Hip hop rivalry

From AmericolaWiki

Hip-hop feuds and rivalries often referred to as "beefs", have existed since the 1970s. Originally, at block parties, DJs would play records and isolate the percussion breaks for the dancing masses, which was copied from Jamaican reggae music. Soon, MCs began speaking over the beats, at first simply exhorting the audience to continue dancing, but eventually expanded their time on stage to introducing themselves, shouting out friends in the audience, boasting about their own skills, and criticizing their rivals, all in good humor. The deaths of 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. have alerted rappers to the possibility of a simple feud becoming violent. Observers have claimed that the media feeds on such rivalries for headlines and blows situations out of proportion, particularly in the infamous East Coast-West Coast rivalry of the 1990s. A contrasting example was the 1980s hit "Roxanne, Roxanne" by U.T.F.O., which sparked several hundred "answer records" in response, some of which were quite vituperative (see the Roxanne Wars). At the time, hip hop was not as high-profile, and the media ignored the record. The beef never made it onto the streets. The recent high-profile beef between Nas and Jay-Z however, was carried out without ever threatening to become violent.

Contents 1 1980s feuds 1.1 Boogie Down Productions vs. The Juice Crew 1.2 LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee 2 1990s feuds 2.1 N.W.A. vs. Ice Cube 2.2 Ruthless vs. Death Row 2.3 East Coast vs. West Coast 2.4 LL Cool J vs. Canibus 3 2000s and current feuds 3.1 Nas vs. Jay-Z 3.2 Benzino vs. Eminem 3.3 Shady/Aftermath/50 Cent/G Unit vs. Murder Inc./Ja Rule 3.4 50 Cent vs. The Game 4 Summaries of other known rivalries (not necessarily in chronological order)

[edit] 1980s feuds

[edit] Boogie Down Productions vs. The Juice Crew

Main article: The Bridge Wars

Boogie Down Productions, led by KRS-One, were involved in a long-running feud with Marley Marl's Juice Crew during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s that was predominantly a dispute over boroughs of New York. The feud began with Queensbridge-based Marley Marl & MC Shan's track "The Bridge" in late 1985, in which they sung the praises of hip hop's early years in Queensbridge. The dispute was over MC Shan's line "You love to hear the story again and again of how it all got started way back then". South Bronx-based KRS-One believed that MC Shan was implying that Queensbridge was where hip hop "all got started". Although proved later to not be the case, KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions (BDP) would misinterpret the line and go on to record the and release the track "South Bronx" starting the rivalry. It was effectively identical in terms of content to Shan and Marl's track except singing the praises of South Bronx rather than Queensbridge, and made the argument for it being the true home and birthplace of hip hop. The Juice Crew soon responded with the track "Kill The Noise" on Shan's album Down By Law which took various shots at KRS-One and mocked his taking offense in the first place: "Yo Shan, I didn't hear you say hip hop started in the Bridge on your record." "I didn't. They wanted to get on the bandwagon." KRS's main response was the Jamaican-influenced "The Bridge Is Over", and lyrics spoofing Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me":

What's the matter with your MC, Marley Marl?

Don't you know that he's out of touch?

What's the matter with your DJ, MC Shan?

On the wheels of steel, Marlon sucks

You'd better change what comes out your speaker

You're better off talkin' 'bout your whack Puma sneaker

'Cause Bronx created hip hop, Queens will only get dropped

You're still tellin' lies to me

Everybody's talkin' 'bout the Juice Crew funny

But you're still tellin' lies to me

Most of KRS's fire was directed at Marley Marl and MC Shan specifically, though he occasionally exchanged insults with other Juice Crew members such as Mr. Magic and Roxanne Shante. Shante responded with a song aimed at Boogie Down Productions titled "Have A Nice Day" in which she rapped:

Now KRS One you should go on vacation with your name sounding,

like a wack radio station. And as for Scott La Rock,

you should be ashamed, when T LA Rock said It's Yours,

he didn't mean his name.

The feud quickly died down after BDP's Scott La Rock was shot dead in 1987 after attempting to calm down a domestic dispute involving BDP colleague D-Nice. With his new Stop the Violence Movement, KRS-One had his attention elsewhere, and the Juice Crew did not release any further dis records for a long period after La Rock's death out of respect. However, in 1989, MC Shan attempted to restart the rivalry on his song Juice Crew Law which contained several shots at KRS. KRS took more than a year to respond, but eventually did so in 1990 on the song Black Man In Effect from the BDP (which at that point was basically only KRS-One, D-Nice having left earlier the same year) album Edutainment.

Fans remember the beef as a classic hip-hop duel. MC Shan and KRS-One themselves acknowledged the beef's important place in hip hop history when they appeared together in a commercial for the Sprite soft drink in the mid-nineties, in which they exchanged battle rhymes inside a boxing ring. However, the respective fortunes of the pair in the nineties were very different: MC Shan, considered the loser of the battle were there one, never really recovered his reputation and effectively retired, while KRS continued a successful solo career and remained an important figure in hip hop. Nevertheless, on the QB's Finest compilation (which showcased the finest Queensbridge hip hop artists) in 2001, MC Shan took one last parting shot at KRS-One: "Hip hop was set out in the dark / The Bridge was never Over, we left our mark."

[edit] LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee

Kool Moe Dee was a member of one of the earliest hip hop crew, the Treacherous Three, and claimed that LL Cool J stole his style, starting a long-running feud between them. From different interviews and magazines at the time, Kool Moe Dee felt that LL was actually believing his own hype based on the popularity and success of the Bigger and Deffer album. Supposedly, Moe Dee approached LL and talked to him, and LL either brushed him off, or went back to his old ways after the talk. There also arose rumors that Moe Dee felt that LL was imitating his rhyme style. Kool Moe Dee took the first shots with "How Ya Like Me Now," the title song from his second solo album that featured on the cover Kool Moe Dee leaning against a jeep and a LL trademark Kangol underneath the tire. The album contained the indirect diss track of the same name. While the album cover was a clear shot, "How Ya Like Me Now," was more subtle. Although he did not specifically mention anyone by name, Kool Moe Dee indicated that he felt he was betrayed by an amateur. Taking this as a sign of disrespect, the then teenage LL responded with the energetic "Jack the Ripper." In the song LL playfully taunts Kool Moe Dee by repeatedly asking the rhetorical question "How you like me now?" He then precedes to call Kool Moe Dee a "washed up rapper" and an "old school sucker punk."

Kool Moe Dee promptly released his famous diss record, "Let's Go", rhyming:

Tryna be me, now LL stands for

Lower Level, Lack Luster

Last Least, Limp Lover

Lousy Lame, Latent Lethargic

Lazy Lemon, Little Logic

Lucky Leech, Liver Lipped

Laborious Louse on a Loser's Lips

Live in Limbo, Lyrical Lapse

Low Life with the loud raps, boy

The sequence ended with the following:

...Now look what you done did

just using your name I took those L’s,

hung ‘em on your head and rocked your bells...

LL failed to reply to the song for two years, opening himself up to further disses by many other rappers, most notably gangsta rap pioneer Ice-T. LL also abandoned the hard-core image that he had previously popularized, instead moving toward a more commercial fare (which emphasized New Jack Swing-love ballads). Critics scoffed at this new direction with the release of Walking With a Panther (1989). The genre was becoming increasingly socially conscious, abandoning the music's early themes of partying and braggadocio, and adopting more socially aware issues such as drug abuse, poverty, racism, and African American empowerment. These events resulted in the deterioration of LL’s credibility with some members of the hip hop community: in one instance, he was booed off the stage at the Apollo Theater in New York City during a performance. However, in 1990, LL released the highly anticipated Mama Said Knock You Out, reasserting his status and reviving his credibility amongst hip hop purists. LL also re-ignited his feud with Kool Moe Dee (as well as dissing MC Hammer and striking back at Ice-T) with the comical diss track, "To The Break Of Dawn".

Homeboy hold on, my rhymes are so strong

Nothing can go wrong. So why do you prolong

songs that ain't strong, brother you're dead wrong

and got the nerve to have them Star Trek shades on...

heh, you can't handle the whole weight

Skin needs lotion

Teeth need Colgate

Wise up, you little burnt up French fry

"I'm That Type of Guy"

In essence, LL became the first emcee beaten in battle to ask for a rematch, and followed up with several subliminal attacks in other records (a battle practice for which he is known), including the title track, as well as "Jingling Baby," and "Murdergram." Moe Dee soon responded to all of the tracks with the single, "Deathblow," which was dismissed as unspectacular due mostly to Teddy Riley’s production use of a dated James Brown sample.

[edit] 1990s feuds

[edit] N.W.A. vs. Ice Cube

The original lineup of N.W.A. splintered when Ice Cube left the group and a war of words developed between Ice Cube and the remaining members of N.W.A., particularly Eazy-E. In his battle raps, Ice Cube accused Eazy-E and his partner Jerry Heller of taking the lion's share of the group's profits. Eventually Ice Cube went solo with his album Amerikkka's Most Wanted. N.W.A. dissed Ice Cube on the single "100 Miles and Runnin'" saying "Now it's 4 because the 5th couldn't take it". Ice Cube dissed them back on his album Kill at Will with "Jackin' for Beats" saying "And if I jack ya and you keep coming I'll have you marks 100 miles and runnin". Later the small disses became bigger ones with the diss from N.W.A.'s Efil4zaggin album (also known as Niggaz4Life) in which they called Ice Cube "Benedict Arnold". On Ice Cube's Death Certificate album, he shot back with the infamous diss "No Vaseline" eventually ending the feud but not ending the war. Later, more drama came with another N.W.A. artist.

