The Top Three Hip-Hop Beefs
Social media has been hot this month, with talk of the beef between female rappers Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion. Old-school heads will remember a similar rivalry between female rappers Lil Kim and Foxy Brown in the 90s.
MC battling is an essential part of hip-hop culture. Before rap was even on record, mc battles were something that were done on street corners and in school lunch-rooms, just for rappers to win respect and bragging rights in their neighbourhood.
As rap became more commercially viable, some latched onto the tradition to boost their careers. Nowadays most beefs are ‘bitch-ass’, with the two parties exchanging tweets and posting screen-shots of text messages on social media. Back in the day, rappers let their lyrical skills do the talking, making whole tracks dedicated to destroying their rivals.
In truth, some of the classic beefs were manufactured to boost record sales, but in these three listed below, the two parties had real life animosity, and in one particular case it culminated in their violent deaths.
Here’s a hip-hop historian’s take on the three top beefs in hip hop.
3. 50 Cent vs Ja Rule 1999–2019
Back in 1999, 50 Cent was a hungry unsigned rapper with a strong underground street buzz. At the same time Ja Rule, was riding high after the release of his debut album, Venni Vetti Vecci, which was certified platinum off the strength of the lead single “Holla Holla.”
But things didn’t go all his way in ’99. That same year Ja Rule was robbed at gunpoint for his chain in Southside Jamaica, Queens. 50 Cent alleges that Ja Rule witnessed him hanging in the club with the culprit weeks after the incident, and that sparked the bad blood between them.
The G-Unit and Murder Inc. crews crossed paths once again in March 2000 at the Hit Factory studios in New York City, leading to an altercation during which 50 suffered a stab wound and led to the arrest of Ja Rule and Murder Inc. rapper Black Child.
But the balance of power started to change in 2002 when 50 was signed to Eminem’s label Shady Records, which came under the umbrella of Dr Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. The next year he released his debut album 2003’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’. It was a huge commercial success and was certified 9 × Platinum. It also contained another diss for Ja on the track Back Down. In 2003 The G-Unit released their album Beg For Mercy which contained another diss on the track I Smell Pussy.
After remaining relatively silent in the face of 50 Cent’s smear campaign, Ja Rule returned fire in April 2003 with the diss track “Loose Change,” taking aim at 50 Cent and G-Unit, as well as Eminem, Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes and Chris Lighty.
Shortly after the release of his fourth studio album, the beef reached its peak, with both artists taking to radio stations almost daily to trade insults and diss tracks.
The beef continued to be highly publicized throughout 2003, and eventually led to Ja Rule meeting with Minister Louis Farrakhan in October, who wanted to intervene and prevent escalating violence in the feud.
But Ja’s ego didn’t allow him to take Farrakhan’s council. His fifth studio album Blood in My Eye dropped in November 2003 and much of the album’s content focused on the conflict with 50 Cent and G-Unit, led by the single Clap Back. It was a stark contrast to Ja’s more melodic material and the album was critically-panned and fell short of the success of previous multi-platinum releases. It became clear that Ja Rule and Irv Gotti were on the losing side of this beef.
Who won?
50 by a total knockout. Though Ja started off his career as a hardcore rapper, his biggest hits came with radio friendly collaborations with female vocalists like Christina Milian and Jennifer Lopez. So when he then attempted to pivot back to being hardcore to take on 50 with battle raps, it didn’t ring true. Though 50 peaked with debut he has remained an ever-present fixture in popular culture with his many TV and film appearances and successful business investments.
Ja Rule on the other hand has lurched from one PR disaster to another.
On December 13, 2010, Ja Rule received a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to attempted possession of a weapon. In July 2011, he received an additional 28-month prison sentence for failing to pay taxes on more than $3 million in earnings between 2004 and 2006.
In 2016, Ja Rule co-founded Fyre Media, Inc., a talent booking agency, with Billy McFarland. In April 2017, the venture touted its Fyre Festival in Hamilton, Bahamas, as a luxury event, but it was fraudulent, disappointing hundreds of ticket-buyers. Rule and McFarland faced a $100 million class action suit.
Through the years, Fif and Ja have continued to trade insults back and forth and 50 is not above kicking a man when he’s down. In 2019, 50 Cent allegedly bought 200 tickets to Ja’s concert, so the first set of rows in the front would be empty.
2. Death Row vs Bad Boy –1995–1997
Dr. Dre admitted after he had left Death Row, that label boss Suge Knight liked to be in ‘beef’– in fact he thrived on it. Knight was a former American football player, and like a professional athlete, he needed an opponent to give him something to focus on. And he may even go out of his way to create enemies. Something we saw from him in 1995 when on stage in New York accepting a gong at the Source Awards for Soundtrack of the Year, he dissed Bad Boy label head P Diddy and helped to ignite the East Coast/West Coast wars.
As well as business rival P Diddy, rappers The Notorious BIG, Snoop Dogg, and 2 Pac were all dragged into Suge’s self-generated rap wars. And sadly, they couldn’t confine the battle to wax and it spilled over into real life, resulting in the deaths of both Biggie and Pac.
