If you didn’t know, today is the birthday of one of the most influential and successful rappers we have witnessed to rise from these cold London streets.
Despite facing multiple adversities, Hollow Man has become paragon for aspiring young
artists who may have been going through similar situations.
But…I am not here to dwell on the fuckeries that Giggs has visibly been put through by multiple organisations.
So, what we have decided to do at GRM is celebrate and turn the fuck up with a selection of our favourite Giggs videos.
At number one we have ‘Talking The Hardest’
Prior to this absolute banger Giggs was making music and circulating on the underground but it was his freestyle cover over Stat Quo’s , ‘Here We Go‘ instrumental produced by Dr Dre, which is what propelled him to the forefront of the UK Rap game.
Let’s be honest, most of us didn’t really care about the original. As far as we were concerned this was the only version….I don’t want to hear no tark!
To this day and beyond, when this track drops at any club, party, birthday, rave, christening or wedding it is guaranteed to cause absolute madness…’Walk in the party sporting Armani half of the crowds all’…You know the rest!!
With the success of his first album ‘Walk in the Park’ Hollow signed to XL Recordings where he would release his sophomore album ‘Let Em Ave It‘. Once again shaking of the stigma and hate campaigns for his music, Giggs flipped the scrip and upped the levels when he teamed up with the then current Hip Hop superstar B.o.B for “Don’t Go There’.
To keep it real with you many regard ‘Let Em Ave It’ as one of The SN1s front runner’s best work. Another track from the album which got the video treatment was ‘Hustle On’.
At the time of this track the American TV Show ‘The Wire’ still fresh in everyone’s minds this visual saw a very fitting cameo from Idris ‘Stringer Bell’ Elba.
We all know critics nit pick at bull shit, so showing his versatility Giggs linked up with one of the most iconic barrier breaking names within this industry, Mike Skinner.
Taken from the ‘Let Em Av It’ bonus disc for ‘Slow Songs’, Hollow brakes down the cycle of how things are for those who are less privileged in circumstances they can’t prevent along with expressing few hardships he has faced during his rise.
As momentum gathered more and more for Giggs, Hollow dropped another club smasher/ hood anthem. Produced by Bayoz muzik “Look What The Cat Dragged In” had the girls twerking, the fellas leaning back in their dope boy stance plus giving DJs an ace card to get a dead party in full swing if need be.
Bayoz Muzik production and his sound is very clear and distinctive to most people who follow the scene. So when Giggs released ‘Monsta Man’ taken from ‘Take Your Hats Off’ mixtape
it was nothing but good times seeing the finest ladies in the club screaming at the top their ‘Chocolate yeah i want to get the wonka’! with nothing put pure excitement written on their faces. In the mean time haters were hating on Hollow Man, let’s be honest more than likely because he was chilling with their misses giving them the lobster.
Not a stranger to gaining respect from across the pond, Giggs teamed up with ATL’s very own Waka Flocka Flame for ‘Lemme Get That‘. Produced by Boyo Muzik, this track was taken off the producers ‘Death Of A Beatmaker EP‘. Once again Giggs and his team effortlessly engineered another smasher for the streets.
Fast forward a few years and with destructive obstacles no longer in the way, it was time for Giggs’s third studio album ‘When Will It Stop’. As the single ‘Is It Gangsta? Yes Yes’ started to sweep the airwaves along lock down the streets, Hollow turned the game on its head when he drew for legendary Grammy award winning Soul singer Anthony Hamilton. With a smooth glossy visual to match the polished instrumentation curtsey of the band ‘Mr Kool’ became a instant feel-good banger living up to its title.
Over the years we have seen many different styles of videos by Giggs, as expected when growth within anyone’s art is inevitable, what is not a sure thing is staying consistent, persistent and creative beyond expectation. So when “Whos Dat”, debuted on my shitty Macbook screen I had to reload the whole reenactment of ‘Shottas’ – firstly because the film is the ultimate leng man yard film secondly because the acting by the artists featured in the small scene were spot on and thirdly its a cold visual….For those lames who have not seen ‘Shottas’ go educate yourself on Bigz, Mad Max, Teddy Bruckshot, Wayne, Dangles and Gussy ….trust me it will resonate and make much more sense…Shout to Rude Kid on the instrumental.
To round up our Giggs Birthday Party Playlist we draw for the Chase and Status refix of Black Ops Jon E Cash – ‘Hoods Up’ entitled ‘More Ratatatin’ Hollow creeps on the instrumental in true SN1 style adding the long list of bangers in his archive.
Happy birthday Giggs aka Hollow Man.
But hold up…Fuck it the gaffer Posty just told me to add one more to the list, we couldn’t forget to add the anthem which dominated last year and early parts of this year ‘Man Don’t Care’ where Hollows feature verse was more like a toe tag verse.
Words by: Rene