[edit] Ruthless vs. Death Row

Eventually, Dr. Dre and The D.O.C. found that Cube was right about Eazy-E and Jerry Heller that they were in fact skimming money off the top, and the pair left the crew behind. This effectively meant the end of N.W.A; Dre began his solo career, forming the highly influential Death Row Records with former bodyguard Suge Knight. When he released his first solo album The Chronic, he began a well-publicized feud with his ex-band mate by constantly poking fun of Eazy-E on the song and the video for Dre Day, where Eazy was a money hungry character called Sleazy-E who eventually ended up on the Compton freeway with a sign "Will Rap for Food," Bitches Ain't Shit, which includes the lyric "I used to know a bitch named Eric Wright" and on "The Chronic Intro" where Snoop Dogg yells out that they can suck Deeez Nuuuts. Also Dre dissed him on the intro of Puffin On Blunts And Dranken Tanquery.

Eazy-E responded directly by releasing the It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa. The single released from this album, Real Muthafuckin G's" say that Dre was only acting like he was from Compton which Ice Cube even said he wasn't from Compton. The album featured lyrics like on his old album cover he was a she thang referring when Dre was with the World Class Wreckin' Cru. Eazy also said Dre Day only meant Eazy's pay day,which meant that even when Dre worked with Deathrow he still was makin money off his label.

Dre and Snoop were both heard dissing the label on The Chronic; later, Snoop Doggy Dogg had small disses to Eazy E such as "HIV-Pussy havin ass muthafucka". Tha Dogg Pound would take shots on their own debut, Dogg Food, such as the line "Ain't got no love for no hoes in harmony": a reference to Ruthless Records' successful new act, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony from Cleveland. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony responded back with a minor diss on the last track of the E. 1999 Eternal album entitled "Shotz To Tha Double Glock",with Layzie Bone saying "Cleveland Browns, Dogg Pound hoes it's on". Dogg Pound's What Would You Do included some lines aimed at Ruthless Records and BG Knocc Out: "Oh yeah, Fuck BG Knocc Out and every nigga down with him" and "For instance, let's take these Ruthless fools, these Ruthless fools and the Pound in one room", in response, Knocc Out and Dresta recorded the diss track entitled DPG/K, from their album Real Brothas. More tension between Death Row and Ruthless sprung up when the latter label's act Above the Law accused Dre of stealing their G-Funk sound for his album and taking credit for it. This resulted in Ruthless recording artist Kokane putting a diss called "Don't Bite The Phunk" with Above The Law's Cold 187um, off his album "Funk Upon A Rhyme". There was also an episode on a golf course when Nate Dogg and some other people from Tha Dogg Pound were attacked by Eazy's crew armed with golf-clubs.

Eazy E also disses Death Row Records on his next album Str8 off tha streetz of muthaphukkin Compton with the tracks "Ole School Shit" with lyrics explaining the departure of Dre from N.W.A. "I was the captain Dre was my sidekick, everything was cool till he wanted to get what I get" and his own version of "Wut Would You Do". In 1996, prominent Death Row artist 2Pac was featured on the Bone Thugs' third album The Art Of War, essentially ending the feud.

[edit] East Coast vs. West Coast

Main article: East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry

Arguably the most famous rap feud of recent times, the rivalry between the East Coast's Bad Boy Records and the West Coast's Death Row Records consisted of shots from Death Row toward various acts and, more specifically, Bad Boy, although the media billed it as a "rap war" between two coasts. Fans of and from both scenes denounced each other's native artists, engulfing all of rap culture.

Hip hop had originated in the streets of New York, and the city remained the undisputed capital of hip hop until the late '80s, when N.W.A. & others put the West on the map. After he co-founded Death Row Records with former bodyguard Marion "Suge" Knight, producer/rapper Dr. Dre's debut The Chronic became one of the biggest-selling hip hop albums in history, going three-times platinum, and was followed shortly by Snoop Doggy Dogg's breakout album Doggystyle in 1993, which went four-times platinum. Suge Knight's Death Row Records had built up a successful roster of stars, most notably Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Tha Dogg Pound. Following the release of Dre's The Chronic and Snoop's Doggystyle, West Coast hip hop dominated the mainstream. While East Coast albums such as Nas's Illmatic and the Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) received critical accolades, it wouldn't be until the double-platinum success of The Notorious B.I.G.'s (commonly known as "Biggie Smalls" or "Biggie") 1994 release Ready to Die that the region would receive substantial mainstream attention.

East Coast hip-hop purists generally disdained the de-emphasized lyricism of West Coast rap, claiming that the G-funk style Dre pioneered on The Chronic and Doggystyle relied heavily on funky, catchy beats and simple gangsta rhymes. The East Coast would be returned to the mainstream when CEO Sean "Puffy" Combs's Bad Boy Records released The Notorious B.I.G.'s double-platinum Ready to Die. The success of Combs and Biggie did not go over well with Suge Knight, who had maintained a near-monopoly on mainstream rap from 1992-94 and now had an East Coast competitor.

Bad Boy and Death Row entered conflict with one another after 2Pac was shot five times at a New York recording studio on November 30, 1994, and publicly blamed his former close friend Notorious B.I.G and Bad Boy CEO Sean "Puffy" Combs. Though no hard evidence has ever connected Bad Boy to the shooting or shown that either Biggie or Combs had foreknowledge of it, Tupac claimed that they were acting suspiciously afterwards.

The feud further escalated after Suge Knight mocked Combs at the Source Awards in August 1995, announcing to the assembly of artists and industry figures: "If you want to be a star, and don't want the executive producer all up in the video, singing, (and) dancing, come to Death Row," referring to Combs's ad-libbing in the background of certain Biggie songs. Combs attempted to defuse the situation in a later acceptance speech, saying that he respected Suge and Dr. Dre's work and that the East-West feud had to stop. However, a later performance by Death Row's Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg was booed (to which Snoop infamously and angrily responded, "The East Coast ain't got no love for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and Death Row?").

The feud intensified with a number of incidents. In September 1995, a close friend of Knight's was gunned down at a birthday party thrown for producer Jermaine Dupri in Atlanta, Georgia, for which Knight publicly blamed Bad Boy Records. Then, in December, while filming the video for the Dogg Pound's song "New York, New York" in Manhattan, Snoop Dogg's trailer was shot at numerous times (though it was empty). The video itself was controversial, featuring Death Row artists knocking over New York skyscrapers and landmarks, to which many East Coast artists and fans took offense. There was also suspicion that the song itself was also targeted at Bad Boy Records and New York in general, though this is unlikely as the song is in fact a remake of a Grandmaster Flash song, features only generic braggadocio/battle rhymes with nothing that could be interpreted as a specific attack on the East, and was written and recorded before the Bad Boy/Death Row feud began. Capone-N-Noreaga responded with "LA, LA" featuring Mobb Deep, which got them involved in the feud. The Boot Camp Clik joined in by recording with 2Pac; they had also called him out on the track "Won On Won" on the "Soul In The Hole" soundtrack right before B.I.G.'s demise.

In 1995, The Notorious B.I.G. released the track "Who Shot Ya." While it had been recorded before Tupac's '94 shooting and most fans interpreted it as a generic braggadocio/gangsta track like the aforementioned "New York, New York," 2Pac claimed that it was a subliminal mocking his '95 shooting. In early 1996, 2Pac released the infamous dis track "Hit 'Em Up," in which he claimed to have had sex with the Notorious B.I.G's wife Faith Evans, also rapping "This ain't no freestyle battle, y'all niggas getting killed" in one verse and "Who shot me but you punks didn't finish/Now you 'bout to feel the wrath of a menace, nigga I hit 'em up!" in the hook. Pac also added at the end whilst talking "My fo-fo makes sure all your kids don't grow" which may have been aimed at Jay-Z. "Hit 'Em Up" proved to be the biggest spark in the feud, and some have questioned whether Tupac's claims that he slept with Evans and that Bad Boy set him up were driven by publicity following his signing with Death Row.

B.I.G. jokingly responded on Jay-Z's "Brooklyn's Finest," rapping "If Faith had twins she'd probably have two Pacs/Get it? Tu...pac's" in one verse. In March 1996, at the Soul Train Awards in Miami, the respective entourages of Bad Boy and Death Row met in the parking lot and guns were drawn. Although an armed staring contest was all this confrontation eventually amounted to, it was readily apparent to hip hop fans and artists that this rivalry was getting out of hand, and going far beyond the heated, but never violent, lyrical battles for superiority of the past.

On September 7, 1996 2Pac was shot several times in Las Vegas, dying a few days later on Friday 13. On March 9, 1997, Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed in California. Both murders remain unsolved, and numerous theories (some of them conspiracy theories) have sprung up. These include, most notoriously, that 2Pac faked his own death. Later in 1997, several rappers, including Bizzy Bone, Doug E. Fresh and Snoop Dogg met at the request of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam and pledged to forgive any slights that may be related to the rivalry and deaths of 2Pac and Biggie.

Prior to his death, 2Pac had also come into separate disputes with several other East Coast rappers.

Mobb Deep proved his greatest adversaries. Some friends of 2Pac had been apparently snubbed by the group at one of their concerts, and when word of the incident reached a then-jailed Tupac he sent out a message to Mobb Deep threatening violence. Mobb Deep immediately responded with the diss track "Drop a Gem on 'Em" which, occurred after 2Pac's "Hit 'Em Up" single which mocked Mobb Deep. This is the only official diss aimed back at 2Pac by another artist in his lifetime. The song features the lines "got the whole of New York state, pointin' at your face.... your days are numbered to low digits". 2Pac then responded with a vicious diss track entitled "When We Ride On Our Enemies", by not only dissing them but also The Fugees.

Nas also angered Tupac by appearing to mock 2Pac with the line "Fake thug, no love, you get the slug, CB4 gusto your luck? No..." in the track "The Message," although Nas denied that this line was ever aimed at Pac. Even Chino XL, an underground rapper from New Jersey with no eye on mainstream domination and no ties to Bad Boy Records, Nas or Mobb Deep, incurred 2pac's wrath on "Hit Em Up" by using him in a somewhat ambiguous simile "By this industry, I'm trying not to get fucked like 2Pac in jail" (ironically, the track to which this line belongs is a duet with proud West Coast representative Ras Kass). Chino soon responded with a freestyle on live radio, either ignored or not heard by Tupac.

