Hollow vs. Clips was one of those battles that was supposed to turn the battle rap world on its head. We suffered through what felt like the same trailer a half dozen times in different videos, as though URL thought the commercial for Rain's album would Men-In-Black-flash-device us into forgetting the match-up we'd been wanting to see for four years.
Related: Watch the battle
The first round mainly consisted of Hollow's infamous breakdown. I don't know why more fans didn't expect this; Hollow breaks down styles and angles, devising a strategy that makes his opponents' bars seem predictable. He did that to perfection here, to the point that when it was Charlie's time to spit, you could've made a bonfire with s'mores and joined in with the singalong. Not to say that Charlie didn't have spectacular lines mixed in with some witty filler, but in essence he played right into Hollow's hands.
Related: Read the full lyrics to the battle
It got to the point where I wondered ... shit, EVERYONE wondered if Charlie was going to start taking the battle seriously. We weren't seeing the Charlie who battled T-Rex, and that became even more apparent in the second round when Hollow came from all angles once again and didn't give Clips much to rebuttal. The second was Clips' chance to come back with the ferocity of the victim on an episode of "Cheaters" confronting their significant other with the side piece and the lights and cameras AAAAAND ... Nope. Nothing.
Well, not to say Clips didn't have anything but it wasn't enough for Hollow to have to worry about losing the round. Clips was up one round against Cortez and D. Chamberz, but Hollow was up two against Clips. My spider sense was detecting a possible 3-0.
But that's when the tide shifted. Hollow had the chance to throw the ring into Mount Doom, bringing peace to the battle rap kingdom he would now preside over but he squandered it with his third. His material lacked any sense of oomph and his unorthodox methods suddenly seemed to be working against him.
The downside of having an unorthodox style is that if it doesn't work properly it's all over the place and you confuse the crowd and the folks at home. At times in the third round, Hollow was nonsensical. He could've walked around in circles, blowing raspberries and flinging shit like a chimp and it would've netted the same result.
And I guess Clips had a dyslexic moment when writing his rounds, deciding his third would be his most fire. He was relentless and I wish we would've seen this Clips throughout the whole battle. More polished, far more direct. The man the fans said never had a third round a few years ago now has nothing but amazing third rounds... now all he needs to do is bring his first and second up to par.
So the result? Hollow 2-1... Fans on the other hand got 4-0'd. We even lost the fucking coin flip.
The result of this battle was somewhat frustrating. After the way it was marketed, you'd think they would have both showed up with something above and beyond, but neither of them was able to do that consistently. I know most of the battle rap community called Hollow as the winner but I think Clips deserves credit for the assist. He just didn't seem ready.
It was like Clips and Hollow walked onto the stage of The National "Don't-Fuck-This-Shit-Up!" Competition and then Clips shot himself in the foot four times and Hollow walked out and said "I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, that shit hurts."
Well I'm Majin ... and I'm out.
Peace.
{{ comment.author.name }}
{{ reply.author.name }}