Tay Roc vs. Lu Castro – A Masterclass in Consistency

The Drop

Thankfully, URL is still dropping battles on YouTube. After the advent of the app era, we seldom see battles going to the Tube unless they are very big battles. While this matchup features one of the biggest names in battle rap (Tay Roc), it wasn’t necessarily marketed as one of the most anticipated battles of the year.

The Performance

That lack of anticipation, however, doesn’t mean it isn’t on par to be one of the best battles we’ve seen thus far. The first round alone does enough to hold this battle afloat for the following two. It is filled with enough powerful material that some could have been saved for other forays.

Battles like this, that have so much content in each round, are the reason I stopped in-depth analysis of every single bar—there is simply too much to cover. But this is what we expect from (and are glad to receive from) the most respected Ultimate Rap League. In fact, all rounds were full of potency that you’re just not getting from other leagues, or from other rappers for that matter.

The Tay Roc Run

Which brings me to the topic of one, Tay Roc. We just might be witnessing one of the best runs in battle rap to date; I mean, ever. The ways in which he is dominating each and every performance is borderline unbelievable.

We’ve seen good runs from the likes of Geechi Gotti, Rum Nitty, and even Eazy the Block Captain, but none for this long and against this type of competition. Coming off a Champion of the Year (COTY) run last year, it seems like Roc is swinging for a back-to-back belt. Ironically enough, this should be the last time we see the acclaimed Champion of the Year battle rap title given out. If he wins, he’ll be well deserving of such a feat.

The Opposition: Lu Castro

You can’t prove how good of an emcee you are without good competition. So, going up against ‘The Most Electrifying’ in Lu Castro was the perfect matchup for Tay Roc. Castro is a premier performer in battle rap, possibly second to none.

He matched Roc’s energy, crowd control, and mastery of bars in each and every round. Ever the professional, he’s always prepared and we rarely see any slips from him. His style requires a bit of perfection to achieve, so I think a focus on preparation is a big deal. He was just outmatched for almost every round this battle, which is very difficult to do. He was able to take the third by adding just a bit of a personal attack about Tay Roc’s accusations against Kid Slade, which came out to be less than true.