[edit] LL Cool J vs. Canibus

After the large-scale beef between 2Pac and various East Coast artists, and the resulting deaths of 2Pac and Biggie, many MCs and fans began to feel paranoid that any further battles might escalate to the same level. The first high-profile battle since then became the late '90's Canibus/LL rivalry.

The battle began when LL brought in Canibus, Method Man, DMX and Redman for the Phenomenon song "4,3,2,1" in 1997. Canibus contributed a verse, which included the line "L, is that a mic on your arm? Let me borrow that" (referring to the tattoo of a microphone LL did indeed have on his arm). LL wrote a response into his own verse, claiming he felt disrespected: "The symbol on my arm is off limits to challengers...You don't wanna borrow that, you wanna idolize", creating a small battle within the song. Before the song was released, Cool J asked Canibus to change the line. Canibus claims that LL also promised to remove his lines as well. LL denies this, claiming that he told Canibus that no one would know who he was talking about if Canibus' verse was changed (There is the phone conversation of the both of them circulating on the internet confirming that LL did indeed say this.)

Nevertheless, Canibus complied, and the song was released. However, the original version began surfacing, and people started piecing together what had happened. Canibus began telling fans the full story, saying he was mad that Cool J hadn't removed his response. He went on to diss LL with the single "Second Round K.O.," featuring LL Cool J's one-time friend Mike Tyson cheering Canibus on in the background.

LL's response was titled "The Ripper Strikes Back," where he attacks not only Canibus, but Mike Tyson, Canibus' producer Wyclef and the rest of The Fugees. LL then followed with another track titled "Back Where I Belong," where he accused Canibus of biting his rhymes and saying Bis was a Canadian claiming to be from New York City (Canibus is truly a Jamaican.) Canibus responded to both songs with the track "Rip the Jacker," a mix-tape song recorded over LL Cool J's "I'm Bad" instrumental. This would later spawn his alter-ego, an aggressive battle-rapper by the same name.

Wyclef responded to LL's initial attacks in "The Ripper Strikes Back" with his own song "What's Clef Got to Do With It", which also included negative vocal comments by Naomi Campbell against LL. The song was retaliated by LL with the underground track "Rasta Impostor", where he mentions Wyclef, Canibus, Mike Tyson and Naomi Campbell. Wyclef and Cool J have ended their own feud; the main beef has since declined to subliminal potshots, with neither directly and openly dissing the other, and seems unlikely to heat back up.

[edit] 2000s and current feuds

[edit] Nas vs. Jay-Z

Main article: Nas vs. Jay-Z

The feud between these hip hop legends is widely considered the most captivating of recent times.^{[citation needed]} Tension between the two supposedly dates as far back as 1996, when Nas refused to make a guest appearance on Jay-Z's debut album Reasonable Doubt. However, the relationship between the two rappers remained peaceful (Jay-Z even giving a shoutout to Nas in his album liner notes^[1]), and the tension did not escalate to full-blown rivalry until after the death of the Notorious B.I.G. The position of best rapper in New York (also known as the King of New York) seemed vacant after the death of Biggie, and fans were eager to see who would take over.

Beef involved many of the rappers, especially the Roc-a-Fella Records crew, who got on all-out war against Nas. However, the feud died down somewhat toward the end of 2002, with no real winner decided (arguments go on to this day in the hip hop community about who came out on top overall, with the results of a Hot 97 radio phone-in revealing a 58% - 42% split in favor of Nas), and both Nas & Jay-Z have since paid tribute to each other in interviews, likening the battle to a world title boxing match that pitched the best against the best, and pleased with the entertainment it provided fans. The rivalry also impacted their careers critically and commercially. The battle was significant in that it revived the trend of using ‘beefs’ as a source for publicity and promotion for hip hop artists, originally unpopular following the tragic deaths of 2Pac and Biggie, now prevalent within the hip hop community.

In what may be perhaps a pivotal moment in hip hop history, the feud was formally ended in October 2005 at Jay-Z's I Declare War concert, where Nas made a special guest appearance and performed the hook to "Dead Presidents" and a few of his own tracks such as "NY State of Mind" and "Hate Me Now". In 2005 at another 105.1 concert Jay and Nas reunited on stage and performed a song together. In January 2006, Nas signed with Jay-Z's Def Jam, further emphasizing the truce and raising expectations for a possible collaboration. Nas and Jay-Z are now good friends and released a new single called "Black Republicans" from Hip-Hop is Dead, released December 2006.

[edit] Benzino vs. Eminem

For further information see Benzino article (more information at The Source article).

Although it is not clear why Benzino, then co-owner of The Source Magazine, decided to air out his issues with multi-platinum rapper Eminem, he claims that Eminem's success was hurting Black and Latino artists. He started a campaign against the corporations that are controlling and supporting Eminem. Benzino stated that Eminem can talk about emotions, while Black rappers are forced to talk about materialistic things.

One possible contributing factor for Eminem's concerns was Benzino's rating of his critically-acclaimed and 9x platinum sophomore album The Marshall Mathers LP. The Source gave him a 2-mic rating (4 mics following protests) for his critically-acclaimed album, while Benzino's Made Men received 4.5 mics. Eminem blasted the magazine on the track "Say What You Say" from his follow-up album The Eminem Show, rapping in the final verse, "Five mics in The Source ?, ain't holdin' my fucking breath/But I'll suffocate for the respect 'fore I breathe to collect a fucking check."

Benzino countered with "Pull Ya Skirt Up" and "Die Another Day", the latter of which included the lyrics "You're the rap David Duke/The rap Hitler... I'm the rap Malcolm, the rap Martin". Benzino has explained in interviews that he fears Eminem's fame is the beginning of the end for the Black domination of hip hop; he has also linked Eminem with the consumerism of modern hip hop, and repeated his original statement over the differences in issues in the music Em produces. However, many observers noted that not only is Benzino bi-racial himself, but that Dave Mays, co-owner and founder of The Source, is white.

Eminem responded quickly to Benzino's track with the songs "Nail In The Coffin" and "The Sauce", calling him an "83-year-old fake Pacino", and questioning the credibility of both Benzino as a rapper and The Source as a magazine. Most of the hip hop community stood behind Eminem (including most famously Russell Simmons), and many accused Benzino of criticizing and slandering hip hop's biggest star solely to both boost his unsuccessful career as a rapper and to boost the profile of The Source magazine, which unsurprisingly sided unequivocally with Benzino during the feud and ran a series of anti-Eminem and anti-Shady/Aftermath articles and features. The Source coverage no doubt aided Benzino's cause among many, but for many others it further ruined a magazine whose popularity was fading. Despite criticizing Eminem and his label-mates such as Dr Dre and 50 Cent within its pages, The Source continued to put these prolific record-selling artists on the cover of the magazine.The Source released details of two tapes of a young Eminem it had received, featuring the future star rapping about how black women are "only after your money" in romantic relationships (he apparently just suffered an acrimonious split from a black girlfriend) and in another song using the word "nigger". This caused considerable outcry among many rappers, though few said anything more damning than asking for a public apology. Eminem did in fact promptly and publicly apologize, and later elaborated on the incident in the song "Yellow Brick Road" from his Encore album.

But I've heard people say they heard the tape, and it ain't that bad

But it was, I singled out a whole race

And for that I apologize, I was wrong

Cause no matter what color a girl is she's still a hoe

The Source were forced to pay Eminem for defamation and copyright infringement, and lost major advertising as a result, most notably from major labels Virgin, Elektra, Interscope, Motown, and more recently Def Jam. It's noted that Benzino has recorded an album from each of the labels before they pulled out of The Source Magazine. The hip hop magazine XXL also became involved in the Eminem/Benzino/Source rivalry. XXL, formerly an enemy of Eminem, decided to join forces with Shady Records to discredit The Source. XXL, launched in 1997, has always been in competition with The Source for readership, and indeed was initially started by former Source employees. Dissing Benzino on "Nail In The Coffin", Eminem tells the Source co-owner "I don't need your little fucking magazine / I got XXL's number anyways...". With the entire Interscope label effectively involved in Eminem's feud with The Source, Interscope artists began to flock to XXL, who happily granted them increased coverage, which in turn boosted sales for the magazine.

It has been said that Eminem won the battle and that it was obvious that Benzino had started the feud as nothing more than a publicity stunt to bolster his unsuccessful reputation in Hip-Hop. Dave Mays was recently fired from the staff of The Source, and Benzino has completely sold his shares of stock, claiming "I found the Source not speaking for the little guys (minorities) anymore,"^{[citation needed]} still claiming that he was defending rap music as a racial crusade. (The magazine said on its front page, "Now 100% Benzino free"). The magazine's April 2006 issue said about Benzino and Mays' ouster that they currently are patching up many relationships damaged by the actions of Mays and Benzino, including that with Interscope Records. In late 2006, G-Unit member Lloyd Banks was voluntarily on the cover of the Source, making that a first for Interscope artists since the beef began.

