The highly anticipated battle in female battle rap is finally here, 1st lady of URL Ms. Hustle vs. Jaz the Rapper. For those of you who aren’t familiar with female battle rap just know that both ladies are known to annihilate every opponent they battle and both have made memorable appearances on the world largest battle rap platform, Ultimate Rap League commonly referred to as URL. Ms. Hustle, the original 1st lady of SMACK/URL took a year off to focus on her family life, meanwhile a new lyrical, bar-heavy star was emerging on the battle rap scene. With that being said its no wonder why battle rap enthusiast have made it debatable as to who’s actually URL’s 1st lady.
The two femcee’s were URL’s Summer Madness main event in response to numerous requests from fans wanting to see a classic battle. So did it live up to the hype?
The first round went to Jaz. Unlike a large number of female battle rappers, she didn’t rely on aggression or props to gain the crowd’s attention although many often times see that as a weak point. Her lyrical word play, punchlines, and captivating bars were enough to control the audience. Ms. Hustle was good as well. She also had bars and standing at 6 feet tall she definitely brought the aggression. The only problem was her minor chokes, and word stumbles that gave the crowd reason to question her title as 1st lady of URL.
The second round could go to either side, they both had bars, punchlines and audience control but my opinion is that round went to Jaz too. The main thing Ms. Hustle said that stood out to me was “I could just say you got ghostwriters but nah, let me take a minute to breakdown my opponent.” She made an assumption that Jaz has a ghostwriter, but which one of these female battle rappers doesn’t? I enjoy battle rap like anyone else but we have to remember that battle (and mainstream) rappers are not actually out on the streets “pushing work” or “catching bodies” then showing up to the studio to make a song about it.
By the third round it was kind of evident who won. Jaz came with personals, jokes, bars and stage presence. Ms. Hustle relied on her vocal aggression to make her bars resonate more but the crowd quickly became unimpressed with her word stumbles and long pauses in an attempt to remember her bars toward the end.
When the battle was first announced everyone, including myself, put their bids on Ms. Hustle’s Harlem bred bars, aggression and performance. What I personally like best about her battles is she doesn’t fall into the hype of the crowd and she doesn’t try to win them over by making petty personals or jokes to distract the audience like most (battle) rappers who don’t have real bars. Honestly, I never gave Jaz much thought because I’ve always felt that her past battles relied upon crowd reaction instead of bars to determine her wins. However, after seeing her out-bar a femcee who’s known to do well even when it comes to battling her male counterparts, I now have a new outlook on Jaz the rapper.
Both of the ladies did well and stayed true to the moniker BARS OVER EVERYTHING!!! Take a look at the video below and tell us what you think.