In 2017, The New Day and Usos engaged in a different type of competition in the ring, picking up the mic and putting their money where their mouths were.
Grown man bars is something they had to deal with. No matter how many scripted promos the two teams did, it couldn't measure up to the real ish.
The rap battle, which was hosted by Wale, had battle rappers popping on social media and showed how much New Day and the Usos cared about the culture.
"It was definitely a highlight moment," Kofi Kingston said on the Getting Over podcast. "For all intents and purposes, that should have been a train wreck. We're not rappers. I can't rap. I don't have any bars, none of us do. We'd never done anything like that before. We're all big fans of the freestyle technique and we watch King of the Dot and things like that. It's a talent to be able to deliver your lines in a way that rhymes and is witty and to do it on time. We did it and it was great. The thing about it was, we didn't know what the Usos were going to say and they didn't know what we were going to say either. That was part of the magic. You bring your bars, we'll bring our bars, and we'll see what happens. As it was unfolding, it was like, 'Oh, this is magical.' It was one of the more feather in the cap type of moments. I'm not a rapper and a lot of times I don't make sense. I told Jimmy Uso to stop like eight-sided octagons...and a stop sign has six (sides). All the times I went over that line, nobody told me that a stop sign has six sides. I go out on TV, deliver it with confidence, and everyone online is roasting me."
Fortunately for Kofi, the Usos did not come back with a rebuttal to his slip up.
The rap battle featured many nods to the battle rap culture including a "slow it down" and a "Don Demarco."
Kofi was worried his bars may not show up. Well, that's what the talking's about. But Kofi shows up to the showdown to show off when the show's on for all of the crowd.
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