Recap: In battle rap, a veteran giving a new blood a shot goes all the way back to the legendary Busy Bee famously letting Kool Moe Dee get on the mike to roast him after one of Bee’s performances in what was alleged to have been the 1st one-on-one battle ever. So all these years later, Hitman Holla providing up-n-comer John John Da Don with a shot on the big Webster Hall stage just continues a long-standing tradition. But unlike the fabled Moe Dee vs. Busy Bee battle, outside of a pretty dope and highly entertaining 1st round from both battlers, this one was a bit of a letdown as both Hitman and JJDD suffered from a boatload of pedestrian bars and subpar angles that even led to some boos from the crowd in the latter rounds. Ironically, with a punchline-heavier JJDD taking the 2nd round and practically giving away the 3rd round by spending half his turn delivering some tedious pontifications to Holla, it’s the 1st round that would end up deciding this battle. And the edge here goes to Hitman, the St. Louis vet standing out with a classic turn that featured some dope punchlines/schemes, sublime crowd control, stunting anecdotes/wordplay, performance-heavy heat, witty personals and a seismic/patented remix that altogether when placed head-to-head against JJDD’s hard-hitting at times, personal-lit and scheme-heavy, but also a bit of an imitative turn that would lose him the round and the battle.
Verdict: Hitman Holla (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Hitman Holla – “Cock that 4-5 like fuck it, give him 9 more, turn his apple to seeds, see what they call him John for, Johnny Appleseed]s all over, bring the pine, boy, shout out to my nigga, free Hollow, he ain’t Da Don boy!”
