Share!KOTD WD5 (Top 3) Highlight Summary –
As one of the biggest battle rap events of the year has come to a close, KOTD’s World Domination 5 (WD5) was able to offer fans some great moments and matches that will long be remembered. In this edition of Top 3, we will look to highlight a few of these moments by ranking three of the most noteworthy things to go down at the event. Please note that while this post may contain some minor spoilers, any mention of the title match has been deliberately withheld in order to avoid the possibility of prematurely informing any fans about the outcome of that match in case they are holding off to see it for themselves.
#3: The Return of Iron Solomon
After he took a huge loss to Murda Mook at URL’s Summer Madness 2 event a few years ago, nobody has really heard anything about Iron Solomon making a return to battling, so many people were surprised when it was announced that Iron Solomon would make his KOTD debut against Daylyt at WD5. As Solomon has since explained, the match was initiated after he began speaking to Poison Pen about possibly getting back into battling when they were both at the KOTD Massacre event. From there, Solomon began communications with Daylyt and KOTD to eventually get the match set up. As Daylyt can be very unpredictable, most people were hoping that he wouldn’t do anything to ruin a potentially classic matchup, but thankfully, both emcees delivered strong performances in what can be considered one of the better matches of the event. Iron Solomon’s return is especially notable as he has since stated that he and KOTD are working towards a deal that will see him battle at least three more times, with Solomon saying that at the latest, his next battle would be at Blackout. See the announcement here:
#2: Kid Twist brings Norm Kelly to the stage
Toronto city councilman Norm Kelly has recently received some increased attention after he directed a few tweets towards Meek Mill in relation to one of the biggest hip-hop news stories right now: the ongoing feud between Toronto native Drake and Philly based Meek Mill. Given that Kid Twist is also from Toronto and was set to face Rone, who is always happy to represent for Philly, Twist thought that it would be an interesting idea to see if Norm Kelly would be willing to be in his corner for the matchup, which Norm agreed to do. While Knamelis helped Kid Twist keep Norm hidden in the venue greenroom leading up to the battle, Rone surprisingly dropped a line about the councilman before Norm could even be seen. This enabled Kid Twist to have an even more impactful lead in when he brought Norm on stage, which was then met by a huge crowd reaction. Overall this was a pretty big moment given the way that it all tied together, the surprise factor that it had on the fans and the performers, and for the fact that it helps to further establish relations between the battle community and the community as a whole, especially given the support shared between a local (74 year old) politician and KOTD. You can check out a short clip of the reveal here:
#1: Performance of Dizaster and Dizast-Eurgh
After Dizaster was banned from KOTD for a year as a result of his altercation with Math Hoffa, many of Dizaster’s fans have been waiting to see him return to the KOTD main stage. While he made his official return to KOTD in a match against Chilla Jones at the Back to the Basics 2 event on June 27, the match seemed to fall a flat, which could be at least partially attributed to the battle being set up with only 10 days to prep and the awkward structure of the battle with only two rounds. Regardless of the reasons, the match left many fans feeling let down, with quite a few people commenting that Dizaster may be long past his prime. Much of that talk has since changed though, after Dizaster showed up to WD5 and gave what many people are calling his best performance in years against his opponent Dumbfoundead, and he then gave a surprise in-character performance as Eurgh against Sketch Menace after Eurgh bailed on his scheduled performance. While Eurgh’s cancellation has since created a bit of friction and controversy between himself and KOTD (you can read more about it HERE), his cancellation and the subsequent decision for Dizaster to stand in as the punching bag enabled Sketch Menace and Dizaster to both vent some of the frustrations they have with Eurgh, especially since they both have some well documented history with the Don’t Flop founder. Altogether, Dizaster had two of the best performances of the event, which is even more notable as he showed up in a separate costume for each, as (in addition to dressing up as Eurgh to face Sketch) battled dressed as a Shaolin monk to face off against Dumbfoundead.
Wonder if Iron Soloman has anything to offer to this day and age in battle rap. It’s not that he lost it. Its more that he probably hasn’t gotten any better. Anyway I have no doubt Day can destroy Soloman but you never know which Daylyt you gonna get.
Solomon said that part of his interest and motivation for coming back was due to the high level of lyricism there is in the game now, so I think you can see that he tried to exhibit his ability to be on par with that in some of the wordplay used in the battle. That being said, you may be right about his need to improve because his flow and delivery still seemed a little outdated/awkward against Day (definitely not as bad as when he faced Mook, but still awkward). Speaking of Mook though, at least we can say that Solomon is one of the “pioneers” of the modern day battle scene who is willing to step back in the ring for the love of the sport without asking for some ridiculous $100k fee.