In light of the recent release of the official trailer for QOTR's "No Holds Barred" battle event, Battle Rap Journalist Michael Hughes felt it was only right to provide the many Battle Rap fans with a detailed recap of their most recent and successful event to date. The unfortunate events that occurred at KOTD's BOLA 5 event, which took place on the same date as "N.H.B.," distracted fans from the great levels of success that QOTR achieved at Irving Plaza.

Although this was the first time that the brand has held an event at an official performance venue rather than a boxing gym, QOTR managed to pack the house just as much as Smack/URL did for their NOME 4 event, if not more. I met the VladTV camerawoman, Alexis, at the venue at 12pm which is when the battles were scheduled to start; however, due to various artists arriving late the event was significantly delayed. This allowed for a truly massive line to form outside of Irving Plaza which stretched all the way down the block and around the corner, filling up most of the avenue. It was a very hot day outside, but fans were luckily standing under shade provided by scaffolding, and a wise "Icee" man made his rounds throughout the line, hooking everyone up with $2 frosty refreshments to keep them cool.

Upon entering the venue, I was awed by the setup of the 20ft-by-20ft ring installed in the second floor performance space. The vast ring was built right next to the stage, where special stage VIP seats were set up for people to get the closest view possible of all of the battles. In the background hung a massive banner that read: "QOTR, Queen Of The Ring Rep, The Brand." The cool setup made the battles easily visible for everyone on the ground floor, stage, and the top floor VIP section as well. The multiples bars within the venue allowed everyone to enjoy various drinks and also food on the ground floor while they waited for the battles to start.

My first interview conducted was with Ms. Miami, as we discussed her battle with Jai Smoove which took place one week later on A.R.P.'s R.B.E. "Lift His Soul" battle event. After this interview concluded, the event began. I kicked back in the sound booth up above and watched the battles with an unobstructed view from start to finish. The first battle from the card, was between C3 vs Tori Doe, and it really set the tone for the rest of the battles to follow in its footsteps. This clash had a lot of drama riding behind it, for it was Tori's big return to QOTR after a 2 year absence from the league, meanwhile C3 was coming off of a huge performance against O'fficial at the "Caskets or Classics" event.

Tori went first and really raised the bar high for C3 to come back and match in her round. Even though Tori hasn't stepped foot in the ring in years, she performed throughout her three rounds flawlessly as if she never left. She's really got a natural gift when it comes to battling, as she really made her stellar performance seem effortless vs. C3. On the flipside, C3 seemed to struggle to lock into her zone from the very beginning, and she even suffered some uncharacteristic stumbles and brief chokes during the battle. She didn't perform badly overall, but in the end her performance and material was far from matching Tori's live in the building, however, that may change when the footage gets released.

Up next was the Battle of the Night between Couture vs. O'fficial. Every QOTR fan was extremely excited to see this battle, for Couture and O'fficial are two huge names in female Battle Rap who always come fully prepared and put on a great show. While O'fficial has made a quick name for herself for being a punchline beast, Couture brought with her the element of surprise, because nobody can ever predict what approach or prop she'll use for her battles. It was a closely contested match that was full of hard bars and very impactful punchlines from both ladies, and easily a debatable battle. This was the one battle of the night where each opponent was able to maintain a consistent level of energy, focus, and execution of their material throughout the three full rounds, without even the slightest slip or stumble. However, Couture's prop may be the deciding factor for many fans once the footage drops. Without spoiling the surprise I'll just say this, Couture's prop and execution of it was superb, and it caught everyone off guard.

Next up was Bonnie Godiva vs. Ms. Fit. These two ladies exchanged some very competitive words in each of their individual VladTV interviews, so the hype for this battle was elevated weeks in advance. Being totally honest and unbiased, while this was a closely contested battle, it wasn't the best performance from either woman, as they each had to work fairly hard to gain energetic crowd reaction. Bonnie came bar-heavy, meanwhile Ms. Fit mixed up bars with a lot of jokes, which is what the crowd reacted to the most for her. At one point while Ms. Fit was trying to dig at Bonnie with personals regarding her romantic life, Bonnie made a shocking announcement to the entire venue, that I won't spoil here. All-in-all, this battle was a preference battle, that will come down to a debate of "bars or jokes."