[edit] Shady/Aftermath/50 Cent/G Unit vs. Murder Inc./Ja Rule

Before even signing to Eminem's and Dr. Dre's labels, 50 Cent was engaged in a well-publicized dispute with rapper Ja Rule and his label Murder Inc. Records. The conflict's origin remains a mystery. However, many believe that Queens drug kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGrifth funded and provided the start-up money for Murder, Inc. Ja Rule and Supreme have had beef with 50 Cent and allegedly ordered his attempted murder in 2000. Their feud started when 50 Cent released the song "Ghetto Qu'ran", which dropped the names of McGrifth as well as several of his associates. This has led to 50 being labeled a snitch by many. Other accounts have ranged from an alleged robbery of Ja Rule's jewelry by a friend of 50's, to Ja Rule and Murder Inc. supposedly snubbing a young and star-struck 50 Cent at a video shoot, to 50 Cent's shooter being Ja Rule's bodyguard. It is possible that all or some of these things have led to this beef. Whatever the case, the hostility didn't reach public ears until 50 Cent released his fiery, but subliminal, diss track, "Life's On The Line." This led to two violent confrontations between the rappers. The first was a meeting where 50 Cent punched Ja, which caused a fight. The second confrontation occurred in a New York studio, where rapper Black Child, a member of Murder, Inc. stabbed 50 Cent. Black Child claimed that 50 cent was reaching for a gun during the fight. 50 claimed they turned off the light and that he left with 4 stitches. 50 also claimed he was unarmed, and that everybody knew it was Murder Inc before he knew.

Regardless of the physical repercussions, 50 Cent continued to make the rivalry a cornerstone of his music career. G Unit released numerous mixtapes, insulting Ja Rule and Murder Inc, one contained funny Ja Rule Duet skits. Before the release of Get Rich Or Die Tryin', Murder, Inc. began a smear campaign against the rapper. A restraining order document began floating around the Internet stating that 50 Cent had filed an order of protection against label CEO, Irv Gotti and Black Child. This helped forge the belief that 50 Cent is a "snitch" or a police informant.

Although 50 Cent dismissed the claims, the bad publicity continues to be a tool used among various rappers who engage in beef with his rap collective G-Unit. In fact, further investigation from New York lawyers found that the document could have been, and was most likely, signed by a judge without 50 Cent's consent or knowledge. The practice is common place in New York for victims of multiple attacks when their assaulter are released from jail.

The rivalry reached a boiling point for Murder Inc., which had remained silent for the most part, when 50 Cent released his second album-length battle rap, entitled "Back Down." In the song 50, who was always known for his hold-no-tongue approach to battling, insulted, joked and dissed Ja Rule and his label into action. In response, Black Child, along with fellow Murder Inc. rapper Cadillac Tah, countered with their own mix tape disses. Ja Rule, however, remained quiet. 50 Cent continued his barrage, releasing the Tupac assisted "Realest Killaz" where he addressed Ja Rule's penchant for imitating the slain rapper. This prompted Ja Rule to finally respond with the songs "War is On," "Guess Who Shot Ya" and "Loose Change." This all culminated into Ja Rule releasing Blood in My Eye, which was, in effect, a 50 Cent diss album.

Ja Rule eventually tried to squash the beef with 50 Cent by using Minister Louis Farrakhan in a televised interview. However, the attempt at peace lost credibility as the interview was scheduled a day before Blood In My Eye was released. As a result most fans, along with 50 Cent dismissed the interview as a blatant publicity stunt.

Ja Rule also had a small rivalry with 50's label-mates Eminem, D12 ,Dr. Dre, and Obie Trice. Ja Rule insulted Eminem's ex-wife and daughter in a song and Eminem responded on a mix tape by DJ Green Lantern with a freestyle collaboration with 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes in a Tupac Parody titled "Hail Mary 2003". Although they exchanged heated words, most fans did not take it seriously in the shadow of 50 vs. Ja Rule. Eminem also dissed him with another underground song with G-unit entitled "Bump Heads" (and various other songs with out the G-Unit). Dr. Dre also fired back with Obie Trice and Eminem on track called Shit Hits The Fan, included in Cheers, which Dr. Dre finally fires back on a beef ten years after Ruthless vs. Death Row beef, claiming Ja Rule's "pussy, you're not Pac, I knew him / Pac was a real nigga, you're a just a fucking insult to him."

Since then, 50 Cent's sophomore album, "The Massacre," sold millions, yet has been criticized for not being able to recapture the level of hype "Get Rich or Die Trying'" received. Ja Rule released "R.U.L.E" with the successful single, "New York," featuring Jadakiss and Fat Joe where Ja Rule took subliminal shots at 50. Interestingly enough, this single prompted 50 Cent to enter a feud with the two featured artists (See article on Piggy Bank for details). When Eminem called it quits in his 2004 rap "Like Toy Soldiers," Ja agreed, saying that he was exhausted with feuds and has recently released a greatest hits album entitled, "Exodus."

Although it seemed as the feud was over, Ja Rule has returned to the beef with "21 Gunz" which denuted on the Murder Inc. Mix tape: MI:3 Friday, May 12, 2006[1]. It can be heard, along with some of his other new songs on his MySpace site[2]. On the mix tape Mo Money in da Bank Pt 4; Lloyd Banks and 50 Cent replied with "Return of Ja Fool".

[edit] 50 Cent vs. The Game

Main article: 50 Cent vs. The Game

Not long before this feud began, The Game had been signed to G-Unit Records (while simultaneously signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment), and had subsequently achieved great success with his album The Documentary and the singles "How We Do" and "Hate It Or Love It", both of which featured 50 Cent.

[edit] Summaries of other known rivalries (not necessarily in chronological order)

• B.G. vs. Lil Wayne: It started out when B.G. left cash money records on bad terms, B.G. dissed Wayne on a couple of tracks, Wayne responded with I Miss My dawgs, and recently has been seen on TV saying he has no more beef with Baby, or Cash Money just Wayne. He called Wayne a fake blood saying that there aren't any bloods in New Orleans, and calling him "Jim Jones Jr."

• T.I. vs. Lil Flip: What started this feud is when T.I asked to be in one of Lil Flip's songs but Lil Flip refused it, leading up to a fight in a studio involving the two rappers along with some friends from both sides. They have also been recording diss tracks towards each other. T.I. used his mixtape featuring DJ Drama, Humpty Hump (Lil' Flip's former manager) & Scarface called "Gangsta Grillz: Down With The King" to diss Flip, while Flip used DJ Envy's & Big Mike's mixtapes to diss T.I.. They've also appeared in concerts dissing each other. If seems after T.I. called the beef off in an interview, Flip called it off in a freestyle: "but now that's played out/put my name in a verse, you get yo ass laid out/so don't talk about Flip no mo/and no I ain't got beef with Tip no mo,"

• Chamillionaire vs. Mike Jones: It started when Jones said that Chamillionaire copied his style but Chamillionaire said that Jones was jealous because his records were selling more than those of Jones. Chamillionaire dissed Jones on the first CD of his 3 CD album The Mixtape Messiah where he referred to him as Dyke Jones. Mike Jones also released diss songs targeting Chamillonarie. However, the beef has been squashed at the encouragement of Paul Wall & other Texas rappers. Chamillionaire has even contemplated working with Jones again. [3].

• MF DOOM vs. GM Grimm: Feud featuring former partners. They apparently squashed the beef and even performed a show together at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill. Apparently after this MF Doom continued with the beef and called M.I.C. Midgets Into Crunk. GM Grimm addresses this issue on the track 'The Book Of Daniel' where he along with fellow M.I.C. members diss MF Doom. Supposedly it originated over supposed diss lines in Doom's "Deep Fried Friendz".

• DMX vs. K-Solo (Spellbound Battle): While in jail, DMX and K-Solo both participated in freestyle battles. They grew to feud as they each claim to have invented the rapping style, "spellbound": a way of flowing using letters instead of words. In the late nineties, DMX and K-Solo each released songs named "Spellbound." In DMX's hit song, "Get At Me Dog," he told K-Solo "Yo for real that nigga K can suck my dick."

• MC Lyte vs. Antoinette: Female rappers quarrel over legacy in rap.

• The Game vs. Domination: Stemmed from The Game's affiliation with the G-Unit. Unknown if they squashed the beef.

• Tim Dog vs. Compton: Around the time when West Coast rappers were becoming popular, Bronx rapper Tim Dog was tired of being overlooked by them and recorded the underground track Fuck Compton. The track sparked a rip-wave in hip hop at the time and sparked a flurry of disses from DJ Quik, "Way 2 Fonky", "The Last Word", Tweedy Bird Loc, "Fuck The South Bronx", Comptons Most Wanted, "Who's Fucking Who", Dr. Dre, Puffin On Blunts And Drankin Tanqery and "The $20 Sack Pyramid", and from Long Beach rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg on the track "Dre Day". Tim responded with "Dog Baby" and "Bitch With A Perm" which are both parodies of "Dre Day" and "Gin & Juice."

• MC Shan vs. LL Cool J: Shan calls LL out for beat-biting on LL's hit "Rock Da Bells.

• LL Cool J vs. Ice-T; Ice-T dissed LL Cool J on his track "I'm Your Pusher", offering a hip-hop junkie some LL Cool J, and the junkie told Ice-T "you can keep that". LL responded with a verse in "To Da Break Of Dawn", where he called Ice-T a "hip-hop racoon" and stated "a brother with a perm deserves to get burned". The beef died out soon afterwards.

• X-Clan vs. KRS-One: KRS made attacks on stage against the Clan, who fired back. The feud fizzled after X-Clan is disbanded. In 2007, KRS made a guest appearance on Return from Mecca, an album released by a new incarnation of X-Clan.

• XXL vs.The Source: These two top Hip Hop magazines dissed each other over cartoon skits and who can sell the most copies.The Source writers took a diss at the XXL magazine by saying "there is only one Source, to hell with XXL". XXL editor Byron Crawford replied to The Source saying "Where is the Source? Has the hip hop bible secretly gone out of business? The XXL Team parodied a Mad Magazine cover saying, "Dude, where is my Source?"The Source Editors replied back with another comic like diss on XXL by having a drawing of a cartoon rapper peeing on the XXL logo and one spray painting on the XXL Logo.

• X-Clan vs. 3rd Bass: Afro-centric Clan call out White group for signing with a top label ahead of black artists.

• MC Eiht vs. DJ Quik: Popular rappers spar; possible ties to gangs.

• Jay-Z vs. Terror Squad: Jay feuded with Big Pun and Fat Joe of the Squad following an incident at a New York nightclub in which the Squad demanded Jay get off so they could start. Track battles followed.

