#Timothy Brandolino

[molemanninethousand]

Being, if I’m not mistaken, my first battle since a certain very early and very shitty one for which ALL the rapping roles were recorded through online correspondence, I feel that this, as an audio track, turned out exceptionally well: both with Skeep Tieel, who appears in my series for the third time here and rather naturally so with him being a “professional” of this genre, and with Timothy Brandolino, an unknown hired through Reddit who proved highly successful in fulfilling what is probably the most substantial role I’ve solicited through said website to date.

The thing about the latter’s performance here is that, while the voice during “Mother’s” major verses is really all over the place as far as characteristics and quality go, he sounds quite adequately distinct between two modes of speaking during the specific moments of the battle where Norman talks to himself, which obviously is where the gimmick of a split personality is most relevant for a rapping role.

Relatedly, this is my longest one-on-one battle ever, and to that end I believe it very well might furthermore be the longest such battle that anyone has ever composed. I’m highly curious about this, and the sharing of any relevant knowledge that can confirm or deny this distinction would be appreciated here.

Noting what I personally feel is a particular highlight here, Pink Steven’s “Don’t call it a comeback!” may quite possibly be one of my favorite vocalized moments, in regards both to the line/reference itself as written and given context and to how Skeep says it.

Conversely, if there’s one self-criticism I have for the battle at this stage, based on how it stands as a complete audio piece with no video, it’s that the ending (that is, both characters’ final verses, starting from the aforementioned favorite line mentioned above) feels pretty rushed, at least by the standards of this battle’s long-windedness (which it of course shares with many if not most others of mine); I probably could have made Norman verbally struggle with himself for at least a few more lines during that sequence. Come to think of it, I also missed a similar, but more creative, opportunity to potentially end with a character to “battle themselves” in the composition immediately following this one as its counterpart (#45-2), but in that case, there was/will be (the audio should be finished and posted within the next two weeks, and possibly within a single week if things go particularly well) a different and probably superior form of substantial climax fully realized instead.

[molemanninethousand]

Special thanks again to Fruzmig; without her artwork, realizing this video would have been very much infeasible. Likewise to Skeep Tieel, and I would say the same for Timothy Brandolino as well, but he sadly seems for whatever reason to have dropped off the face of the internet sometime shortly after he recorded this, which is a shame as he certainly did a serviceable job of “talking to himself” on this track.