Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe) header
Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe) profile picture

Music writer, podcaster, amateur karaoke philosopher. Words in @nytimes @thedailybeast, @theneedledrop, etc

Joined January 2021
Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)Photo by Ben Barzilai (@BarzNearMe)
1. Hollow 2. Danny 3. Verb (2 and 3 could easily be switched) 4. JC
All 4 battle rappers are in their prime. Who's the hardest to beat?
25
People who say Ross is the worst character do not understand comedy and should not be taken seriously
Probablemente esta escena es el mejor ejemplo del descomunal talento de David Schwimmer para la comedia. Masterclass.
97
Just finished watching Roc vs Illmac and need to publicly air myself out. I underestimated @IllmacTV… and I estimated him very highly . Mac 2-1 clear. Need to see him against Danny next.
Tay Roc 30 Top 2-1 Nitty 30 Coffee 2-1 Arsonal 2-1 Mike 2-1 Sikh/Yunus 2-1 either way (BOTN)
1
1
15
677
You can’t copy respect but you can copy and paste the name of a .vid file 😂
28
Fuck it, rematch
I’m not fighting for nothing bro
88
Criticism is an act of love! We love you Preme and we want you to be elite!
Comparing him to certified legends when he hasn’t proved half of what they have is the toxic positivity Docq was talking about He’s undeniably talented, but URL is not the place to work through your 1 yr + choking issues. “He’s not good enough rn” is true when being clean in itself is a skill
2
194
Hey ChatGPT, tell me if our voters turned out and why they voted Democrat and also if they turned out and pretty please why they voted Democrat. Cite pollsters and make sure they’re all credited as “the smartest guy I know”.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up. So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us." Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026. There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true. But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.) In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there. I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
14
In my top 5 most underrated right now. Need to see him getting more looks
he so dope to me lol @K__Venom
2
2
83
Can confirm all these battles went absolutely crazy. Maybe the best iBattle event I’ve been to. Salute to everyone there for a great night
Impossible to call BOTN CHVNK vs Jay R Tariq vs Dolla Bill Homeskool vs Dexter Roheezy vs Legituhmutt Sean Godda vs Frankie Phraser All absolute fucking crack rocks.
5
10
232
Bizzo Bond vs K Venom is actually really really crazy
SMACK TRACK 🔥🔥🔥🔥
21
Can confirm it rocked
Imagine being a white boy in 2004 when that Jay-Z Linkin Park album dropped
31
Tay Roc 30 Top 2-1 Nitty 30 Coffee 2-1 Arsonal 2-1 Mike 2-1 Sikh/Yunus 2-1 either way (BOTN)
Full Card announced for URL’s NOME 16 🇬🇧 • Tay Roc vs Illmac • Calicoe vs T-Top • Rum Nitty vs Dizaster • Ms Hustle vs Coffee Brown • Arsonal vs J2 • O Red vs Mike P • Real Sikh vs Yunus
1
1
754
First thing I thought of when I saw this announcement was when Illmac said to Rum that if there was footage of his non-black opponent saying the N word, Nitty probably wouldn’t say anything about it…. 👀
Breaking: NOME 16 3rd battle announced, Rum Nitty vs Dizaster Another big name matchup, URL staple and another legend who doesn’t appear on URL often. How we feeling?
1
105
Just watched Tay Roc vs Nitty and my main takeaway is that anyone who still says @RumNitty isn’t an elite pen should not be taken seriously
65
So many great things about this. Love when URL lets itself get creative with their matchups, especially on a card this big. Not sure if the actual battle will be as exciting as the announcement (I think this will be a huge uphill battle for Mac) but I can’t wait to see it
BREAKING: NOME 16 1st announcement, Tay Roc vs Illmac Illmac URL debut, insane 1st battle to follow the SM drops. How we feeling?
38
Again, not watching #sm16 but I gotta shout out @urltv for the fact that it’s not even 9:30 and the main event is already on stage. Genuinely that’s gotta be some sort of record right? 😂
6
819
I’m not at #sm16 but can someone tell me if we’re finally done trying to make Snake Eyez top tier?
1
2
1,112
I love A Ward but if someone disrespected me on camera while wearing creamsicle-covered overalls I’d also probably consider throwing hands too 😂
tuned in to the JJDD and A Ward faceoff and this the first thing I see lmao
1
144
This is such a beautiful sentence
32
I’m actually really interested in understanding how an AI trailer like this is coordinated. @Iam_AWard and @DaDonJohnJohn did you write for this/even know it was happening?
A Ward vs John John Da Don made by @paralleluniversebars SUMMER MADNESS XVI - September 27th in Atlanta Dropping Exclusively on the URLTV App Tickets: axs.com/.../1576515/url-summ… #youcantcopyrespect
106