KOTD offers prize incentives for B2B3 –
In a few days now, on October 24, KOTD will host its third “Back to Basics” (B2B3) event in San Jose, California. Given the location of the event, KOTD has termed the event “Back to BAYsics 3,” and while the spelling of the name might be one of the most immediately noticeable differences between this event and the other two previous KOTD events, it is definitely not the only thing worth taking note of. While the other two B2B events had a fairly limited number of high profile or top tier battlers taking part in the matches, the lineup for this card has more than a couple of matches where even a casual battle rap fan is likely to be familiar with one or both of the competitors. Of course, there are still a few matches with battlers that some fans might not be as familiar with (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), the fact that these smaller Back to Basics events are starting to include more of the seasoned battlers will hopefully encourage more of the people involved to work harder to display their talent and put on a good showing for the fans. This seems to be increasingly important given that there were a few rather poor performances at the last Back to Basics event when multiple emcees had lengthy chokes, and at least two separate battles weren’t even dropped on the main KOTD channel, which is likely due to the fact that they included some of the less entertaining performances of the evening. If those reasons weren’t motivation enough for the rappers to come to the event with some of their top level material, KOTD has announced that there will be two $1,000 prizes given away for the best battler and best battle of the night (additional details regarding that announcement can be found HERE).
Match of the Night?
Given that this event has some pretty solid matchups, it’s hard to say who is most likely to win either of the prizes, but some of the feedback from the battlers who will be competing at the event has been that the match between Bigg K and Caustic is a likely candidate for the win. Their two styles and approaches to battling seem to be quite different from one another given that Bigg K is more of a serious and aggressive rapper, while Caustic spends more time joking and being disrespectful, so considering that this match should provide entertainment for fans with varying preferences for battle rap styles, it wouldn’t surprise me if these two do end up splitting the $1,000 prize for battle of the night. Aside from them, while DNA and Dirtbag Dan likely have some leftover material that they have been able to further develop since their cancelled match at KOTD’s MASSacre event, the two of them seem to have rather polarizing effects on fans as I regularly see many negative (and what seems like slightly fewer positive) comments online directed towards them from fans, so it seems fairly unlikely that enough fans will give their vote to these two. Others that I think could stand a chance to get it though are Daylyt and QP (who are both very lyrical) or Pass and Arsonal (assuming Arsonal can give a solid performance for three full rounds, as he doesn’t seem to have given one of those in KOTD for a very long time now).
Battler of the Night?
As for who seems most likely to get the prize for battler of the night, I really think that Gjonaj stands a pretty good chance to win. Like many other fans, after the first time of seeing Gjonaj perform in his URL PG battle against Gutta, I started to take an immediate interest in his battle career. From going back and looking at all the other battles that I could find of him from different leagues like Bar Wars, Black Ice Cartel, and Alpha League, I didn’t find a single weak performance that he’s had. All of his battles are entertaining on multiple levels, owing to his well-crafted lines and his deeply thought out delivery, and these attributes enable fans to appreciate bars that they might not have even caught if these lines had been written or performed slightly different. Regardless of whether he wins the prize for battle of the night, it should be good to see him face off against Dizaster on the KOTD stage as it seems like the match between these two has been inevitable, given that ever since Gjonaj started to get increased attention, people have continuously compared him to Dizaster. Also, it should be a good test for Gjonaj as this will be the first top tier opponent he’s taken on, and given Dizaster’s strong performance against Dumbfoundead at WD5, he may also be contention for the battler of the night at B2B3. Wither way, while the comparisons of the two rappers continue to be quite prevalent in various forms of social media, other than their aggressive deliveries and the fact that they are ethnically similar (Dizaster being Lebanese and Gjonaj being Arabic and Albanian), I don’t really think there are that many similarities between the two. While I do enjoy watching Dizaster’s battles and think he is a very good battler, if he doesn’t come to the battle composed and with three solid rounds, there is a very good chance he could lose the match very definitively. Still, that’s just my opinion, so decide for yourself and check out the latest trailer and the full matchup card for KOTD Back to BAYsics 3 below.
Back to BAYsics 3 matchup card
- Dizaster vs. Gjonaj
- Bigg K vs. Caustic
- Dirtbag Dan vs. DNA
- The Saurus vs. Fresco
- Arsonal vs. Pass
- Daylyt vs. QP
- Madflex vs. Lu Cipher
- Reverse Live vs. Only One
- Coma vs. Frak
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