Death Note Rap Battle: L vs. Near

Finished
Like this debate? Score +4
···
X Facebook
Pro Instigator Opens first Tie
Instigator Avatar
2
Rating
1740
Debates
27
Win rate
94.44%
Con Contender Tie
Contender Avatar
2
Rating
1445
Debates
17
Win rate
44.12%
Verdict It's a tie
Savant Pro
2
GreatfulGoy Con
2

After 4 votes (0 ties) — even split

No BoP or conduct, just vote based on who has better rap (taking audio into account if linked). The quality of disses/bars should take into account the context of the show and any references being made, which may increase the impact of said bar. Participants may link to annotations explaining any double meanings or references, and participants may link to external recordings of them performing the diss. If they do, voters should make it clear that they referenced the annotations and listened to the recording. However, the lyrics must be posted in each round and fit into the character space provided.


PRO is L (Lawliet) from Death Note (https://deathnote.fandom.com/wiki/L_(character))

CON is Near (Nate River) from Death Note (https://deathnote.fandom.com/wiki/Near)

Round 1

1 of 3
avatar
Savant Administrator
Pro #1

Beat to loop

Lyric Explanations/Annotations


Of all the minds in Death Note, we all know I’m the greatest

Your end is what you are when I hand you what my name is

Tanaka beat you in one shot; your intellect’s a joke

The only way you have a chance is by copying notes

It took a whole god of death to stop me from checkmating Light

You got the solve from me but needed Matsuda to save your life

Like Mello’s partner you’ll get walked on; there’s nothing you can say to me

I wouldn’t need a Death Note for you to hide your face from me

But if you think you’re Near me, then M.A.L. can teach you

I’m number 4 of all time, and even Misa beats you

I get a twenty-thousandfold return when I invest

Your return is something like negative a hundred percent

You’re not the only one who envies me, and that’s a fact

The fans would rather they were killed than see the second half

You faced a psychopath and half the fans still wish that you had died

I might be Jesus in this show, but watch no-L get crucified

Even Mello crashed out when you tried to diss me

Your arrogance pales next to my streak of victories

You’re me but uncool and too pathetic to be cocky

But your ego’s pretty rich for a dollar-store copy

Just cause you inherit from the master don’t mean you’re one

Took you four years to catch up to what I did in just four months

You can’t protect your agents or the SPK location

Your team is so exposed it’s like the Kanto confrontation

You’re like GPT, version 3, trained on me

Should have expected a shadow of L would be 1D

My tactics and reveals make exposition look exciting

While you’re the face of an arc that Ohba regretted writing

I’ll murder you with my pen, I’m like Yagami when I spit well

You’d diss me, but you still look up to me, so call me Big L

Mello’s your closest friend, and he can’t stand to be around you

And compared to me, Watari couldn’t care less about you

If I’m your aspiration, I can offer you some help

Next time you throw my fortune out the window, throw yourself

avatar Con #2

Beat to read to


If needed I'll explain some references later.



They say L and 'erru' is the pronounciation

Sitting on a chair? That's a south Asian with constipation

Watari's favourite, cute alsation, who's a good dead doggy outdone by the suspect at investigation?

You fell in love with Light, on your knees head bowing not to duck the fight, Misa got a threat in the contest for subordination.


Shut the hell up with your ranting, huffing puffing panting,

Watch me as I team up with Mello against the yellow lantern,

You're a freakshow, autist phantom, look like a ghoul so far form handsome,

What you doing chasing criminals? You're the Japanese Marliyn Manson

What you want some sugar? have it, I got bait and you're in with sharks suckling plankton,

You literally handcuffed yourself to the primary suspect, let him inside the headquarters... What a shambles, if you led my nation I'd take the knee during the anthem,

You see Near is Neal in English, and when I bend my knee only the dice are random,

Your name has Law in it but in English it's Raw and the law enforcement like me more, I roll dice on the floor, you roll dice with human life even when it comes to ransom.


You make Light look sane,

What's that IQ worth, when you're slain?

I outplay, any game, any car any lane,

Any partner in my work's a pawn you're checkmated, what a shame,

Let the white-haired King worm his way into your brain,

Get obsessive, make a mess of every single advantage you have in this game,

Let the prime suspect lead shit, you're a genius in vain,

I'm the Wammy House champion, you're the dead body that I drive by on the lane.

Round 2

2 of 3
avatar
Savant Administrator
Pro #3

Beat to loop

Lyric Explanations/Annotations


Every aura moment your arc got was inspired by me

Like how you bit off my aesthetic just to call me a freak

If you got albinism, that’s a game you don’t wanna start

When half a continent would murder you for your body parts

You call yourself the Wammy’s champion when I’m like his kid

And does anyone there but Mello even care you exist?

