Charles Hamilton Has Everything To Prove In A 5 Fingers Of Death Freestyle (Video)

Five years ago, Charles Hamilton was seemingly on top of the world. The Harlem, New York MC  who happens to be MC Lyte’s cousin had inked a deal with the dominant Interscope Records. Hamilton was releasing spotlight-grabbing mixtapes at a breakneck speed. Along with peers Wale, B.o.B., and Asher Roth, Hamilton was perceived as the next artist poised to release a Top 10 album, on the fast-track to stardom.

As fate would have it, none of that happened. After a white hot 2008, the “Sonic The Hedgehog” aligned rapper entered 2009 with an onslaught of squabbles. Viral videos of Hamilton and his then-girlfriend assaulting sparked conversation and controversy, while Charles’ decision to call J. Dilla an executive producer of his debut album (with royalties reportedly intended) upset Jay Dee’s close friends, and even his family. An admitted onetime heroin, marijuana, and hallucinogenic mushroom addict, by 2010, Hamilton admitted that he had entered a mental facility. He would exit using a wheelchair for media appearances, citing “sharp pains” in his back, and starting even more conversation. That was 2010, and Charles Hamilton—like so many artists in a fickle industry—appeared to be an MC in the past tense.

2015 has challenged that. On what could be considered his most important stage in more than five years, Charles Hamilton faces Sway In The Morning’s 5 Fingers Of Death:

For nearly seven minutes, Charles uses off-the-dome rhymes. He somehow weaves in all that contextual, even if subtly. No longer an early twenties MC, Hamilton rhymes with the delivery and poise of a grown man. He even manages to plug his role on the Empire soundtrack. DJ Wonder takes no pity, or throws no across-the-plate fastballs in the beat selection.

Three minutes in, Sway and Heather B start throwing topics—some of which are highly personal to the Hamilton story (“You Fell Off” and “Psychiatric Drugs”).

Did Charles Hamilton just clear the table on the last five years in six minutes?

Related: Lupe Fiasco gets some help from his friends on the I’m Beamin’ remix ft Asher Roth, Blu, The Cool Kids, Charles Hamilton, Dosage and B.o.B. There’s strength in numbers…