Today I kind of wanted to look back to the earlier times of rap when Beefs where few but highly buzzed. Right now, there are so many beefs in Hip Hop that we are too desensitized to even care. There was a time when, you would search all through Napster or Kazaa to find the newest diss track, or even wait for a completely new album to hear rebuttals. With that being said, I have complied a list of the top rap beefs ever. I have omitted 2pac and biggie, because it was a beef that went pass the direction of entertainment.

8.) Rakim Vs. EPMD

I call this the peer pressure beef because no shots were really fired. It all started with Rakim saying the line “you could get a smack for this, I ain’t no joke” of the “I Aint No Joke”  track simply as a witty rhyme. Meanwhile a new group was emerging by the name of EPMD who just released a song called “You Gots To Chill” . The line“It’s like a digg’em smack,Smack me and I’ll smack you back” caused a huge buzz because many thought it was an attack at Rakim. EPMD claimed that it was not addressed to anyone but the buzz and the pressure had already kicked off and everyone was waiting for Rakim’s reply.

Rakim finally return a line on the album Follow The Leader with the titled song…the line went as follows; “Stop buggin’, a brother said digg’em, I never dugg’em He couldn’t follow the leader long enough so I drug ‘em. / Enter danger zone, he should arrange his own Face it, it’s basic, erase it, change your tone. /”…after that ordeal, the two factions met up and squashed their issues.

Who Won: I would say Rakim, with Follow The Leader

Highlight Line: Stop buggin’, a brother said digg’em, I never dugg’em He couldn’t follow the leader long enough so I drug ‘em. / Enter danger zone, he should arrange his own Face it, it’s basic, erase it, change your tone. /”…

7.) 50 Cents Verses Everybody

I don’t really salute this guy because his formula is just beef so there is no real tension or heated lyrics. I will admit that “How to Rob the Industry”  was a great song and it really did its job by opening many people’s ears as to what he was saying. However many artists didn’t pay it any mind except for the likes Jay-Z who made a nice rebuttal (“I’m about a dollar, WTF is 50 cents”) and Wu-Tang who made a few references in their songs.

Who Won: I would say 50 cent’s because he really caught a lot of people’s attention with the song

Highlight Line: I’ll rob Boys II Men like I’m Michael Bivins, Catch Tyson for half that cash like Robyn Givens, I’m hungry for real im bout to stick Mister C, That nigga still eatin off Big’s first LP

6.) Raekwon & Ghostface Vs. Biggie

This beef was more about people naturally not liking other people. Nas said it best in the song “Last Real Nigga Alive”  where he goes on to say that “BIG was ahead of his time, him and Raekwon my niggas But dig it, they couldn’t get along”. It’s like when people’s souls just don’t meet. I think this beef would of stayed internal if it wasn’t for Raekwon and Ghost criticizing Biggie for stealing Nas’ album cover design for Ready To Die.

What many don’t know is that the two Wu Members squashed their beef with Biggie right before he passed and they were actually planning to do song together. It could have been a great song, because I think Rae and Big are very similar in a lot of ways (large ugly but very talented emcees rapping about drugs and fine wine)

Who Won: Nobody Really Won in This One

Highlight: No Diss Song…

5.) Jay-Z Vs. Mobb Deep

This was an embarrassing beef for Mobb Deep more specifically for Prodigy. Around that time, Mobb Deep were really known as the hardest dudes to do it, but when their issues started to pick up with Jay-Z news started coming out of the woodwork. The major development was ofcoarse the picture of Prodigy in the ballet class, but other news started to surface as well, such as; Prodigy not being from Queens but from Long Island, and him not being a hard thug at all.

It seemed more like genocide then beef because Mobb Deep really couldn’t fire back at Jay-Z for whatever reason and the effects of that beef are still felt today. Mobb Deep never went back to that level success after that ordeal.