You thought that I was Asian? I’m a British tennis champion

But I guess I am a freak, cause just for you I’m Charles Manson

You’re a footnote in my file without respect of your rivals

Even dead my star outshines you, you’re a shadow of your idol

Cause comparing you and me is Quayle and Kennedy

When everyone forgets you, see who really has longevity

I put two Kiras behind bars, and I guess that really floors you

Would you even know who Light was if I hadn’t caught him for you?

Thought my backup would come through quick, but you made that fall apart

By turning Mello off and not working together from the start

Hundreds of thousands die when you’re slow with investigation

In Japan you lag behind like Caucasian with math equation

And hunch like imitation with no imagination

After verbal castration delivered without sedation

Light and I together’s an act, like you and deontology

For cheating with the Death Note, I enter your psychology

What separates the crooks from us is using notes to kill

Had to abandon what I taught just to pretend you matched my skills

With all the feds in the world, you’d still depend on my brain

I’m sure your task force just adores you till you let em get slain

Your feds are good for pawns at most, I can use them to get close

But my main team stays protected even when I’m a ghost

I even showed my face to Kira to end his reign of terror

You’re the coward to my martyr, saved by Mikami’s error

Trade your own team, your soul, disrespect your predecessor

Years of genocide, just to become Kira’s successor

avatar Con #4

Beat to Loop


Main R1/R2 references explained


Further lyric explanations in comment #10, please read them.


Let's clear something up a minute, this mixed race Jap says he is British,

Let's establish I'm a purebred, shit it's as if he can't figure out what he really is, no wonder he's so skittish,

  1. A quarter Japanese, Russia, French or Italian

only at most a quarter English

Mongrel boy, I got your tonsils? oi? Why'd you move to Japan lil bitch if you dont identify with it?

I'm pale 'cause of my DNA, you're pale 'cause you don't get sunlight... so quit it,

Shut the fuck up with wokeness, orphaned mystery ethnicity boy, puzzle for the puzzle expert... How exquisite,

Is it a phase when you cuffed yourself to Light? Is it a sexuality or a momentary fetish?... When you had Light locked up for days did you want to pay a visit?

I think you suck and that you like it, on your knees, or squatting, on Light's D to be explicit,

Doesn't matter 'cause either way it's your broken heart that Kira finished.

You say I got albinism, guess the white King with the dark eye's got you dazed, diminished,

You call me Nate, call me Near, I'm N and you're queer, take the L you were born to be, bitch, you're busy downing ice cream while I nibble on this spinach.


Understand this, it's simple, you live for the fans I live for the victory,

You were simply Watari's first, I annihilated all others that remained when Roger picked me,

You got Watari killed, so quit telling my army spilled blood, we both can see those were necessary, not that the risk had missed me,

You took risks for a thrill, bitch, gambled at will, some would say you were killed in action, I say you fell for well-deserved trickery,

Who the actual fuck hides their name and face for security, then invites over a major suspect... Didn't solve the mystery,

Merely, passed hard bit to me. And dont you ever mention Mello, he and I made history, we solved got your ethnically mysterious anus blistery,

Oh wait, you're a tennis champion... Jock-brained dork, I solved the case, not one clue missed me.


Round 3

3 of 3
avatar
Savant Administrator
Pro #5

Voters, remember to read the linked annotations for all verses in order to understand all references properly, per the rules