• G-Unit vs. D-Block:It all started when D-Block member Jadakiss appeared on Ja Rules hit song New York. 50 Cent took this is as a diss and went on to diss Jada with some lines on the track Piggy Bank. Jada responded with Checkmate which uses the same beat as 50s song Im An Animal. 50 then responded with a video for Piggy Bank and the track I Run New York with the assistance of Tony Yayo were they not only dissed Jada and Ja Rule but other D-Block members Sheek Louch and Styles P whom 5O Cent had once worked with on the track Shot Down. Jadakiss and Styles responded with Problem Child and Fifty and Sheek responded with Hey 50 with J-Hood as well who had dissesd 50 on a freestyle to his Your Lifes On The Line beat. From then on it turned into one of the biggest freestyle battles with both sides in full participation. Tony Yayo released Fuck D-Block in which J-Hood retaliated with Get Off His Dick,Sheek Louch put forth Lets Go, Bang Em, and Set It Off dissing G-Unit. Tony Yayo fired back with Warning Shots and Don't Sell freestyles dissing D-Block. Styles dissed them on In My Hood, G-Joint and Pussy Niggas.50 hit back with Window Shopper 5 Hearbeats and They Don't Bother Me.Lloyd Banks responded with It Ain't A Secret.Sheek Louch responded with Maybe If I Sing and Clickety Clank and J-Hood with Be A Gentleman.Styles and Jada on Heat. All these tracks led G-Unit to release the 7 minute diss track 300 Shots, In which Jada and Styles responded with Im Sorry Ms. Jackson and Shots Fired. The feud ended when Styles called 50 on Hot97 and the feud between the old friends was called off.

• Jay-Z vs. Mobb Deep: 2001 feud mainly between Jay and Prodigy, reported squashed by MTV.

• Roc-A-Fella vs. The Diplomats: Originally between Jay-Z and Cam'ron over the presidency of Roc, grew into back and forth beefing between the two groups. Juelz Santana remains neutral while JR Writer and Jim Jones was defending his groupmate, Cam'Ron, who had beef with Jay previously. Jay-Z responded to Jim Jones on a song called "Brooklyn High", over the "We Fly High" beat he said "Men lie, Women Lie, numbers don't" referring to Jones' then poor soundscan performance. Jones and Juelz Santana then did a "Beef Mix" of "We Fly High" dissing Jay. The beef has continued with CamRon's "You Must Not Know About Me" and Dipset member JR Writer's "I Got 'Em" diss tracks.

• Princess Superstar vs. Eminem:The beef came about when Rap magazines and media called indie rapper Princess Superstar a female Eminem clone. On her album is she dissed Eminem on the track "Welcome to My World." Eminem took a little stab back on freestyle called "You Can't Be Like Me" in the line "You won't catch me rapping about Babysitters". In an interview with Clash Magazine, Princess Superstar said "whatever you compare me to, don't use the E word or use the M&M logo."

• 50 Cent vs. P. Diddy: Ma$e was going to be signed to G-Unit records but Sean "Puffy" Combs still owns the publishing and rights to Ma$e. Diddy broke his promise by stating that 50 still had to pay 2 million, while 50 already was promoting Ma$e for a while. 50 cent went on Shade 45 radio and debuted a track dissing P. Diddy called "The Bomb" a short track dissing Diddy and then is followed by 50 Cent saying that Diddy knows who shot Biggie Smalls, and "I don't want to do the (Mase) deal no more!". Shortly after, Diddy responded on the track "I'm Richer Bitch." 50 Cent debuted another diss track called "get down" with Tony Yayo and the new member of G-unit Hot Rod. They both eventually squashed their beef. The new album from Ma$e will reportedly be released as a joint venture from Bad Boy and G-Unit.

• Jacki-O vs.Foxy Brown:Foxy brown was very cool with jakie O rival Trina. Foxy was at a studio looking for trina when Jackie O attacked her. Jackie-O dissed her on a mixtape track. Foxy said she wouldn't respond

• 50 Cent vs. Wu-Tang Clan: 50 Cent has been trying to start beef with the Wu-Tang Clan, mainly Ghostface Killah, since he began rapping. He's dissed them on ""Fuck That Nigga" and of course "How to Rob" and he have ripped several beats from them (see "I Don't Need Em" and "That's What's Up"). The Clan for the most part have ignored him, though on tryin' let you come in the game and act like you gonna live off their strength". On Ghostface's song "Knuckles", he explained to 50 on there why they won't bark back at him. Masta Killa also made reference to him on Wu-Tang Clan's "One Blood Under W" stating "Fuck fame, I shoot a hole through a '50 cent' piece to test my aim/How dare you call the gods in vain not knowin' the seriousness of this and why I came". The Wu-Tang affiliated group American Cream Team also dissed 50 on a track called "Who Is 50 Cent".

• G Unit vs. Fat Joe: 50 Cent points out that Fat Joe and Jadakiss had painted a target on themselves for partnering up with Ja Rule while filming a video in which the rapper took shots at him. He recorded the track "Piggy Bank" and attacked Fat Joe and other rappers for their association with Ja Rule. Then, Fat Joe attacked back on a diss called "My 44" (most referred to as "Fuck 50"). Fat Joe said he wouldn't respond, but he made three more tracks (Massacre of fifty, Victim and Whip Your Head). But 50 Cent wasn't done, he & Tony Yayo took more shots at him on "I Run NY". Even though things cooled down, at 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, while Fat Joe was on stage, members of the G-Unit heckled Joe, which was audible on the TV broadcast. In response, Fat Joe said that all of the police presence in the venue was "courtesy of G-Unit," which related to Joe's lyrical accusations that 50 was a "snitch" who runs with "5-0. " 50 Cent and G-Unit retaliated on set later in the show at the end of their performance by shouting obscenities toward Fat Joe and Terror Squad, which were censored by MTV. Tony Yayo claimed Fat Joe ran from them at the VMAs. Also, Pistol Pete (a non-rapping member of Terror Squad) appeared on The Game's "Stop Snitchin' Stop Lyin" DVD & disrespected Tony Yayo of G-Unit, Chris Lighty (owner of Violator records whom had ties to 50 Cent), & James Cruz (50 Cent's manager) & claims he chased Tony Yayo near a jewelry store. In XXL's December 2006 issue Fat Joe kept dissing 50 Cent & G-Unit.

• Loon vs. Mase: Ma$e says that Loon stole his style and Loon calls Ma$e fake'

• Loon vs. 40 Cal: According to 40 cal of The Diplomats, Loon became angry with 40 at a Harlem barbershop and tried to attack him with a shovel.

• Sole vs. El-P: Beef started in the late 90's when Sole thought he was being dissed subliminally on the track "End To End Burners" by El-P's group Company Flow, and released his own track, "Dear Elpee", which was a huge underground hit and was entirely devoted to attacking El-P, Company Flow, and all record/distribution companies involved. Company Flow returned the favor with "Linda Tripp", which included several snippets of a recorded phone conversation between Sole and El-P where Sole came across as afraid of El-P, stated that he "loved Company Flow", and wanted "to be down" with El-P and Co-Flow. While the track was received with almost equal popularity amongst underground hip-hop fans, there was a bit of a backlash due to El-P's usage of his phone conversation. The beef eventually died down as both artists moved on, but Sole, and to a lesser effect his anticon. label, are viewed as having their credibility damaged due to Sole's contradictory tone being played out on Co-Flow's "Linda Tripp".

• 50 Cent and G Unit vs. Nas:In 2003, there circulated rumors throughout the rap industry that Nas was in talks with Irv Gotti to sign to Murder Inc. Although the rumors proved false, they did not help strengthen ties between Nas and 50 Cent. Initially, the two had been relatively close associates. However, time led to the two becoming estranged. 50 Cent cites Nas’ erratic behavior as a reason for his distrust. 50 notes that while Nas has in the past stood for peace, he was also the same person on June 27, 2002 that although unprovoked, verbally attacked several rappers including Cam’Ron, Nelly, Nore and New York Hot97 radio disc jockey Angie Martinez. To further point out his waffling personality, Nas later apologized to those he had attacked, reverting back to his previous peaceful beliefs.

Clear is that when 50 got shot, trackmasters dropped him and wanted to replace him with Nas on the Jennifer Lopez remix, and 50 and Nas were friends back then. 50 thought he couldn't trust Nas because the remix was arranged by Irv Gotti, and Nas didn't even made him aware. 50 stated that he was cool with Nas working with Irv, but the fact Nas didn't tell him made 50 irritated. It is also clear that Nas has made disparaging comments about 50 Cent, long before Piggy Bank was released. At a free concert in Central Park, New York, Nas made a statement regarding the quality of 50 Cent's music. "This is that real New York shit, not that fake 50 Cent shit!" This is 50 Cent’s main reason for adding Nas to the song. However, Nas has said that he actually had respect for 50 Cent. 50 responded to this incident by attacking Nas in "Piggy Bank," inciting Nas to reply in his song "MC Burial (Don't Body Ya Self)". 50 Cent responded on a Tim Westwood Freestyle. As of Summer 2006, the beef has settled down with nothing coming from either camp. But nas Has released a dis on hip hop is dead called Carry on the tradition which is a diss to only 50 Cent.

