Diddy and 50: CEO Hasbeens Have At It
It’s not terribly new nor innovative to make a “diss track” anymore. Take 50 Cent‘s new track, “The Bomb” (Click song title to hear), aimed at Diddy (of all people) into consideration. While tracks like “Wanksta” and “Back Down” got him fame for his tough-guy street-talk mentality and literally took over the world for the better part of a year (not to mention “In Da Club” being the most “white-friendly” hip-hop track besides “Hey Ya”), 50‘s bravado always made him the envy of many rappers.
Although 50 came on the scene like a monster, he’s slowed down ever since. Well crafted beefs are littered along the roadside of his career and his rise to the top of Interscope Records, where he presently resides. Bang’Em Smurf & Domination, Ja Rule, Shyne, Nas, Raekwon, Ghostface, The Game, Jadakiss and Fat Joe have all felt the heat of 50‘s pen and many saw their album sales drop because of his apparent disdain for them. Ja Rule became a laughing stock of the industry. Bang’Em Smurf and Domination, the duo who was on G-Unit and closest to 50 before he ultimately blew up, got left behind when Smurf got caught on weapons charges. 50, in turn, refused to bail his “homey” out and remained locked up. Shyne got it while he was in jail. Nas got it post ‘Ether’ and quite possibly they beefed over a J.Lo remix (please 50… tell me that wasn’t the reason). Rae and Ghost refused to respond to him, Raekwon doing his ‘Clyde Smith’ even explained to 50 on Supreme Clientele that “niggas ain’t tryin let you come in the game and act like you gonna live off their strength.”Game got booted from the label after 50 claimed he was disloyal for not “helping” diss other rappers on tracks. Game then dropped ‘300 Bars’, killed it, and the feud ended. It may have been jealousy over The Documentary sales in the end, but whether these beefs were all too real or just a smart label move will never be known. Except by those who made the moves. Regardless, it bolsters hype and eventually sales, which makes eyes light up on both sides.
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50 Cent is no KRS-One. He may not even be MC Shan on a larger level, but with the amount of power he seems to hold at Interscope, he is what KRS was to Boogie Down in the 80s. 50 uses one of the best songs in hip-hop history, the dead prez track “Hip Hop”, but doesn’t attack Diddy‘s baby momma or his manli-hood. Instead to two verbally tussle over who’s “richer”. The simple fact remains that 50 just doesn’t seem to be interested in music anymore. He’s interested in movies, sneakers, books and water with vitamins, but musically he doesn’t seem engaged any longer. He attacked Ja Rule for not being hard enough and being a rapper who sings, which led to Ja‘s disappearance over the last 2 years. But once Ja was nowhere to be found, 50 took up his feuding friends passion of singing all over the place. I don’t even remember what he said to Nas, Fat Joe or Jadakiss, but I remember there was a video for it on the enhanced Massacre CD. Raekwon and Ghost won’t devote an entire track to 50 because that’s exactly what he wants in their eyes… free promotion. The Massacre was the definition of a sophomore slump, but it’s hard to have a good second time out, when you did 11x platinum first time around. Either way, 50 has jumped to the top of the game and notoriously sought out targets ever since.
At the end of the day, on a 3-minute track, 50 raps for around a minute and change and then pops off at the mouth for the rest of the “track”. I find it hard to refer to it as a “track” alone, which is why a freestyle response from Diddy on……. (trumpets please) ta-daaaaaaa MYSPACE, makes even less sense. While 50 Cent is singing like Jeffrey Atkins and touting Olivia as an artist, Diddy is Making Da Band’s that never amount to anything (Where’s Babs? Oh that’s right, in that B.I.G video, my fault), using ProActiv and “video-blogging”. But the two CEO’s, probably will be laughing over drinks once their albums in question come out. Diddy is himself, pushing for the October 17th release of Press Play and 50 is busy promoting Lloyd Banks new album Rotten Apple for October 10th. It’s not uncommon for 50 to come out swinging when he’s got an album coming out. It bolsters sales and dollar signs and all around industry talk, which is great, but when you’re forced to take shots at Diddy, it’s time to put the ammo down because I think you’ve run out of targets.
Rapping over dead prez‘s “Hip Hop” is a crime unto itself. While stic.man and M-1 used the song to express themselves amongst of sea of “fakes”. Their lyrics point directly to people like 50 Cent of their time.