Beat to loop

Lyric Explanations/Annotations


I can see that you get angry when I get in your head

It’s more emotion here than when you saw your task force dead

I’m East Asian migrant income, your ledger is pure red

You say that you’re purebred, while I’m making pure bread

I gamble and win, my stock profits fund you

Keep enemies close, but I don’t have a Ratt in my crew

You’re so inferior, the only way that you didn’t die

Was by being so unimpressive that Light didn’t try

I die for my fans, for victory, you’re out for yourself

You can’t annihilate any rivals without Kira’s help

Sending you out on your own was like Roger’s last choice

I’ll stay jock-brained, you play with age 14-up toys

From my death, Watari’s, and Light’s to the fake rule on thirteen days

Gods of death keeping you relevant is your whole resume

I got bars and you don’t, just like it’s locking up Light

Musically my meter’s above you, like canon height

Little mini-fake-me acts like he doesn’t miss clues

You’re so unwoke you were asleep till they were handed to you

My team is interns to me, but you still rely on my cops

You need the team I picked to outsmart some paper in a watch

From a pool of six billion, I got two Kiras correct

So you could find Yagami from a pool of one suspect

You’re just forgotten, no history made’s what you get for hiding

Had to control Mikami just to see your name put in writing

I stopped a world war when I was just your age minus five

You’re so below me that you were useless when I was alive

My sole addition is a conviction to every campaign

I’m sorry that you can’t burn calories by using your brain

But I’ll give credit, you’re the only one who scared Light straight

He didn’t call out for his girls till he saw your face

And I’m the one all your successors want to be growing up

So go ahead and brag that Light doesn’t love you, cause no one does

avatar Con #6

Beat to Loop


References laid out/explained


Waa waa, N is angry when he replied, baa baa black sheep fell, Watari died,

Ooh, Ah, Shingami enters, L resides in whatever Hell awaits the scum that's tarred by pride,

Who the fuck cares how many more love you, you're dead, you misplayed knight,

I'm the white King, frightening as I play Jeckyll to Mello's Hyde,

I utilise the Shinigami in a chess game, alright,

You're the cunt the female fucked up, I'm the cunt even big dick Ryuk dont wanna fight,

You're the runt of the litter, suck up, you're the bark without the bite,

Watari fowt so sowwy fo' da autist orphan so da audience lapped up limelight,

I'm the darkness dwellin' knockin' the terror in the night.


Let this sink in, Jock-brained boffin, you're the actual felon's cock-boppin', wannabe concubine,

I'm Sherlock 'n' Mycroft's god-son you're givin' sloppy top while layin' every team member's life on the line,

Kira's honorary bottom, cleanin' his feet, flip-floppin' rain droppin' as you're dying,

I'm a lion with enforcement, I'm a stalker, bidin' time, I'm the eagle above peope you mistook as yours or mine,

The fans are not loyal to you, they celebrate you 'cause you're so pathetic, you're potassium where I'm iron,

They overlook what they mistook as too perfect a robot mind, I'm literally too damn tough 'n' smart for any to relate to, that's my crime,

Not that you solve 'em anymore, you corpse, your suspect's not wasting taxpayer's dime,

Don't worry it's legal, people, blame it on the circumstance, whatever helps you deal with that I cross the finish-line in record time,

There's winners and there's losers, and you had the whole alphabet and take L, that's sublime

There's black eyes and there's bruises and your ego got all sorts, let's cut you and squeeze lime,

I'm the one too Near, the River filled with blood of many who mistook my strategy games as pantomime,

I'm the great ole' Nate, the one who made Light's very last checkmated sound heard sirens.

New comment

avatar
•••
#41

Just to be clear, I am talking about rhyme at the end of lines. I dont see what rhymes with "plankton", "spinach" or "iron" there. There is internal rhyme, but not with those words.

avatar
•••
#40
--> @GreatfulGoy

"show me please"

Well, I am not gonna copy paste all the lines which I felt were left without rhyme or where rhyme was too spaced out to count as rhyme, but here is one from each round:

"What you want some sugar? have it, I got bait and you're in with sharks suckling plankton"

"You call me Nate, call me Near, I'm N and you're queer, take the L you were born to be, bitch, you're busy downing ice cream while I nibble on this spinach."

"The fans are not loyal to you, they celebrate you 'cause you're so pathetic, you're potassium where I'm iron,"

Maybe my English accent is different than yours so when you read it it rhymes, but these lines to me seemed without rhyme when I read them. Dont get me wrong, I am not native English speaker, so I wont pretend I am 100% right here.

avatar
•••
#39

near solved far more about the entire thing than L near is the only reason it ever got solved.

avatar
•••
#38
--> @SatanLucy

show me please

avatar
•••
#37

Savant had much better rhyme. A lot of verses from Con end up with lines without any rhyme.

As for impact, well, I am a bit undecided. On one hand, L seems far more competent in actually solving crime, where Near is smart enough to survive.

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#36
--> @GreatfulGoy

Yeah defending L is definitely the easier side, and I heavily abused that advantage lol. Only downside was using up a lot of ammo in the first round but I knew after that I could focus more on rebuttals/reframing stuff to keep things from getting too stale.

avatar
•••
#35
--> @Savant

yeah you may win as some voters will agree with that. I merely treated this as art, i knew your side had more quantitative ammo, mine had to hash out the few key angles.

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#34
--> @GreatfulGoy

Always a bit hard to translate flow to writing. Part of me wants to perform it for that reason, part of me knows my delivery would probably be terrible.