• G Unit vs. Shyne: This beef started when 50 Cent did a freestyle on Hot 97 over Jay-Z's "1-900-Hustler" beat, after Shyne had Irv Gotti produce his album Godfather Buried Alive. 50 rapped "I heard Irv (referring to Murder Inc. CEO Irv Gotti) tryin' to sign Shyne so I ain't got no love for him, tell him 50 Cent said he soft and won't shoot up the club again (referring to an altercation in a night club that involved P. Diddy and Shyne, who at the time was a bodyguard for Diddy, resulting in Shyne firing a weapon in what he said was self-defense, and later being incarcerated.) This diss line can be found on Shyne's "If I Could Start From Scratch" mixtape. Shyne then dissed 50 Cent on his second album Godfather Buried Alive, with the track "For The Record", which he recorded over the phone from prison. In this song Shyne stated that 50 tried to sign him. Lloyd Banks and Young Buck both have songs dissin shyne in which Young Buck said: he couldn't get rich so he probably died tryin, and 50 cent, tony yayo and the game also released a track going at Shyne together. 50 Cent recorded the track "Piggy Bank" and attacked Shyne because of the diss track. Whether the precise reason for this beef is 50's hate for Murda Inc or the reason Shyne didn't wanted to be signed to G Unit but instead Murda Inc is still not revealed.

• J-Ro vs. Xzibit: This beef started when Xzibit claimed that he could have gained fame without J-Ro and the rest of Tha Alkaholiks and Xzibit had dissed Jermaine Dupri and King Tee. J-Ro dissed Xzibit on his song "The X-Homie". Xzibit didn't respond to the beef, and the beef has been squashed and they are working together again.

• Jay-Z vs. D-Block: Jay-Z has ended his feud with all the members of D-Block except Sheek Louch.

• The L.O.X vs. P. Diddy: Stemmed from The L.O.X. deciding to leave Bad Boy, against Puffy's wishes. Peace is supposedly made when all appear at Jay-Z's "I Declare War" concert, along with Nas, who had a brief feud with Puffy himself. Restarted when D-Block complained on Hot 97 that Puffy would not sell them their publishing back, Jadakiss describing their legal situation as "like slavery" & threatened to throw a refrigerator off the roof of a building to kill him. Puffy responded to the group on-air, before hanging up eventually. Afterwards, the deal was negotiated, and no mention of their situation has arose.

• Jay-Z vs. R. Kelly: Stemmed from their aborted 2004 concert tour, ending in New York with a backstage brawl, as well as a couple of diss records, has died down.

• Trick Trick vs. Styles P.: A drunk Styles P. reportedly disses the City of Detroit and is beaten for it. Feud is currently inactive.

• Dr. Dre vs. Luke Skyywalker: The feud started when Luke dissed N.W.A on one of his videos. So Dr. Dre although no longer part of the group he and his new protege Snoop Doggy Dogg dissed him on the track Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin') and its video. Luke responded with Cowards In Compton. Although he did not rap on it he did appear on the interludes, Rappers JT Money and Clayvoise did the rapping. The video was a complete parody of the clip for Dre's hit Nuthin' But a "G" Thang and had heavy airplay. There is a remix to the song called Dr. Dre Is A Bitch Ass (Cowards In Compton Deathrow Remix).Snoop Dogg responded with some lines in Tha Shiznit. A Compton rapper named Tweedy Bird Loc also dissed him for the name of his track Cowards In Compton on the track "Fuck Miami", Luke never responded. Although, the feud between him and Dre is over.

• Westside Connection vs. Common: In a preview of the East Coast/West Coast rap war, Ice Cube's Connection hits Common for lyrics deemed to be offensive to the West. The feud started over some verses in Common "I Used to Love H.E.R." that Ice Cube believed portrayed the West Coast's contributions as detrimental to hip-hop. Cube responsed with Westside Slaughterhouse with the assistance Of fellow Westside Connection membors Mack 10 and WC and on the remix to "Hoo Bangin'" with "I'm bombin' on Common Sense / Chicago is mine / nigga hit the fence." Common later responds with the track "I See The B**** In You", in which he dedicates the whole song to criticizing Ice Cube "Now What The F*** Do I look, dissing a whole coast?/You ain't made sh** dope since Amerikkka's Most-/ Wanted Deceased" and his group Westside Connection. The feud was later called off, and nothing's been heard since.

• LL Cool J vs. MC Hammer: Short-lived feud that mainly involved LL dissing Hammer on the second verse of "To Da Break Of Dawn". May have been a response to the Run-DMC diss in Hammer's "Pump It Up" video.

• Bone Thugs-N-Harmony vs. Do Or Die, Twista & Three 6 Mafia: Midwest feud over copying of style; dissolved rather quickly.

• Westside Connection vs. Cypress Hill: The feud started when B Real invited Ice Cube for a look at a hook for their new album. Soon after Cube recorded the song Friday which had the hook Throw Your Neighbourhood In The Air which was similar to Cypress Hills Throw Your Set In The Air. Feeling dissed they recorded the track No Rest For The Wicked. In response Cube responded with Cross Em Out And Put A K and King Of The Hill with the assistance of his Westside Connection group. WC chose to remain neutral in the feud whereas Mack 10 was featured heavily dissing Cypress Hill. Cubes cousin Kam who had a recent fall out with him joined the feud by having his good friend Solo steal Cubes Westside Connection necklace in a brawl in Chicago and handed it to B Real. Soon after Cypress responded with Ice Cube Killa which has the same beat as King Of The Hill. The song not only disses Ice Cube but Mack 10 also for his involvement in the beef. Soon Cube and B Real began to diss each other in public and at concerts such as when B real took photos of himself with Cubes necklace. The feud almost boiled to a racial war. The two rappers soon ended their problems on TV and with a few Phone calls and have even collaborated on a few songs.

• Lil' Kim vs. Foxy Brown: Brown accused Kim of slavishly imitating her style, and Kim accused Brown of the same. After a series of back and forths, the beef reached its climax in 2001 when Kim's entourage traded gunfire with Capone-N-Noreaga's entourage outside of the Hot 97 studio in New York City. In 2005 Lil' Kim was convicted of perjury and lying before a Grand Jury when questioned regarding the incident. She was sentenced to a year and one day at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, which she reported to on September 19, 2005. On Lil' Kim's latest album, The Naked Truth, Kim attacks Foxy Brown once again on the track "Quiet", mentioning an alleged incident where Jacki-O beat up Foxy Brown in a Florida studio, thus implying that Foxy’s bad girl status is null and void. Kim aggravates the sore by threatening to go after Foxy’s alleged ghostwriters.[4]

• DMX vs. Kurupt: This feud stems from DMX sleeping with Kurupt's then girlfriend Foxy Brown. Kurupt would release an attack on DMX, his record label Ruff Ryders, the rap super group The Firm, Ja Rule and producer Irv Gotti on a song called Calling Out Names which was later released on album Tha Streetz Iz A Mutha. DMX's diss track toward Kurrupt came in the form of Bring Your Whole Crew from the album Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. Kurupt included the following line on Just Don't Give a Fuck off the Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey album. "Ya got somethin to say about me say it/Cus I'm squattin this shit between me and DMX muthafucka" With some involvement by Snoop Dogg, the beef has since been squashed.

• DMX vs. Ja Rule: DMX claimed his one-time ally Ja Rule had copied his rap style, and had gotten rich as a result. Ja Rule responded by bringing up DMX's drug abuse and questioning his sexuality. DMX jumped on a bandwagon when Shady Records artist were feuding with Ja Rule, releasing a few diss tracks on Cradle 2 The Grave Soundtrack. One track Go To Sleep features Shady Records artists Eminem and Obie Trice. The beef ended with Irv Gotti speaking with both artists.

• Shady/Aftermath vs. Jermaine Dupri: Jermaine stated in an interview that he was a more capable producer than Dr. Dre or Timbaland. Dre and Timbaland took offense, although Jermaine tried to rationalize that what he meant was that he simply did more as a music producer than the other two (writing R&B song lyrics for Usher, in addition to creating his instrumentals, for example). Dre then recorded a verse ("Say What You Say" dissing Jermaine on Eminem's album The Eminem Show, mocking Jermaine for, amongst other things, achieving his initial successes with "10 and 11 year olds" (referencing Jermaine's first signed act Kris Kross and more recently Bow Wow). Xzibit, at the time an artist readily affiliated with Aftermath, also mocked Jermaine Dupri in a radio freestyle, and the Atlanta producer then traded diss tracks with Dr. Dre, Eminem and Xzibit for approximately a year.

• Xzibit vs. Jermaine Dupri: It started when Jermaine Dupri dissed Xzibit for being affiliated with Aftermath. Xzibit released numerous diss tracks towarded to Jermaine Dupri. One of the diss tracks was featured on Xzibit's 2002 album Man Vs. Machine (Say My Name). Jeramine Dupri has not released a diss track ever since.

• Nas vs. Cormega: In 1996, Nas started a rap supergroup called The Firm consisting of Foxy Brown, AZ, Cormega and obviously Nas. Steve Stoute, Nas' manager and owner of Trackmasters Entertainment would only allow Cormega, Nas' longtime friend into the group if he joined Trackmasters Entertainment. Cormega refused to join and was replaced by a rapper named Nature. It has not been confirmed if Nature was just put on the team because he was a better rapper or not. On tracks by Cormega from The Realness such as "Thun & Kicko" with Mobb Deep and "You Don't Want It", Nas gets dissed. Nas responded to these disses on the track "Destroy & Rebuild" from Stillmatic where he attacked many Queensbridge rappers. Some believe that Nas extended the beef to Mobb Deep and Nature. Cormega however made disses to Prodigy of Mobb Deep and Nas on his album The True Meaning also. Mega also released an underground track "A Slick Response" that makes fun of Nas' Slick Rick-like delivery on "Destroy & Rebuild". Nas and Cormega have reportedly squashed their beef.

• Pastor Troy vs. BME Recordings

On Pastor Troy's album, Face Off Part 2, he dissed BME(specifically Lil' Jon and Lil' Scrappy) when he said,

"Still spinnin, empty my magazine I jump off in my limousine and flee the scene This ain't the SWAT team, this ain't Lil Scrapy n them I rep that hard shit and fuck a platinum And Lil' Jon, used to be my homie, used to be my Ace Now I wanna slap the taste out ya mouth"

It is rumored that Troy dissed BME out of jealousy toward their recent success and their inability to sign him.