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stic:
It’s bigger than all these fake-ass records
When po’ folks got the millions and my woman’s disrespected
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If you check 1-2, my word of advice to you is just relax
Just do what you got to do; if that don’t work, then kick the facts
If you a fighter, rider, biter, flame-ignitor, crowd-exciter
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Or you wanna jus’ get high, then just say it
But then if you a liar-liar, pants on fire, wolf-crier, agent wit’ a wire
I’m gon’ know it when I play it
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m-1
Nigga, don’t think these record deals gon’ feed your seeds
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And pay your bills, because they not
MCs get a little bit of love and think they hot
Talkin’ ’bout how much money they got; all y’all records sound the same
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I’m sick of that fake thug, R&B-rap scenario, all day on the radio
Same scenes in the video, monotonous material
Y’all don’t here me though
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These record labels slang our tapes like dope
You can be next in line and signed; and still be writing rhymes and broke
You would rather have a Lexus? or justice? a dream? or some substance?
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A Beamer? a necklace? or freedom?
Still a nigga like me don’t playa-hate, I just stay awake
This real hip-hop; and it don’t stop ’til we get the po-po off the block
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They call it…
I’m sick of that fake thug too, all day he’s on the radio, same monotonous material.
50 starts the whole song off by telling you he’s bigger and better than everything. He’s bigger than G-Unit, bigger than Interscope, bigger than Hip-Hop and definitely bigger than you. He raps about how many cars and houses he’s got and he’s telling Puff to pay him otherwise, as he says, “I’ll fuck yo shit up”. What in the world could have these two rap CEO’s going after each other? What would make 50 tell Diddy that unless he pays $50,000 for travel, airfare, hotels that he’ll “really service your ass.” Well, it’s none other than Pastor Mase. Right in the middle of this beef is Mase, embroiled in a label dispute. Two grown men, fighting over another man, in this case a rapper who hasn’t made a good song since 2004’s ‘Welcome Back’, which is a stretch and before that, the 1998 Cam’ron and Mase track “Horse & Carriage.” Hearing the two songs, one right after another, makes for some interesting comparisons. Neither of them have anything else to say, but who’s got more this and who’s going to have the nicer party in the Hamptons, whose richer and who “makes moves”.
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Is it a publicity stunt? Does 50 need Mase? Why won’t Diddy let him out of the contract? Who cares? 50 has taken on every single rapper that would listen since the day he came in the game. ‘How To Rob…’ took shots at everyone, even Jigga, but that didn’t him stop there. It’s been a yearly event, waiting on 50 Cent to find his next victim. The bully of rap right now, 50 Cent, won’t stop until no one is selling but him. What we need is real music from real artists like Jay-Z, Dr. Dre or Nas to keep our minds of this distraction from real music. When you take a classic like ‘Hip Hop’ and invoke the exact opposite emotions laid out the first time around, you’ve gone too far. Since no one will step up because they’re afraid they’ll lose album sales or get shot, it’s time for the fans to take a step and stop buying into his nonsense. 50 can’t even find time on the track to talk about Mase. He talks about everything as if Diddy was his new Ja Rule Project, jab-after-jab attacking the other until he gives in. Taking one half of M-1‘s line and another part of his saying…
‘Who shot Biggie Smalls? If we don’t get them, they gon’ kill us all / Man, Puffy know who hit that nigga, man; that nigga soft / He scared them boys from the West Side gon’ break him off / Jump on his ass, so he run to Harlem shake them off.’
Harlem Shake? Like 5 years ago, maybe. Mase, at least 5 years ago. Mobb Deep went the way of 50 and their album couldn’t even stay on the shelf without falling off like they did. 50 will still be talking once it’s all over. Like most bullies, you grow up and they don’t, you let it go, but they can’t. Then again, Diddy is a pretty smart businessman too, he might know exactly what 50 is thinking for both of them. Yung Joc and Cassie aren’t seeing the “love” anymore, Danity Kane is Bad Boy’s Pussycat Dolls with a TV show (which the Dolls just got as well) but they out-sold platinum dripping duo, Outkast, in their first week. 50 vs. Diddy, you probably never saw it coming, then again, the last 10 beefs (yawn) surprised you too.
