Beef. It’s more than what’s for dinner – it’s what rappers today have been dining on for a minute now. Every other week or so, you can hear a new diss track from someone in the game. Whether it’s real, subliminal, or WWE-inspired – 2006 will be known as a year of some noteworthy beefs; whereas others will be written off as stupid and trite. But there is seeming to be a common thread in some of these beefs. It looks like the new era of emcees is constantly bumping heads with the old regime. The old heads claim “Hip Hop is Dead” or dying while the new school feel that is an insult because what does that mean for their craft?
Interesting…
Here’s a review of some of the bigger beefs this year:
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Gillie Da Kid vs. Lil’ Wayne
Former Cash Money recording artist, Gillie Da Kid was signed to the New Orleans label for a good hot minute. While there, he never released an album, but according to him – he’s the reason why Lil’ WayneThe Carter went from “wobbily, wobbily, drop-drop it like its hot” to dropping gems like he did off of his two-times platinum offering . Gillie said that not only did he write the raps for Lil’ Weezyana, but he (Wayne) pulled a swagger jack move by biting the Clipse’s fetish for A Bathing Ape clothing. To credit, Gillie does have footage to back this up, showing Wayne sporting a Major Figgas chain in a video. Wayne has also recently called out The Clipse and Pharrell too. Wayne hasn’t responded or given any true response to Gillie. Is ignorance the same as having something to hide?
The Clipse vs. Jive Records
The Thornton Brothers are something like a gift and a curse. Their opus Lord Willin’ was a beautifully crafted gift, reworking the crack tales and giving it a sense of stark reality. The curse would be Jive’s refusal to put them out on time. Having been three years since they originally began working on Hell Hath No Fury, the group became more and more frustrated with the label. The label responded by overlooking them in favor of the more “pop” oriented acts on its roster. This led to suffer numerous delays, which only made the fans and The Clipse angrier. The “crackers” who weren’t playing fair at Jive were parodied and threatened by the Virginia rhyme-slangers. The request to be formally released from their contract was refused. Industry rule #4080 was put in place. The duo sued the label and started their own imprint Re-Up Records. Having released the critically acclaimed We Got It 4 Cheap mixtape series helped to only fuel the fervor of wanting Hell bumping out the speakers.
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This past May, the Clipse reached an agreement with their record label to release the album through Re-Up Records along with Jive. Even though the date of release was pushed back twice, the beef simmered down between the two, as Hell Hath No Fury was released on November 28th, 2006 – after almost a four year delay.
Young Jeezy vs. Nas
With the buzz building with Thug Motivation 102: The Inspiration, Mr. 17.5 was on Monie Love’s radio show in Philadelphia. During the radio interview, the discussion turned to Nas and about hip-hop being dead. The two continued to go back and forth, with Jeezy eventually left the studio telling Nas to “get at” him if he thought that hip-hop was graveyard bound.
The Snowman even called into question Nas’s credibility in the streets. Saying, “Nas ain’t not street n***a. He ain’t been in no streets. Nas ain’t did nothing he talking about. Nas bust his guns? Nas been on the block? Does Nas even have any street credibility?” Although, Nas has yet to respond, let me say that this is frivolous. Shooting guns, selling drugs, going to jail, and killing a Black man does not prove that you’re hip-hop. It only shows that one is stupid and doesn’t have anything more interesting to do with their time.
East Coast vs. The South
Nowhere reminiscent of the media created, East vs. West beef – this one has its roots in a changing of the guards. The South has been on top of the charts for the past few years, much to the disdain of people in New York. With T.I., Luda, and Jeezy replacing Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas on everyone’s iPods – New York fell back… hard. From then on, New York was on its grind trying to bring itself “back”. D4L went at Nas about the title of his new album, UGK has made songs (most notably Quit Hatin’ The South) telling New York to let them live. Field Mob made fun of New Yorkers on YouTube.
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Nas vs. Dipset
Where the hell did this one start? Apparently awhile back, Jim Jones said “I’ll still slap the holy living shit out the nigga” and restarted a beef that had gone idle for some time. The two have been going back and forth and the fact that Nas rolls with Jay-Z now just can’t sit well with Cam and Jim Jones. To cap it all off, Nas recently gave a hearty “Fuck Dipset” to people at a California show. Who knows what will happen with this one.
Game vs Ras Kass
Two of the West Coast’s finest choose to pull their dicks out and piss on each other. It all stemmed from Ras Kass‘ song “Caution” where he said “Fools is acting like they want what I always was / West Coast lyricist with East Coast love/you was made to run/get a thousand tattoos and won’t raise your gun/so when you get merked I’ma raise your son/Ras is a son of a bitch, you the son of a coward/your pops went to jail got fucked in the shower.”Game took it as if it was directed at his son and one punch later it was lights out. It seemed as if the beef was going to bubble out of control but it seems that cooler heads have prevailed since then.
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Everybody vs. Jay-Z
Can Shawn Corey Carter live?! The man dropped Kingdom Come, not even a month ago, but the hate has been brooding for a long time. The rift between Jay and partner, Damon Dash, has been split for quite awhile now. The dislike between Jay and Cam’ron has been documented quite extensively. But ever since Jay’s ascension to presidential status over at Def Jam, the Big Homie has been criticized by the press and rappers, alike. Method Man and LL Cool J have cited Jay as the reasons why their albums didn’t sell major units (nevermind that they both sucked.). James Todd Smith has been the most vocal, even opting to sign with fellow Queen’s native, 50 Cent, and having him to executive produce his next album.Lil’ Wayne has recently did a 180 as he used to proclaim that he was “the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired,” and is now the best rapper, period.
As the Diplomats second stringers, Jim Jones and JR Writer, decide to throw shots at the throne – Raekwon also joins in the fracas by offering his opinions about the latest Jay-Z offering. What is it about Jay that has everybody so mad?
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50 Cent vs. The World
As Fiddy preps his new album, he recently appeared on DJ Whoo Kid’s Shade 45 show the other week. During the interview, he slams Fat Joe’s handling of Remy Ma’s album and career, trashes The Game’s One Bloodremix, the rappers who appear on the remix, and even spoke on Jay’s marketing plan. 50 Cent looks to return to old form with his latest rant.
And so, it seems as if hip-hop is embroiled in its own civil war: the new school vs. the old. The upstarts feel that the legends aren’t giving them their own lane to shine. As we leave 2006, we can only imagine how 2007 is going to be for hip-hop.