In 1995 The Dogg Pound released their album Dogg Food, which went double platinum. On their single they continued to taunt the East Coast when they were joined by Snoop for their single New York, New York. The video showed them as giants striding through the city kicking over skyscrapers.
But before the rosta of other artists signed to the label could get their time to shine, Suge decided that he wanted to sign another artist to the label — controversial rapper Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac). The gratitude that 2Pac felt towards Suge for bailing him out of jail, meant that he was only too happy to sign to Death Row.
2 Pac was already an established artist with three albums under his belt, but with the added production genius of Dre and the platform of Death Row, his career went ballistic. He repaid Suge’s faith in him with his very first album for Death Row, All Eyes on Me selling six million copies.
In November 1994 2 Pac had been robbed and shot in the lobby of Quad Studios in New York. In 1995, months after the robbery, Bad Boy released the B.I.G track Who Shot Ya?, which Shakur took as a mockery of his shooting and thought they could be responsible.
The ethic of beef that Suge enjoyed so much, was picked up 2 Pac and taken to another level, escalating the costal wars by dissing former friend Biggie, his label Bad Boy, Nas, Mobb Deep and basically the whole of the East Coast rap scene.
He also accused Puffy and Biggie of being complicit in his robbery at Quad studios. On record and in videos he mocked Biggie and Diddy, on the track Hit Em Up, boasting that he slept with Biggie’s wife Faith.
Neither Biggie or Diddy publicly responded, although the comic character the Mad Rapper who appeared on skits on Bad Boy releases was thought to be a pastiche of 2Pac.
Who won?
This was a war that took rap beef to new levels with both sides suffering heavy losses. Clearly Bad Boy didn’t want this war. They slung no shots and made no answer records, perhaps realising that Death Row was run by a real gangsta who wanted war. So in terms of songs released, they lost. But within a few years Suge was in jail, Death Row was bankrupt and Diddy and Bad Boy were still riding high, able to celebrate their 25th anniversary with a nationwide tour. Even though it was without B.I.G, the label’s biggest star.
1. Jay Z vs Nas 2001- 2004
This is the quintessential hip-hop beef- like one of those classic boxing matches of the 1970s — a clash of two well-matched heavy weights — two New York legends at the top of their game.
It could be argued that Jay paid tribute to Nas by sampling his voice on his first two albums Dead Presidents II on his debut, and again in 1997, on Rap Game/Crack Game.
Still any rivalry between the two was only known of by insiders, the disses all subliminal. In 2001 the gloves came off.
Takeover, appeared on JAY-Z’s 2001 album The Blueprint. On the Kanye West-produced track, he calls Nas a has-been, saying he has “one hot album every ten-year average.”
He also addresses sampling Nas’ vocals.
“Yeah I sampled your voice, you was using it wrong,
You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song.”
Nas responded with Ether and things got personal, calling him ‘Gay-Z’ and his label ‘Cock-a-Fella’ saying he had ‘dick sucking lips’, and had an affair with Foxy Brown.
Jay-Z was not going to let him have the last word and replied with Supa Ugly, which samples Nas’ own “Got Ur Self A…” and Dr. Dre’s “Bad Intentions.” On it Jay-Z bragged about having an alleged three-year long affair with Nas’ girlfriend Carmen Bryan. In 2002 JAY-Z attacked Nas again on the title track of his Blueprint 2 album,
“Cos a nigga where a Kufi it down mean that he bright,
Cos you don’t understand him it down mean that he nice,
It just mean you don’t understand all the bullshit that he write.”
Though when the beef started at the end of the 90s Nas was on-top, by the mid 00’s Jay Z ruled supreme over hip-hop with multi-platinum album sales, and even becoming President of Def Jam records in 2004.
But Jay was magnanimous in victory. On Oct. 27, 2005 at Power 105.1’s annual Powerhouse concert, Jay-Z and Nas officially squashed their beef when Nas made an unexpected appearance during Jay’s show-closing set to perform “Dead Presidents” and “The World Is Yours.” The rivals shook hands and posed together officially ending their feud.
In January 2006 Jay-Z would sign Nas to Def Jam while the historic rap label was under his leadership. Nas would go on to collaborate with Jay-Z on his 2006 album, Hip-Hop Is Dead, on the song “Black Republicans” and for a second time on Jay’s American Gangster song, “Success.”
Who won?
Hip-hop won! Two big beasts of hip-hop went in HARD and slugged it out, producing some of the best tracks of their careers, keeping the fans entertained, but then are mature enough to squash the beef and cement the reunion with a collaboration track. That’s what hip-hop is all about, right?
Other classic beefs
Roxanne Shante vs UTFO — 1984
BDP vs The Juice Crew –1987
LL Cool J vs Canibus — 1997
Ice Cube vs NWA — 1990–91
Dr Dre vs Eazy E — 1992 -1993
Lil Kim vs Foxy Brown — 1991 — ??
Lil Kim vs Nicki Minaj — 2008–2018