Who Won: Jay-Z for making them look like girl scouts

Highlight: I can say a line, but the real highlight was when Jay-Z exposed the picture of prodigy

4.) Ice Cube Vs NWA

There is nothing worse than a former member of group airing out laundry because there is a sense of credibility to it. It all started when Ice Cube left NWA for financial reasons, it was only matter time before issues would fly. The remaining group are actually the ones who ignited the feud by releasing diss tracks like “Message To B.A.” and “Real Niggaz.” But when Cube replied with No Vaseline , the blow was landed.

No Vaseline really whistle blowed the whole NWA group as fake gangsters trying to capitalized on the gang lifestyle that plagued the streets of LA, many cards where played on that song leaving the surviving NWA crippled.

Who Won: Ice Cube With No Vaseline

Highlight: Y’all muthafuckas moved straight outta Compton/Livin’ with the whites, one big house, and not another n***an in sight/I started off with too much cargo/Dropped four n****s, now I’m makin’ all the dough/White man just rulin’/The N****s With Attitudes? Who ya foolin’?/Y’all n****s just phony.

3.) Common Vs. Ice Cube

This was so unexpected because Common is the one that actually kicked it off. In the song “I Use To Love Her” where he talked about Hip Hop as a woman, he claimed that she went to the west side to hang with “Gangsta Bitches”. The line was not directed at anyone in particular but more to the whole westcoast/gangster movement and his distained for it (no matter how much he tries denying it).

Ice cube and the West Side Connection took that as a diss track and made a rebuttal with the video West Side Slaughter House which was extremely raw. To the surprise of everyone, Common came back harder with his reply, ‘The Bitch In Yoo’ . From that point on, both parties realized that it was getting out of hand, so they both came together and squashed any issues.

Who Won: Common, that Bitch In Yoo was extremely vicious especially coming from a Conscious rapper.

Highlight: There’s a thin line between the fake and the real/Grafted ass n***a, I see through your Glass Shield/Had skills, once upon a time on this project, yo/I’m a have to wreck a ho-’Shea/I heard a ho say you’re her favorite rapper/[So what?] So I had to slap her/And violate you, a Muslim drinking brew.

2.) Jay-Z Vs. Nas

Everyone knows this battle and how intense it was. I think a lot of things fueled this battle, and there was real tension, not in the sense of violence, but more in a deep rivalry. This battle had been slowly heating since the early 90’s and I feel both respected each other so much that there was sense of heavy competition and jealously from both parts.

In my honest opinion, I think there was resentment on Jay-Z’s part when Nas refused to be in his Dead Presidents video. Then when Biggie started to notice Jay-Z and Jay started to gain the fame he has today, Nas started to see him as a threat.

All are aware of the battle and the diss songs the ensued, Takeover was a very “under the belt” song, but the majority feel that Ether was end all be all, so much so that the word is now synonymous with being owned.

Who Won: The Majority Votes In Nas

Highlight: How much of Biggie’s rhymes is gone come out your fat lips?/Wanted to be on every last one of my classics/You pop s***, apologize, n****, just as ‘Kiss.

1.) Boogie Down Vs Juice Crew

This is the legendary beef that started the NY feud with the two boroughs in 87. It all started when MC Shan releasing the song The Bridge making it seem like Hip Hop originated in Queens. KRS 1 and the rest of BDP took that offensively claiming that Shan was trying to take away from the original birthplace of Hip Hop, South Bronx.

The two crews went back and forth a few times, but when BDP released “The Bridge is Over”  , it single handedly ended a few careers and destroyed the battle of the Boroughs. The Bridge is Over was such a lethal diss song that it gets the top spot on my list

Who Won: BDP Ofcoarse

Highlight: finally figured it out/Magic’s mouth is used for suckin’/Roxanne Shante is only good for steady fuckin’/MC Shan and Marley Marl is really only bluffin’/Like Doug E. Fresh said, ‘I tell you now, you ain’t nothing.’/Compared to Red Alert on KISS and Boogie Down Production.

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