After a few passes of each of the tracks, here is my take on the battle.
Backstory: From what I gather Tory began the feud talking on Social media about Joyner and his skills do not compare. Joyner then extended a challenge for Lanez to pick a beat, they would both rap on it and see who does it better.
Track 1: Lucky You Remix - Tory Lanez.
I am not too sure how I feel about this track as a whole from the beat selection, to content to delivery.
The Beat: Lanez chose to open this battle with Eminem's "Lucky You" which happens to feature Joyner Lucas. I found this an odd choice coming from Joyner's challenge that Lanez picks a beat and they both rap on it.| Content: Though catchy and delivered pretty well I found the content of the track lacking. I found the song lacking in the connection to Joyner Lucas almost entirely...and that's with reaching for the Mini Mac reference that Joyner mentions in "Lucky You." The I'm awesome-You suck, I'm Rich- You're poor, I got views- You don't type beef content leaves me often disappointed. Delivery: For the most part I enjoy the track as a whole and how Lanez delivers it though it falls short as a diss track for me. The "E" end rhyme on the end of the track left me with a bit of a 'meh' type feeling.
Artwork: I enjoyed the artwork, clean and colorful. Things I Liked: I like the track as that...a track. A lot of the bars were catchy and interesting from me like the Smash Bros reference, Gary Payton comparison and depending on how you take the line the hint at maybe 3 tracks coming this week.
Final Thoughts: Lacking; There is nothing in this track that links it to Lucas for me also there is nothing that makes this track seem current to me either. Even the artwork doesnt even link the track to Joyner listed as a freestyle not a Joyner Diss. Eminem's "Lucky You" track dropped in August so as far as I'm concerned this track could have been sitting on a hard drive for weeks, or months even. To be honest, I dont even think this whole track is better than Joyner's original verse on "Lucky You."
Track 2: Litty Freestyle - Joyner Lucas
I enjoyed this track from the first listen and enjoyed digging back in to catch the references and bars.
The Beat: Joyner chose to respond with the Meek Mill track "Litty" that originally featured Tory Lanez.
Content: Right off the bat there is no mistaking who this track is aimed at and I feel over the track he does everything I enjoy in a diss track. He clearly identifies who he is talking to, makes it personal and makes references to the previous track. I find the track interesting and catchy with the hook making me laugh. Joyner makes reference to a few things from the previous song including video game references (Super Smash Bros - PaRappa Tha Rappa) and addresses Lanez referring to Joyner as a kid.
Delivery: I like how the track flowed, first one with a hook so far, not that means anything really (unless you look at the original challenge). He seems to flip up the style a few times over the song without too much effort, though I'm sure that hook I spoke of aids in this as well.
Artwork: I find this artwork also being very direct with a real obvious flip of Tory Lanez "I Told You" album. Joyners head photoshopped over Tory's body with even similar designs shaved into the eyebrow. The hat reads "Oh My God, They Killed Tory." Things I didn't like: There were some questionable lines that I gave passes because they were on the first track, but if they were to show up later or even get repeated will be wack. Low points for me were the reused "They compare me to Em, You to Iggy" and the 69 bars.
Final Thoughts: I enjoy this as a track, a diss and I think definitely sets the tone moving forward.
Track 3: Litty Again - Tory Lanez
I was a bit late hearing this track and I'm not sure if its the track or the hype but I found this track really seemed rushed to me.
Beat: I like that Lanez came back on the same beat, sounds really good like he used the instrumental that Meek sent him originally.
Content: I found this track much better than his first response. A lot of the bars in this track I found interesting but found a continuation of the I got more money/views/plaques type bars in this. i enjoyed a lot of the bars and references to Joyner's previous track with items such as "Cornball in a Boston Hat", the continuation of the kid bars and even takes it personal mentioning Joyners father.
Delivery: Again with this track I find it kind of all over the place and the final end rhyme him x4 followed by it x4 leaves the track seeming 'meh' again.
Artwork: I don't know if I'm missing something or maybe I just dont get the sponge bob reference.
What I didn't like: I get hip hop is mostly about ego and that diss tracks are more about believable rather than truthful but I found a few things in this track like Tory is trying to sway his fans or fans who don't know Joyner's history. The I killed you 2 times, I made you're career, if you make now it is because of me type bars seem almost laughable to anyone who has followed Joyner at all.
Final Thoughts: I knew the 69 rebuttal was coming, though the lines were hilarious it kind of loses its punch when your'e featured on his album. Though this song is stronger I find both Lanez tracks fall short at the end lacking to finish strong.
Track 4: ZeZe - Joyner Lucas
I enjoyed this track and the beat selection.
The Beat: I am not sure if there is any relevance to the beat selection in this case but the beat is Zeze - Kodack Black w. Travis Scott and Offset.
Content: I think Joyner really dug in on this one making sure to address as much as he could including a few weak references again. Joyner makes sure to match Tory's previous track with taking the content personal including both Tory's family life as well as Tory's previous accusations of individuality and plagiarism.
Delivery: i find this track a bit more sloppy in regards to the previous tracks with Joyner often using the same end rhyme over and over. (dropped/drops/props/stop/drop/top/shot/pop). Also I found the papa talking to the kid stuff running on a bit long.
What I did like: I do like how Joyner matched the tempo by replying with personal info, though at times it feels like he wrote this track looking at Tory's Wikipedia page. I do like how he addresses the being in Drakes shadow, the identity issues (that have been mentioned before), the plagiarism issues (which have been mentioned before as well) and the continuation of the kid bars.
Final Thoughts: I find this track more interesting each pass, catching bars that I may have missed the time before. That Cousin Skeeter bar was hilarious.
Its been a few days and from what Tory has been saying is that he is not responding, leaving me lacking and disappointed from the initial '3 in a week' bar. Also with the 4 tracks and 3 different beats I am not too sure how to address this coming from Joyner's original challenge. If I compare it from the beats stand point and who did it better on each beat, the battle is unfinished....If I take it from a track standpoint for me it still seems pretty unfinished with no Lanez on the Zeze track.
Outcome: Even though they both win on this and have both expressed that it is for the culture and on wax only, there still is an emcee that comes out on top. I was contemplating on how to address this battle and judge it for myself...Do I judge this solely on a battle/diss standpoint or from Joyner's challenge who did a better track? I think either way I have the same emcee on top..... Joyner Lucas.
I have picked Joyner for a couple of reasons: I find that Joyners tracks were better songs, even though they had a rougher sound to Tory's. You combine that with the creativity of Joyners bars and how clearly addresses and attacks Torys character in both tracks. I have a really unfinished vibe to this battle personally judging it by beat not by track order...having it rated like this:
Lucky You Beat - Joyner
Litty Beat - Tory
Zeze Beat - Joyner by default Now if I remove the original Lucky You track with Joyner I have it rated like this:
Round 1: Joyner (Litty Freestyle)
Round 2: Joyner (Zeze Freestyle)
At this point I am not even going to address the followup garbage....Tory picking other fights and Mysonne jumping onboard.
Article originally posted on The Hip Hop Librarian.
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