Death Note Rap Battle: L vs. Near

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

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

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