...this is a really tight battle so i'm gonna walk y'all through the thought process i had on this one

shit, i'm not even 100% sure who i'm leaning towards on this one- let me break this down and see if it helps clear up my answer...

>Prolif:
>aiyo,
>check the archives, u get the worst crowd feedback/
>dude begged the admins for a 1st round rematch/

prolif started off pretty strong, i was feeling the flow in here- and for me, this string of punchlines was a pretty damn decent combo

>what u need black, is somen' to make ya' soul throttle,/
>some attention at home and maybe a role model/
>cause ya' scripts so hollow, black, ya' bars start to echo/
>Lif's flames spark and target through ya black market retro/
>u aint ghetto! u trailer park; u only hustle lies/
>thinking u finally made it now cause u own a double wide/

^^^that double wide shit was real funny

this one was pretty funny too:

>get ya' goals up, ya' lumps down, and ya' flows up!!/
>u should rap about ice the way u punked down and froze up/

but then after that i didn't feel them so much, this one didn't hit very hard for me:

>and we know wassup; - back and chest so pale/
>shook! screaming S.O.S. - dude u S.O.L.!/

and this string flowed well and was funny, but the punchlines were a bit on the generic side

ru paul jokes, rhyming "cool" and "school," ya wife said i'm the best, this is all pretty standard battle ish

>cause i specialize wit' u awed, in making crews flawed/
>u specialize in faking & imitating Ru Paul!/
>too tall on the mic for this midget in pre-school/
>hey ya'll - i'll be in round 2 in a minute, so be cool/
>had to school my pupil - give'm somen' to save/
>but please don't call him stupid cause he keep flunking the
>grade!!/
>Keets took a L on this test; got more bars than zest/
>"BZZZZ!!" ya' wife just texted me and said i'm the
>best/

continuing on this punchline was also kind of back/fact/track, it's pretty simple rhyme scheme an dsubject matter

>i would'a hit her back, but i was laughing from the fact,/
>that she said u the first emcee to never have a track/
>ya' record label called; they said, they'd never have u back/
>ya' crew emailed me dawg; they said, they never got ya' back/
>don't ever call that 'rap'! even though that's what u meant
>to/

and then after that section which was a bit weak for me prolif closed real strong with this last one- ended it on a real good note

>ya' best bet - log off for good and work on instrumentals!!/
>i'm in to burning mics wit' ease, and blowing up blocks/
>Prolific melt Keeters keys, then i thow out tha' Lok/
>

well, shakeet started off strong right here:

>Shakeet:

>I’m back at it/ the emcee automatic//
>Your styles bent outta shape like a flimsy Craftmatic//
>I spit tragic/ like babies who swallow plastic//

this is a great joke for this tourney- sickly funny, offensive and nasty to the max

>Lif never Pro enough to follow my semantics//
>My flow’s tantric/ sparkin like Buddha blunts//
>When I’m done you can’t get to Nirvana soon enough//
>I can’t be touched/ the Hebrew Ark Of The Covenant//
>Be sure when you click my post that you got on your oven
>mitt//

on first read i didn't see how this flowed but now i can see the covennant/oven mitt rhyme- the flows still a little rought here, but this is alright

>I got flavor for the masses/ from niggas to pasty bastids//
>My rhymes a healthy diet, but stacked thicker than molasses//
>I’m classic/ Sha clairvoyant, you stay with the jurassic//
>Your flow is dry and flaky, need some lyrical chapstick//

once again an alright section, this would have been ok but J5 ruined it for me, they rhyme "classic and jurassic" in what's golden- i just saw them last month so i've had their mix bumping in my ride a lot and that rhyme had kind of a "been done" feel for me

now this next one right here:

>I know you Marvel cuz I spit fire like the Human Torch//
>Lif talk a slick game, but just another monkey on the porch//

ROFLOFLROFLROFL!!!!! shit! i had to go to gibberish there cause the standard abbreviations and emoticons don't do this punchline justice. to me this is the kind of joke that is exactly what we all should be bringing to the tourney; original, sickly hilarious, wit' clever wordplay on top, and offensive as all hell on the bottom. this punchline landed really hard for me, one of the best of the first round

>So I exhort/ Put some real effort into your work//
>Peasant, keep lookin for royalty like Kool Herc//
>Shakeet’s berserk/ My lyrics gotta nympho thirst//
>I impregnate minds with science in one skeet squirt//
>Like Ernie and Bert/ you sweet like Mrs. Butterworth//
>In this rhyme arena, I got more game than Jesus
>Shuttlesworth//
>
>

and finally sha's last set of lines the impregnate minds line is nice and i really liked the jesus shuttlesworth shit att he end- you both seasoned pros by now and know to close off strong

wow, i really keep going back and forth on this. my first instinct was to go with prolif- he definitely has the edge in flow and it seemed like he was more consistent with flow and punchlines. even tho shakeet had all of my favorite lines in this he just didnt seem to be bringing the consistency

on closer examination i found shakeet's flowed better than i had initially given him credit for even tho lif still has the edge there. i also looked through lif's punches and as i pointed out they seemed to be a bit generic for me

anyways my final conclusion would really be that this was a draw with lif getting the edge in flow and shakeet getting the edge on punchlines- BUT having gotten a few draw votes myself i know that thats kind of anticlimactic

i'm gonna have to do what aus did on mine with this one and give it to shakeet by .000001 on the strength of him just basically making me laugh a little harder- this was real close tho

i also want to co-sign with whateva and say that if either of these rhymes had been up against most of the other first round stuff i've seen both these dudes would be going to round 2

FINAL VOTE: SHAKEET wins in the photo finish