• Esham vs. D12

First, to understand, it's pretty much a given that Esham inspired almost every local rap artist that has come out of Detroit, from ICP and the Psychopathic family, to Kid Rock, to even Eminem himself. Eminem has even admitted this in the past.

In 1997, rapper Proof from Eminem's side-group D12 was performing in Detroit, opening up a show for Lil' Kim. Esham was chillin' out in the crowd, enjoying the show. For whatever reason, they called Esham up to come up on the stage. Esham went and, being the local legend that he is, the crowd went wild. Right as Esham got on the microphone, though, he got aattacked by a local rapper named Trick Trick from Detroit rap group The Goon Squad. All hell broke loose, fights broke out with the rappers, the security, the fans, and so on and so forth. Why it happened, who knows, but that was pretty much the end of that for a couple of years between Esham and Proof...

For Esham and Eminem himself, it all sort of began shortly before Eminem got famous. Eminem put out a song called "Till Hell Freezes Over." In this song, not only did he make an indirect reference (not a diss, just a reference) to Esham, he also dissed ICP on this one, with the line "Fuck ICP, buy my CD." However, shortly before that lyric, he says "I think I fucked my head up listening to acid rap." For those not aware, Acid Rap is the style which Esham has always described his music as. And there's can be no mistake about it being a reference to anyone else because Esham is the only artist--Detroit or otherwise--to claim "Acid Rap" as his creation.

On Eminem's major label debut album The Slim Shady LP, on the last track entitled "Still Don't Give A Fuck," Eminem again gave mention to Esham, saying "Ever since I was born, my mama lost me. I'm a cross between Manson, Esham, and Ozzy"

At first, Esham took this as a compliment. In one interview, when asked about it, he simply said "Yeah, that's pretty cool of him." And on Esham's greatest hits album Bootleg From The Lost Vault from 2000, on the back of the CD case, it quoted Eminem's lyric from that song. Esham didn't seem to mind.

Something at this point changed though...who knows what, but soon Esham was tossing disses at Eminem. In an issue of Murder Dog magazine, Esham called Eminem racist and said instead of "M&M," he calls him "Skittles cause any faggot can taste his rainbow."

The war was on.

In late 2000, Esham released the album Tongues which was littered with Eminem disses. (more info on the disses later).

Apparently, it struck a nerve. On Eminem's next album, The Marshall Mathers LP, which again had a few ICP disses on it, also had a diss at Esham. On the song "Kill You", Eminem raps "I ain't acid rap but I rap on acid, got a new blowup doll and just had a strap-on added. Whoops, was that a subliminal diss?!"

Esham responded with a few more disses in interviews and in one memorable appearance on ICP.com's Shaggy Show, said Eminem's haircut made him look like Hitler. Even Esham's homie Mastamind, from the group Natas got involved on his solo album Themindzi, in the Intro, saying "Wassup Marshall....watch you're motherfucking mouth."

It was only a matter of time before the situation turned violent, and when it did, it turned REALLY violent. Some promoter apparently decided that it would be a good idea to have both Esham/Natas and D12 on the legendary Vans Warped Tour. So on August 3rd, 2001, the Warped Tour stopped for a show in New Jersey and it would end up being the last show for Esham and D12 on the tour.

Eminem wasn't there, but the rest of D12 was. Reports vary a little, but the facts, as reported by MANY witnesses, are that Esham and partner TNT were hanging around backstage, chillin', and were MOBBED by a HUGE group of people. The people were members of D12 as well as their security. Witnesses say it was anywhere from 20 to 30 people. Esham claims it was more like 50. Proof, of D12, says it was around 35 or so. Either way, the fact remains: Esham and TNT were outnumbered, to say the least, and the beatdown occurred. Mastamind, lucky for him, wasn't around when it happened and thus, was spared a beating at the hands of 30 or so people.

The target was obvious: while TNT escaped with only minor cuts and bruises, Esham almost lost his life. He suffered broken nose, a ruptured eyeball, a concussion and hearing damage to his left ear. Both Natas and D12 were kicked off the Warped Tour following the attack.

Speaking to reporters a few days after the incident, Esham insisted that Eminem set up the attack against him. Here's some of the quotes from an interview with Billboard.

"Mathers gave the word," Esham told Billboard. "He didn't even show up for the tour. That's how premeditated this was. This was a straight-up attempted murder on my life. I could have been dead.

It got this bad because those guys idolize us," Esham told Billboard. "They emulate everything we do. Eminem has animosity toward us because we're his favorite rap group. We don't agree with some of the things they say, so we speak upon that. It stems from that."

"We got kicked off for defending ourselves, which is totally horrendous," he added. "[D12] was 100 percent in the wrong. Even now they're sending emails and death threats to us."

After the incident, there were rumors going around that Esham may never be able to rap and perform again due to the hearing damage that he suffered from the beating and that it might be permanent. Apparently, that subsided because Esham was back in the studio shortly after and launched another diss at Eminem on Natas's last album Godlike in the song "Shady MF."

In mid-2002, things got violent again. When Eminem was recording a video for his hit song "Without Me", Esham and TNT got a small measure of revenge. They went out to California, where the video was being shot, and right there on Sunset Blvd., Esham, TNT, and about 15 gang members jumped Proof and Obie Trice, another rapper on Eminem's label. Two Shady Records staff members were also involved. Although it was, like, a damn near 20-4 beating, Proof claims that he and Obie Trice pretty much beat Esham and TNT up again. But others say that it was just a straight up beatdown, and that Proof and Obie got straight fucked up. Who knows who to believe, but if you wanna draw your own conclusions, keep in mind that it was 15-20 people against 4.

The beef was pretty much silent for awhile later until Esham signed to Psychopathic in 2002 and released a greatest hits album called Acid Rain. The album included 5 new songs, 2 of which contained thinly veiled Eminem disses.

In October of 2003, someone from D12 finally responded to all the disses. Proof, from D12, released a song online entitled "E.S.H.A.M." which stood for "Every Sucka Has A Moment." The song talked about how Esham was a big legend in Detroit back in the early 90's but claimed that he wasn't shit now, so on and so forth.

Esham spit another diss on the 2003 Hallowicked track "Thug Pit." This isn't notable really--at that point, Esham had dissed Eminem and D12 so many times that it became hard to keep track--but the thing is, apparently Bone Thugs, Tech N9ne, and the Kottonmouth Kings (who were also on the song) weren't aware that Eminem was going to be dissed. Bone Thugs, Tech N9ne, and the Kottonmouth Kings are all on good terms with Eminem and weren't happy about being included on a song which dissed Eminem without them knowing it was on there.

In November 2003, Esham released Repentance which, much like Tongues, had a slew of disses shot towards Eminem and D12. Even ICP got in on the action for a couple of songs.

Rumor has it that Eminem has a few words lined up for Esham on his next album, due out in late 2004, so I guess time will only tell on that one.

Below is a list of all the songs Esham has dissed Eminem on, and includes what he said. Some of these are blatantly obvious and a few of them are kinda iffy, but are at least somewhat believed to be a diss. In no particular order:

I'm Dead "Never rap about fans named Stan like a homo."

Chemical Imbalance "They won't let me on MTV, I beat up Carson Daly and remind Eminem of D'Angelo Bailey. Hailey's in a coma, Hailey's in a coma, I smell the aroma of a dead body."

Mr. Negativity "But then again, should I just slit his throat for saying my fuckin' name in that rhyme he wrote? Should I kill your wife and your child for trying to assassinate me and my style?"

Detroit "Killin' anything that's Shady, bitin' my style, pay me. And even in stereo, you can't play me, crack baby."

Brain Surgery "Been boomin' words from hell way before D12. Tell me your favorite white rapper act like a female, bitch! Slit your wrists like your dumb wife Kim. Scribble my name on the wall in blood, I love E-S-H-A-M."

Gloczup "This white boy named Eminem, he say he live like me. Talkin' bout he from Detroit, the east side like me. Talkin' bout he don't spit acid rap but spit acid like me. Bitch, I'm a nigga and you're a honky."

All Night Every Day "The styles that you runnin' round with is ours, you and them Shady suckas is nothing but cowards. Bang yo' brains in the dirt, make you go berserk, if you ride with Em-ily, yo' ass gon' get murdered. I'm the E to the S to the H-A-M. If I wasn't, then why would I say I am? Pull a jack, sell a sack, cuz the babies need Similac. You remember that, rollin' in the Cadillac. You wanna battle rap? I swing the battle axe, chop your head off, and tell Hailey, go tattle that."

La La La "Bitch ass niggas in this game unreal, quick to flip the fuckin' script for the mass appeal, but when their blood gets spilled, let's see how many feel that they gotta die for another Shady Record deal."

P-P-P-Pow! "P-P-P-Pow if you dress up like Osama bin Laden..." (in reference to Eminem dressed like bin Laden in the "Without Me" video.

Woo Woo Woo "And if you actin' shady, we be like, 'shut up ho'!"

In Detroit "In Detroit, bitch, you ain't even from Detroit, fuck yo' style, 7 Mile is where the hustlas at. In Detroit, ain't no fuckin' freestylin', ain't no time for that"

"I be the Rabbit killa, the killa who killed Rabbit, in Detroit, we bust automatics at trailer park addicts, across 8 Mile" (referring to Eminem's character "Rabbit" in the movie 8 Mile)

Back In Da Day "I'ma tell you how it was before it all began, before Eminem, before all of 'dem"

"Feminem is her style, She-12 is her age, she lives across 8 Mile but still can get gauged."

"We was bumpin' Awesome Dre, representin' Detroit way before you met Dr. Gay"

Mommy "Girl, he can't be your Superman, but I can be your Kyrptonite." (referring to Eminem's song "Superman")

Ex-Girlfriend "Hailey's crying for her mommy. He didn't commit suicide, I killed your cousin Ronnie." (in reference to Eminem's Uncle Ronnie, who committed suicide a few years ago...but Esham fucked up and called him 'cousin' instead. Either way, point made.)

