YouTube – Battle rap staple Math Hoffa first confirmed a legendary matchup between himself and Wu-Tang Clan heavyweight Method Man on Sunday (August 16) — noting in a follow-up post that it would be dropping randomly during the week. It appears that Wednesday (August 19) is the day, as the pre-recorded head-to-head was officially released.
Yes. It's real. #fortheculture pic.twitter.com/BXH92OinT2
— the JUSTIN project coming soon! (@MATHHOFFA) August 16, 2020
Though it may not be what fans had envisioned (being only one round as opposed to three), there is a lot to love about both the polished battle and crowd-free format.
Math hit Tical with a barrage of bars packed with timely references to items such as the current pandemic — on top of a bevy of clever gun bars. Meth held his own, following suit while using his legendary status and iconic group as talking points.
Humorously, Meth harkened back to a catchphrase coined by the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard during his infamous 1997 Grammy-crashing rant.
“Wu-Tang is for the children, but I don’t give a fuck about them,” he barked as the battle drew to a close.
Method Man To Step Into The Battle Rap Arena Against One Of The Best To Ever Do It
Many were curious about how Meth would perform in a battle at this point in his career. While there has been a limited history of battle rappers successfully crossing over to mainstream careers, there is an even more limited record of rappers doing the inverse. Joe Budden faced Hollow Da Don at Total Slaughter in 2014 and was unable to translate his bars to the format convincingly.
Canibus — a rap titan who famously traded lyrical jabs with industry icon LL Cool J in his heyday — couldn’t even remember his bars and had to take out a notebook, crushing the souls of fans worldwide in the process.
Next up for Math Hoffa is a battle between himself and Cassidy affiliate JAG, set to take place as part RBE’s Mask Off event, available for stream on August 29, 2020.
Check out Math Hoffa vs. Method Man above.