Everyone is excited about the upcoming battle against Philly’s own Cassidy and the Bronx born Goodz on URL in a few weeks. Â With the card, Resolution, everyone is curious to see if Cassidy can compete with one of the modern era’s most formidable opponents.
While the question is out there… Cass has put in enough work for him to walk right up to the top stage, with one of their top gunners.
Homie has been smoking dudes on the mic for over 20 years.
Anyone who is anyone in Philly’s rap scene is familiar with the lyrical dexterity of Cass, and no one can front on how dope he is as an emcee. Â Check out a video from Back2BasicsRealRapsTV, of Cassidy explain how he got on.
Also check him out as a buck, sick with the flows, showing folk just why many believe that he “been” battle rap’s The G.O.A.T.
Clearly, Gilly aka The King Of Philly agrees(and you know when Gilly speaks… folk listen).
But none of these freestyles, his alleged 5001 victories in battle nor his street life scars- are what people reference when they talk about him as one of the originators of this current incarnation of battle rap.
They look to the battle with former Roc-A-fella and present Roc Nation rhyme-spitter Freeway, a contest that the legend of Cass rests squarely on.
Back in the day, congregated in a studio, one of the most epic battles amongst commercial rappers not only took place but was captured on video.
Though the footage is grainy, the bars have been preserved. It is a great glimpse behind the scenes of two of Philly’s greatest Hip-Hop voices.
In the footage you hear a young Freeway, with his high pitched and sliding scale vocals, spitting some of his most hard-hitting bars.
Not to be outmatched, Cassidy brings the charm, clever wordplay and yes machismo to the field of combat. The overall consensus is that Cass won. His win was based more on the fact that Freeway seems to have run out of rhymes in the footage. Few can say that Cassidy saturated the atmosphere with superior rhymes and beat him lyrically. Both emcees were ripe with flows and bars. No one can deny that from the gate Freeway had electric energy. When Freeway started his first round with, “You ain’t f*ing with Free for two reasons: my two kids, my two mouths to fee…,” it was clear that Cass was not just dealing with any old emcee.
This rhyme-fest showcased why the ferocious Philly spit-kicker was so attractive to at the time to the number one crew in rap.
However, the rules of the game were different 15 years ago. Of course, your pen had to be nice, but you also had to write like your life depended on it (and have a stash for a “just in case” scenario).
Check out for yourself.
Interesting enough, Cassidy battled (and beat) West Coast rapper, Dizaster a few years ago. And while Diz is one of this generation of battlers’ faves, lyrically, that battle could not hold up against Cassidy vs. Freeway. Bar-for-Bar both Philly emcees hold a mountain-like weight in the culture that can’t be moved or destroyed.
But on the Resolution card, Goodz will surely try. Â With only 23 battles under his belt, few can say that they have beat him on stage. Sure you have those two disqualifications… and a few one-offs where he joked the entire rounds… but no league owner or fan can say that Goodz is not worth the hefty purse that he requires to hold that glass of Henny and style on these n*ggaz. In fact, even Tay Roc felt the “Goodz Effect” last year when the two battled in Houston. This was the first time that “The Face of URL” and crowd favorite had ever been booed. Cass simply can’t sleep on Goodz. He is known to make people believers.
The sold-out Resolution is set for April 27th in Atlanta. Other battles are Tay Roc vs. K-Shine, Nu Jerzey Twork vs. John John Da Don, Rum Nitty vs. T-Top, Shotgun Suge vs. Chef Trez and Yung Ill vs. Brizz Rawsteen. The card will be available on Watchbattlelive.com.
