Why Charles Hamilton Won @ S.O.B’s
I was on Twitter late last night and heads were atwitterin’ about the news that Serious Jones and Charles Hamilton went in on a freestyle battle last night at S.O.B’s. By the power of technology, we already have the video evidence (shout out to Rock The Dub). And here it is, my good readers:
There has been some talk that Serious murked CH. There’s no question that Serious has mad skills as a battle rapper and he threw Charles around pretty good. But if we’re talking about who “won” last night, Hamilton did. Why? Let’s break it down.
Serius Jones is known primarily as a battle rapper. Most heads saw him kill Jin on the mic a few years back. This dude is comfortable in a battle going off the top. And its not like Charles Hamilton doesn’t provide ample amounts of material to mock. So, Serius in a battle is nothing new. Oh, and he has an album to promote.
Charles on the other hand has been widely dismissed as a “rapper/blogger” who really shouldn’t be taken seriously as a hip-hop artist. He wears pink and talks about air conditioners and God. Its no small feat that this dude stepped up and went toe-to-toe with a battle vet and left standing. And if you watch the video, he held his own.
Sure Serius won in a technical sense, but there is no question Hamilton upped his standing as a rapper; its Charles Hamilton that’s more “serius” today. Of course, Charles had the advantage of low expectations (think the Palin vs Biden VP debate), but he didn’t crack under the pressure. There are a million cats trying to get on that would have folded like a cheap lawn chair under that kind of attack.
Serius showed nothing new, so he lost. He’s still a battle rapper. But Hamilton likely changed the way that people think about him as an artist and as a rapper. People already know he’s creative; they already know that he can do the mixtape hustle. Now they know that he is an MC at heart: get in front of a packed crowd, freestyle off the top and come out with his respect intact.
A good night for Sonic.
Tags: Charles Hamilton, Rap Battle, Serius Jones, SOBs
have 2 disagree CH has never held his own or impreesed me.
C’mon, man – the dude is not a battle rapper. He held his own. Even if you don’t like CH, you have to admit that he didn’t get murked.
Anyone who can step up in that situation deserves respect. Given how people such as yourself looked/looks at CH, I think his stock went up. Even if it went up a little bit, he wins.
Great article. I found myself thinking the same thing. Hamilton impressed me by calling out Jones even as Jones walked away (twice), and he came straight at him.
Yep – that takes some serious stones. Some might say that’s an abundance of arrogance, but that’s fundamental in rap. I for one would be eaten alive, which is why I sit behind a keyboard and shoot my mouth off online – I’m yella.
“Serius showed nothing new, so he lost. He’s still a battle rapper. ”
^
Can’t get on board with that.
If I win championships with the same lineup, why should my team’s actual victories be discredited because the other team got a moral victory?
You can’t have two number 1′s…. That’s 11.
Okay, fair enough. But let me say throw this at you: if you put a hockey player against a speed skater in a competition together, the hockey player will crush the speed skater in a game. Not because the speed skater can’t skate, but because he’s out of his element. Same in reverse.
In terms of advancing one’s career, how did Serius get any further ahead? Does he gain anything by beating Charles Hamilton? No. So maybe he doesn’t lose, but he certainly doesn’t win. We get it: he’s a dope freestyle MC. And….? It was Charles who went out of his element and took the dude on. He gets props from me.
Nah they both won, Charles showed he can go off the top and hold his own with sum of the best. And serious gained free promotion for his new album coz i doubt any1 would be talkin bout him today if he didnt do this battle.
but you old enough to be a daddy,
and you mad at me,
and i’ll battle you gladly,
end my career,
coz im in this bitch,
an im runnin this shit for years,
2009 with new rhymes is mine
who else could have dropped that an walked away unscathed?
Yep, you’re probably right. I didn’t even know that Serius was dropping an album. But again, promotion is great, but did I learn anything new? No.
But I give him his due – he’s a hell of a battle MC.
White Boy, Jones lost why again? Because he’s a battle rapper, because CH doesn’t have respect , because CH didn’t fold??…….SO WHAT!! What does any of the side politics have to do with the bars? CH didn’t do anything vicious at all, and he initiated the WHOLE thing. You can tell in the vid that Jones wasn’t even tryin to rhyme at all. His last freestyle bar was, “Fade into the crowd” which was what he was trying to do, then to catch some rec’ CH starts going in, and he was shooting rubber bullets. I’m not saying dude was wack or anything but he definitely did nothin that gives him the trophy here. There’s a time to root for the underdog and this just wasn’t one of them
I’ve always maintained that Serius won the actual battle. He had better delivery, better punchlines and an overall better performance.
However, early reports were that CH got murked. My point was/is that even if he went up against Jones and lost, he ultimately wins because of an increase in respect and how he is viewed as a rapper.
Did he win the actual battle at S.O.B.s? No.