Following Bonnie vs Ms. Fit, was the highly anticipated clash between Gattas vs. E Hart. Gattas was coming off of a strong performance vs. Ms. Hustle just two weeks prior at NOME 4, and the amount of effort that she put into NOME seemed to have effected her greatly in a negative way for this battle. Much like Tori, E Hart has been away from the ring for a long time, ever since her battle vs. Chayna Ashley, so many fans were wondering if any ring rust would play a factor in her ability to execute her bars. However, all doubts were put to rest after E Hart began firing off gritty bars and punchlines from the very start of the battle.

Her first round was truly vicious, and seemed to rattle Gattas' focus a bit. When it was Gattas' turn to spit, she picked up a lot of steam with crafty bars and delivery, however, she unfortunately stumbled near the end of her first verse. E Hart continued to bombard Gattas with truly powerful bars throughout the entire 3 rounds such as: "The men you (menu) drop down soon as the right click," and "Patient with that thing, you know calm, mellow (Carmelo), you know, waiting on the ring." Gattas eventually lost all focus in the third round and choked badly enough that she forfeited the rest of her round, giving E Hart the obvious victory.

The next battle was one that fans patiently waited to see for years, and thus, it had high expectations leading into it. The crowd became ecstatic when Phara Funeral and QB stepped into the ring, and for good reason. Phara came out with some really dope wordplay and strong bars in her first round, to which QB battled back with some truly disrespectful bars that made the round debatable, even though it did take QB a little while to cook up in her first. This was a closely fought match, however, the extreme levels of disrespect that QB spat out at Phara left many of the fans in the building awarding QB with the victory. When the footage drops that judgement is subject to change.

Finally, the true main even of the night kicked off when Jaz The Rapper and 40 B.A.R.R.S. entered the ring. There was a lot riding on this battle since Jaz and 40 are both regarded as two of the best in the entire female Battle Rap scene. While this match was supposed to be a true "Clash of the Titans," it unfortunately and surprisingly turned out to be the most uneven match of the night. Jaz came to the battle in rare form, as her bars, punches, and overall performance were better than ever before. In the past she's been labeled as "boring" when she raps, but this battle should definitely change that perception of her in the eyes of the fans when the footage is released.

40 battled twice back-to-back soon before her match with Jaz - including a battle with Cortez - which definitely played a major role in her surprisingly bad performance. Everyone is used to seeing 40 on top of her game, spitting hard relentless bars at her opponents throughout three rounds, but this battle was entirely different. From the very first round 40 seemed unfocused and generally outclassed. She could barely remember her verses and suffered a very rough choke in her third round which lead to a complete 3-0 body in favor of Jaz.

All-in-all, QOTR truly elevated the stock of their brand with this incredibly successful event. Regardless of some of the individual sub-par performances that occurred that night, "N.H.B." provided fans with truly memorable moments in Battle Rap history, and some stellar displays of what top-quality female Battle Rappers can bring to the sport. The epic performances put on by Jaz The Rapper, E Hart, O'fficial, Couture, and QB, are the types that knock down the gender barriers within the sport and prove that the ladies can be just as entertaining and impressive with their pen game and performance as their male counterparts.

Look out for the first battle of the N.H.B. card dropping tomorrow, July 13th, between O'fficial vs. Couture, and keep your eyes peeled for the rest of the battles to be released in the near future. QOTR is on a steady rise, and it's clear that no other league can do what they've managed to do for the female battle MC's. Now that QOTR has solidified their spot in Irving Plaza, you can only expect to see more great things from the No. 1 Female Battle Rap league in the world.