one actually loses — and the culture wins.

 

 

Originally scheduled to go down on NOME X, but delayed because the Bullpen leader was sick with the coronavirus, Ill Will vs. John John da Don made those angry about the wait very happy. It is difficult to put Da Don into a box.

As an entertainer he is a tactician; brilliantly he knows how to include just enough “funny,” just enough “real talk,” just enough “grown man business” and just enough “little man-ing” in his rounds to ordinarily conquer anyone that stands before him: Hollow Da Don, Jakk Boy, Big T, etc. He brought that s##t that we love about him to the SMX stage.

But against Ill Will, the 6 ft plus-er did not tower over the competition as he has done in the past. Instead, he had to fight. Ill Will did not come to play —and with an uncompromising level of tenacity gave him the gentleman’s 30 over the PG Killer. The winner of the URL’s UFF 2 tournament, went into the competition as the underdog.

Traditionally scruffy and uncivilized as a battler, fans assumed that the more polished and definitely URL friendly JJDD would snatch the victory. But SMX, showed a lyrical athlete fit physically for the fight, who not only came to rap but came to remind people of why he is just so damn ill. GREAT BATTLE!!!!

The return of Charlie Clips to the URL stage was better than fans could have imagined.

Set up against THE NUMBER ONE battle rapper in the culture, Geechi Gotti, the contest was not only generational but for regional bragging rights. Charlie came with the Harlem legacy on his back, relying on the tools that have made him a consistent candidate in the Mount Rushmore conversation.

And Geechi came with the shark-like hunger, gangster intensity that has allowed him to sever through emcee after emcee. And like most battles, he was tearing flesh with razor-like punches. But this was a dogfight … a dogfight won by experience. Clips came with an arsenal of off the domes that made the difference to the viewers’ experience. By no means can it be said that this was a blowout, but it was a dramatic display demonstrating how battle rap is a full body (mind-twisting, gut-wrenching, and hair follicle raising) engagement and the older vet came in and mesmerized the crowd with a performance that simply wowed.

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No one expected Reed Dollaz to beat Rum Nitty. Often counting the Philly native out, calling his style dated and archaic, he showed up to this battle with the sole intention of changing the minds of every doubter. Rum Nitty was even shocked.

While the EFB founder said that he respected the pen and legacy of his opponent, he may have slept on his ability to pull out a performance that would take him off the battle rap legends’ shelf and place him on par with those kings like Rum Nitty, who are basically the toll bridges to URL’s current limelight.

Let’s never get it twisted, Rum Nitty is Rum Nitty; one of the most ferocious pens across rap categories (the includes commercial Hip-Hop), but SMX was a night of the underdog, and gave us a glimpse of the RD of 2005 with the outfitting that has made him a monster in 2020.

Calicoe and Aye Verb exchange was the showdown of two Midwest titans. If the Island God is Muhammad Ali, the Detroit slick-talker emerged as his Joe Frazier —two prize contenders fighting each other with the intensity that is only bred from being familiar with your opponent. Street talk at its finest, Aye Verb’s lyricism can’t ever seem to be matched.

Gutter rhyming at its most perfected, Calicoe plays with battle rap-like an alley cat swatting a dead mouse up and down the street. While the two may have a chip on their shoulders because their region has been dismissed and looked over for years, their performance on September 19th (on a free world-wide platform) etched in the psyche of all that were watching that the Midwest breeds lyrical killers.

A stellar battle which was years in the making, debatable and mostly likely a preference contest, the rewatch value alone makes this a classic battle that will be a blueprint for such rivalry in the culture from now on.

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The most debatable battle of the night was the B-Dot versus T-Top. The winner would be determined by your preference, as two of the best anglers went head to head with varying approaches. B-Dot, the Pan-African and Black Consciousness repping Gang Banger, talked to Top in a way that few people have been courageous enough to do. His most powerful angle lifted how he believes that Top does not protect Black women nor honors them, questioning what kind of man will his daughter look to when his father doesn’t respect women.

Top also attacked Dot’s character, unpacking the hypocrisy of being a gang banger and someone pushing the Blackness as a movement. One angle that was effective that he took was that he became super conscious after losing his scholarship given by the “white man.” The way they went at it, you would think that neither one of them was worth the cotton they were dressed in — but that shows you just how amazing these lyricists are. Can’t call this one at all and like the Cal and Verb battle will be watched over and over and over again. Shout out to B-Dot for having two battles that are contenders for the battle of the year!

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Why is K-Shine so damn good? WHYYYYYYY! No one ever expects K-Shine to lose, but indeed they never know just how great and amazing he will be when he steps out on the stage. Geechi Gotti and Ill Will have alternated as the top two battlers in the culture, but the reality is that no one should not be able to have that conversation without including K-Shine.

The three create the holy trinity of modern battling. The EFB Compton Crip, the ‘Yac Town Homi Member, and NWX’s Harlem Punisher have all painted the culture with exciting battles for at least three years and their appearances on this card continued to add color and texture to the culture’s portrait of a champion. So … against Chess … a good Chess … a Chess that was 95% without stumble or flaw … K-Shine had the pressure of not letting this hungry monster take his plate and knock him off his dīn.

And without question Shine shined.

Rhyme after rhyme. Punch after hard-hitting punch. Spazz-out after spazz-out after entertaining spazz-out, Professor Shine lectured Chess about his potential and how important focus has to be in his path to longevity. He would know. It was not until he got focused that he became god-tier (yup … finally said it!). But this was not a Chess unreceptive to the lecture that was given by John John, Lux and so many more.

The Cake Lyfe leader and Cave Gang rebel was passionate, lyrical and genius in his approach. He brought the fire that makes him that guy to be feared. He was scary on that Sesame Street styled set, with rhymes that were way more intricate than a graduate-level physics class. The match up gave us more than a glimpse of his greatness but showered the viewers with a waterfall of how f**king bananas this kid is right now at 21. Great battle, but Shine edged a Gentleman’s 30 from this Bronx bomber.

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Summer Madness X exceeded all expectations. Smack and them gave the culture exactly what it needed to end Virgo Season and start the fall off right.