Sitting down with Mikey T The Movie Star, battle rapper Hollow Da Don shared feeling like the recent spike in popularity of Battle Rap has had some negative effects. During the interview Hollow also addressed his planned match-up against Joe Budden and detailed the impact of Eminem’s endorsement of the current scene.
“They don’t do it for the passion,” he says when asked generally about the influx of new Battle Rap leagues. “Cats is trying to get too much shine. Every time, man. Crack is popping, everyone wants to sell crack. Rapping is popping, now everybody wants to be a rapper. Soon as something else—like if making pottery becomes popular and bitches like it, everybody’s gonna be making pottery. Follow your passion and your heart, don’t follow the fame or these hoes ‘cause that shit is just gonna lead to more bullshit because you followed the bullshit. If you follow what really love to do, it ain’t really work no more. It’s really like, ‘I’m excited to go do this today.’ It’s not like, ‘Let me go make this dollar. ‘ ‘Cause once you spend that shit and you’re broke you’re gonna look back like, ‘Damn, I was just chasing all this shit for all this money. Now I’m broke.’ Niggas really be getting gassed off this hype and this fame and then when they get there and they get it they realize, ‘Oh it was so much bullshit. I was chasing this?’ But if you really passionate about it when you get to the hype and the fame you’re content. Like, ‘Yo I did it, I made this shit happen.’ I’m willing to deal with this bullshit ‘cause this is what I love to do.
“If this shit go on TV and start popping I’m just gonna be a battling ass nigga,” he adds. “I’ll battle your grandmother, nigga. You better not get in my way ‘cause she could get it. I got bars for everybody.”
Speaking about Eminem’s public appreciation for Battle Rap, Hollow described feeling like the Detroit star’s history as a battler holds extra value.
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“Crazy,” he says. “Crazy. That’s who we want. Eminem. Even not people from that magnitude, but Eminem obviously ‘cause he came from it. That’s why it’s so big for us. He came from it. That ain’t somebody that ain’t come from this. He’s the biggest person to ever come from this. Of course we want Em there.
“Em better be front row for this one,” he continues. “He gon’ wanna see this one. I might wanna tag him in…I might need that right now…Joe you might wanna have that—not Em, let’s be realistic—you might wanna have Royce, one of them niggas to tag in at least help you if you choke. I hope you don’t choke man.”
Earlier this month Hollow Da Don spoke exclusively with HipHopDX and detailed feeling like anybody that’s a lyricist has potential as a battler.
“I told Joe this myself not too long ago,” Hollow said at the time. “Bro, anybody that’s a lyricist, as far as Joe Budden, Cassidy, Lloyd Banks, the list could go on, anybody that’s a lyricist comes from this shit, especially in New York, [New] Jersey, East Coast, Philly. Like, they come from this shit. Now the only thing they need is experience. They need to be in there to witness and see how shit goes and you know what they could work on, but if you’re a lyricist, bro you can at least do this.”
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