Gemini liked my more predictable flow more than yours (again probably biased from not seeing them performed) and it rates puns/quantity of references highly so it scored me a bit higher. (Voters, ignore this and vote based on your own comparison of the raps.)

avatar
•••
#33
--> @Savant

who did gemini say won and why

avatar
•••
#32
--> @Savant

fast in general but then moments like this total variation:

Watch me as (small pause) I team up with - Mello (said slowly) - against the - yellow (emphasised) lantern, -

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#31
--> @GreatfulGoy

I might be too harsh on your flow without hearing the verse performed. But I'm not sure how it would work over an instrumental with the length of the lines and syllable differences. Is it meant to do a single line in the space for a few lines, or just be rapped really fast?

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#30
--> @GreatfulGoy

Didn't use AI to write bars (I don't think it's good at that sort of thing yet anyway). But after it was over I asked Gemini who won lol.

avatar
•••
#29
--> @Savant

if you didn't use AI to help you, I am impressed btw. You are above average. I am sure to man you are impressive even but to me, the rigid way you do it and the filler bars were not creative enough (and I accept if you think the same of my jittery flow)

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#28
--> @whiteflame

Muchas gracias

avatar
whiteflame Global Moderator
•••
#27

Might be a bit, but I will get to this.

avatar
•••
#26
--> @Savant

I probably won't vote, but if I do, my vote will also be in rap form.

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#25
--> @SatanLucy, @Skipper, @whiteflame

Please vote on this, and if you do, please read the lyric explanations to make sure you catch all the references. Some of them are subtle.

My lyrics are explained here (I aggregated explanations for each round): https://docs.google.com/document/d/15DDz1jgofVPoLvQf0GJHMwuwAWKpK-4d708OPnmMJbw/edit?usp=sharing

Greatful's are split between the comments section and this link: https://pastebin.com/x8fjUGRG

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#24
--> @GreatfulGoy

Yeah, good job and thanks for the battle. Also I fixed the link.

avatar
•••
#23

anyway good game well played

avatar
•••
#22
--> @Savant

pls if there's any way pls replace my reference link in round 3 with this pastebin:
https://pastebin.com/x8fjUGRG

thre is 100% something wrong with your link system i'm telling you it switches to something else when I paste.

avatar
•••
#21

https://pastebin.com/x8fjUGRG

this is so STUPID it doesnt work properly to paste links seriously

my references in Round 3 were meant to lead here honestly.

avatar
•••
#20
--> @Savant

I mean, he said it

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#19
--> @SatanLucy

I mean Christian rap is a thing

avatar
•••
#18
--> @Skipper

I was afraid he quit forever because of Christianity.

avatar
•••
#17

Yo RM is still rapping. Legends never die

avatar
•••
#16

Ty savant

avatar
•••
#15

Also, who in west poops like that? By standing on the toilet?

avatar
•••
#14

Indian toilets are scientific? Well, you learn something new every day.

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#13
--> @GreatfulGoy

Debate comments aren't linkable yet, but I added a mention of the comment number to your round.

avatar
Savant Administrator
•••
#12
--> @GreatfulGoy

Okay, I'll see what I can do

Criterion Pro Tie Con
Winner
Regardless of what anyone says, L is the superior character hands down.
I tried to compare beats, but I'm tone-deaf, so I couldn't decide which beat I liked more.

Savant had the superior references and quantity of jabs.
The rhyme structure was easier to understand and much simpler.
Savant's rapping was more like prose that used a lot of rhymes. Grateful's rapping followed a more traditional style of rap, that had a more poetic structure. Grateful's disses were more aggressive and personal. The setup and punchlines from Grateful were also superior. Rhyming was equal on both sides, but the flow and jokes were just better from Con's side.

Both did a great job, however.
whiteflame
whiteflame Global Moderator
#3
Criterion Pro Tie Con
Winner
Alright, always feel a little weird voting on these because they're largely vibes, though given how much went into explaining each round, I can at least provide some details.

I think Con found his rhythm by the end. That final round had some of the best disses, and I really enjoyed some of the rhyme schemes. I think he was largely outplayed on the reference front, which in part comes down to just how much detail Pro went into on that front, though I spotted a lot of it. There was just more diversity to what Pro covered, and while I can't say his disses are quite as strong, they do hit more often over the course of this rap battle than Con's. I'd say that's largely what makes the difference. Both sides had good attention to detail, and while I think Con found some fascinating points of attack, Pro's consistency and theming were generally stronger.

Definitely one of my favorite rap battles to date, great job to both of you!
Criterion Pro Tie Con
Winner
This is just to counter a clearly insufficient vote cast before me. Hopefully third vote will be of quality.
Criterion Pro Tie Con
Winner
It seems that Pro was writing a free style poem for an exam