Recap: Drenched with a shitload of themes surrounding loyalty and at the end of the day, one of the most personal battles you’ll ever see, for the most part the much-hyped grudge match between Math Hoffa and Hollow Da Don lives up to the expectations even with it being over an hour long. 1st round was the best one what with the two vets clearly not holding back on anything, swapping some dizzying punchlines along the way, but explicitly sharing their own view on how this battle came to be in the first place via gritty narratives on past beef, Coney Island (and battle) drama, some guy named Dizaster, potent schemes, witty bars and oh yeah, a hilarious new nickname for Hollow from Math: ‘Splish Splash!’. And while Math would allude to being more more interested in exploiting his opponent than actually winning the battle, his hard-hitting and sometimes downright mean war stories throughout this bout, would beg anyone to differ. That said, the opening round, while certainly a close one, the edge here goes to Hollow for more astute (“You’ve been playin’ this tough shit for over ten years my nigga, that’s what you really get, accept your karma, it was a Dose of somethin’ Serius! [serious]!”) angles to his lines while also flexing a bit more when it comes to versatility and wit. The 2nd round was a clear win for Math as while Hollow was able to dish another punch-centric and at times personal-heavy turn, some mediocre bars/schemes here and there, a couple of so-so rebuttals and a Hoffa who was just relentless when it came to fiery (“This gon’ be biblical, ‘cuz how you living is ruthless, you think you know a (Noah) nigga ’til the rain come and it give you the deuces!”) personals, bully bars and schemes would be too much. And while a way more condensed Hollow spit another solid and at times moving (“You know what else ain’t change? Ya attitude, neither did ya bank account, he look at change as somethin’ bad so I’m a leave you dead how you are, y’all remember what he just said? “I solidify my spot with gorillas…”, which makes sense cause apes never evolved!”) turn in the 3rd and deciding round, Hoffa would do way more to make his side of the beef narrative believable, expounding on tales from the two’s old friendship, mixing in some witty personals, deftly punching with some nice wordplay and most importantly when it comes to the overall theme of the battle, letting loose on Hollow’s allegedly bad business dealings. With the consistently aggressive, bodacious, funny and (“Hollow come on… your whole motto’s a con You pushin’ loyalty is like the pope preaching out the Koran!”) punch-heavy Hoffa also doubling his opponent on haymakers in the final round, this ‘Closure’ match from RBE ends up being Math’s for the taking.
Verdict: Math Hoffa (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Math Hoffa – “Yeah, you beat Ars’, but ain’t matter cause he was punkin’ you, John John took ya Don status and put a slump in you, now ya name ain’t the same and it troubles you, ‘cuz Hollow’s just a ho and two L’s now he owe [‘O’] y’all a W!”
