SMACK/URL’s first ever matchup between two women featured the highly anticipated and hyped debut of Harlem’s Ms. Hustle stepping into the ring with E-Hart, the titleholder to the term “Queen of the Ring.” The streets introduction to the ladies was definitely a classic that withstands the test of time.

Memorable Moment: E-Hart putting Hustle’s EBT card on her t-shirt

PH and Dizaster hated each other.  After going back and forth online for quite sometime, Dizaster called PH out and to everyone’s surprise, PH made his return to the battle scene against one of the most vicious emcees to ever step into the ring.  This battle was as close as it gets, with an extremely controversial ending that had people talking for months.  PH started two trends with his “Rule #1 in the emcee handbook” and “4 minutes 56 seconds” bars.  Dizaster’s, “Its like the last episode of Flavor of Love the way that bitch Pumpkin spit in New York’s face” is one of the most perfect lines I have ever heard.

Memorable Moment: PH acting out Dizaster’s choke against Locksmith

If I could do a TOP 10 PERSONAL FAVORITES list, this battle would be in the top 3.  In the days before battle leagues and youtube, Proof and Bizarre made sure that Detroit emcees stayed sharp in the battlegrounds.  This is a great example of the vintage Marvwon that fans loved before the funny Jumpoff battles and controversial league matches.  Famous flat out had some of the best punchlines of this time period - he is one of the emcees that could benefit from exposure in battles now - hopefully he comes back to the ring.

Memorable Moment: “Her head is like a good golf swing ... she gets up under the balls”

This is the battle that put Ness Lee on a different level; he jumped out the middle of the pack and, as always, FLO was HILARIOUS.  This video proves that Battle of the Bay 5 was one of the best battle events of all time, as even the undercards were classic.

Memorable Moment: Ness Lee’s impersonation of FLO

The original URL “one off” battle and the true definition of a CLASSIC.  Both emcees proved why they were at the forefront of URL’s rise to the top of the battle world.  This is a perfect example of a classic street battle.

Memorable Moment: “Wait for it ... who is this nigga?” - still classic

When Time Is Money popped up on the scene doing these one round “one off” battles, I think we were confused.  They were one of the first leagues outside of the majors to pay for big matches.  We didn’t know how one round would go, but it was DNA’s major look and T-Rex’s chance to prove his legend status amongst new fan favorites.  They both killed it.  Congrats to Time Is Money for reaching 1 million views.

Memorable Moment: T-Rex’s hypeman (Sho from Dot Mobb) - he’s almost better than Conceited’s homies

During his run on the Underground Sessions dvds, Iron Solomon made a name for himself by completely obliterating his opponents.  When this battle came out, a lot of us thought “no way Solomon can top this” after Madness’ first round.  Well ... we were wrong, Solomon reached a level of freestyle a lot of us didn’t know existed at the time, while Madness was funny as shit.  This was Madness’ introduction to a huge battle fanbase and one of Iron Solomon’s many defining moments.

Bet you guys didn’t know Madness and Iron almost teamed up for Jumpoff’s 2006 Rap World Championships.  Would have been crazy huh?

Memorable Moment: “You swallow more balls than Hungry Hungry Hippos” - Madness is Double Entendre tha Funny Gawd - NO DEBATING

 

Bill Collector may be the most entertaining battle rapper in history; he is hilarious, while having a flow charisma that would have made hip hop’s forefathers proud.  The crazy thing is that M. Ciddy said so many dope punchlines, but Bill completely stole the show and put on a performances for the ages.  If you have never watched a Bill Collector battle, stop reading this and watch now.

Memorable Moment: “I got tha burna”

On April 25, 2006 Jumpoff threw an event called, Spin The Mic, which had featured some of the best battle rappers in the world, including: Quest MCODY, Illmaculate, The Saurus, and Nocando.  Fresh out of the event, The Saurus was asked to do an impromptu street battle with Iron Solomon, giving fans a chance to see what a lot of people believed should have been the 2005 Scribble Jam final.  Without taking a second to think, The Saurus jumped into what would become the most viewed and talked about battle of 2006.  The main argument is that Iron was prepared for the battle, while Saurus had to resort to freestyling.  It may just be a testament to Iron’s preparation and The Saurus’ freestyle ability.

Memorable Moment: “We both lost to Justice at Scribble, but at least mine was debatable” - I jumped up and ran when Saurus said that

The first SMACK/URL battle to reach one million views.  A bunch of blogs, press conferences and diss records had the fans wanting to see this one battle.  After two years of negotiations, the matchup finally happened.  Arsonal is the most viewed battle rapper, and the pace at which this battle grew is a testament to that, but this was Hitman Holla’s defining performance.

Memorable Moment: Squidward’s clarinet - the definition of infamous