Thug Pit "Fuck Proof, every Halloween, I dress like a bag lady, then I ride around with my 380 lookin' for Shady. If I catch him at the Shelter, I'ma pull his file, chop his head off, and bury his body across 8 Mile."

Shady MF (Natas) "Feminem and She-12 gon' get the bitch bust on."

• Eminem vs. Insane Clown Posse

A Rivalry with beginnings that harks back to 1995, a stage before Eminem was signed and trying to build a reputation for himself. While ICP were performing in Detroit, Eminem had set up a stall which held many Flyers he was handing out for a party he was to host and planned to perform in. Among a list of Rap groups/artists to appear, the flyer stated 'ICP Might Appear .. Maybe'. This annoyed Violent J, a member of the Posse who came across the flyer and told Eminem to 'fuck off', clearly not wanting Marshall to use their name to get known.

This left a negative vibe between Eminem and ICP, with the situation only getting worse when Eminem insisted the group never turned up at his party after D12 had chased them out of a night club and shot at their van with paintball guns.

Eminem had previously verbally attacked with a few insults thrown on various tracks such as 'Get You Mad' and 'Drastic Measures' in which Eminem claims the group are over-rated, but surprisingly with no dedicated diss track. A humorous event at the 'Up In Smoke Tour' had Eminem come out on stage with a clown-faced, rather large mouthed inflated doll which orally pleasured him showing there was no hard feelings.

During this time Eminem had made an appearance on the Howard Stern radio show and answered 'Who?' when asked his thoughts on the Insane Clown Posse. An obvious diss suggesting ICP are unknown, which relatively was true. He also remembers them as dudes who got their asses beat 'all the time, back in the day'.

To be given an opportunity to respond, ICP were invited to the show the very next day and obviously angered by the insult they stated 'We Don't even know that bitch' when referring to Eminem. They then released the track 'Nothing but a bitch thang' as said earlier, and another with a group ICP has signed by the name of Twiztid and collectively called 'Slim Anus'. A parody of 'My Name Is' which appeared on the Slim Shady LP.

Eminem took things up a level by including a skit on his 2nd release The Marshall Mathers LP which enacted Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, two members of ICP performing Oral Sex on Ken Kannif and confidently saying 'Eminem' when Ken asked them to say his name. This came after the track 'Marshall Mathers' which assaulted ICP lyrically which such raw emotion which we hadn't heard of since Marshall went at Everlast with Quitter.

Here Eminem cleared the situation by mentioning the paintball gun incident and pressed the rival crew were faggots when referring to the track 'Slim Anus'. Explaining rather bluntly that damn right his anus was slim as unlike that of ICP it had not been penetrated. A touch of class may I add.

In the same track Em claims the group calls themselves 'Clowns cause they look queer' and even going as far as threatening them physically with the line 'Cause I don't wrestle, I'll knock you fucking faggots the fuck out'. Although stating he found the ICP disses funny and doesn't take them seriously cause he don't consider them artists it's clear he was not playing here.

A few months later, perhaps without considering the consequences, Eminem ran up on an ICP associate with an unloaded gun and pistol whipped the guy known to be John Guerrera who was kissing Kim, the wife of Marshall. A skit 'The Kiss' on the Eminem Show, is as close to a reconstruction as we'll get of how the incident went down with an atmospheric military drum roll thrown in for good measure.

The track Business, also on the Eminem Show, contains what some believe to be subliminal disses as the chorus goes 'must be a circus in town, let's shut the shit down on these clowns'. This can be referring to ICP, a theory which has added back up with the carnival theme being coincidentally familiar to those who own the 'Dark Carnival' album by the Insane Posse. The circus and clown metaphor is what I believe to be one describing the current hip hop situation but I'll let you decide.

The next album from ICP 'Bizaar' also has a diss track aimed at Eminem called 'Please don't hate me'. A tongue in check track, giving Marshall a taste of his own medicine in a sense with different scenarios played out between his mother Debbie and ICP.

With no response from Eminem's forth album 'Encore' and no word on the beef for over a year now, it's safe to say the beef has pretty much died down. Although those with a sharp mind may have noticed Eminem spit the line in 'Monkey See Monkey Do' which goes 'When I come back I'll be shooting more then just paintballs trust me'. Although not a diss in itself, it does still show Eminem is insisted as ever of the previous shooting incident although this hasn't and most likely won't spur on any reaction from ICP. But who knows if another lyrical shot will be triggered and set it all of again ...

• Myzery vs. Twiztid

• Lil' Wayne vs. G-Unit, Juvenile & Nas: In a new song entitled "You Don't Know", Lil' Wayne states "You gonna need a Unit for this G" approximately 10 seconds into the track. Later, he shouts "I leave a bitchass nigga Braveheart in the street, her milkshake bring this boy right to the yard, and I take ya One Mic and I leave with ya broad."" (Dissing Nas ( a member of Bravehearts) and Nas's wife Kelis calling him a sucker for love, and his hit One Mic) and goes on to say "Don't fuck with stunna, don't fuck with Juve," making references to Juvenile, Tony Yayo respectively. He also made disrepectful comments toward Nas, but he never responded. Young Buck then appeared on a radio station where he said he was "declaring war on Cash Money", and even showed interest in signing Gillie Da Kid, who has also had problems with Wayne. He then, along with Tony Yayo, released the diss track "We Run The Streets".

• Eminem vs. Everlast

• Trey Songz vs. The Game: This was a recent beef, that looked like The Game had started. The Game had stated that Trey Songz was gay. Trey heard the comment and could not believed the trouble that The Game had started. Following The Game's comments, Songz released a diss track over the beat of The Game's, Let's Ride. The track was called [[Trey vs. The Gay"]]. There were lyrics that featured Songz using gang terms, like his name. Two lyrics were, "They call me songz, I get hot girls in thongs, watch it gay, don't get run over by the Trey, don't come outside or get shot by this 8 Trey, so watch what you say." Another line was " you ain't no advocate, trying to take Eazy's style, my nigga Kyle couldn't rip you apart, don't begin cause I haven't pushed start, I gotta put in cheats to listen to the documentary, so threw you album away in fame's cemetery." The Game has yet to respond.

• Papoose vs. Cassidy: This is a mistaken beef that, in fact does not exist. Papoose's track "Fake Hustlas", rapping over Cassidy's "I'm A Hustla" instrumental, was not a diss to Cassidy. The widely distributed version of the track has the first ten seconds cut-off. In this ten seconds Papoose states that this is not a diss track.

• Another Bad Creation vs. Kris Kross: The first single for Kris Kross came out swinging with a diss towards ABC with "Don't try to compare us to another bad little fad" in the single Jump.

• MobStyle vs. N.W.A.: Mobstyle released a song on their first album called big nigga and bigger nigga in reference to NWA's real nigga.

• Bow Wow vs. Lil Romeo: Bow Wow released a song Fresh Azimiz, Bow Wow rapped "18 nigga makin' mo' den your Dad". Romeo believed that this was directed at his rap-mogul father, Master P. Romeo responded by releasing a single "U can't shine like me" which is rumored to be a direct diss to Bow Wow by rapping "16 and i don't live home with mother". Which was directed at Bow Wow still living with his mother. Bow Wow however, denounced his diss as a way to get attention for the two.

• Jim Jones vs. Jay-Z fans: There were rumors that when Jones was performing at a concert, location unknown, that Jones spoke about his beef with Jay-Z, and when he told the crowd about the booby trap, fans got angry and started pushing down the gate to the stage. Security tried to rushed Jimmy out safely, but two people punched Jim in the stomach as he was moving away and one kicked Jones in the right leg, just above the ankle.

• J-Pro Records vs. Mazz Hustlaz: The feud began in early 2007 when J-Miah, a member of Mazz Hustlas, claimed that the J-Pro rappers, mainly Young T, were "garbage" and that Mazz Hustlaz were "the only rappers in the 'boro' ", referring to the group's hometown of Foxboro, MA. Young T responded with 3 diss tracks aimed at each of the 3 members of the Mazz Hustlaz: E-Nyce, Dat Colombiano & J-Miah, attacking the group's credibility as well as changing their name to the "Mass Homos." Dat Colombiano was the first to diss Young T on a track, and disses followed from E-Nyce. In his lyrics, E-Nyce claims that Young T isnt really from Jamaica Plain, and raps "i'll bring ya sister back from the grave and get me some head", referring to the death of Young T's younger sister in 2004. This led to a confrontation between the two, where they were involved in a fist fight that was broken up by police. Since, J-Miah has released a diss to J-Pro producer J-Thrash, and the entire group released another diss entitled "We Got 'Em." Young T has yet to respond. J-Pro member C-Baller has been left on out for most of the feud, except for a few lines toward Mazz Hustlaz in an early track, as well as the mention of C-Baller's name in a track from E-Nyce.

• Gillie Da Kid vs. Lil' Wayne & Bryan Williams (businessman), : When Gillie Da Kid was signed to Cash Money Records along with Lil' Wayne, he was unable to come to an agreement over his publishing. As a result, he is believed to have became a ghostwriter for Lil' Wayne and Birdman. He did this for two years and it is rumoured that he wrote all of Birdmans lyrics and almost all of Lil' Waynes album Tha Carter. After Gillie left Cash Money Lil' Wayne dissed him on the track "Problem Solver". Gillie tried to contact Lil' Wayne but received no response. Gillie said, "Even after I heard his diss record, I still didn’t expose him. I reached out to him. I called him first ’cause I got love for you. So you went as far as to diss me in a record. I want to know why. What that was about? I wanted to give him a chance to say, “You know what dawg? I was trippin’. I’m sorry,” and we could just let it be. I called him twice, three times, he never gets back at me. So that’s when I felt like, Fuck you then. I don’t owe you nothing but I thought we was cool." Gille has since dissed Lil' Wayne and Birdman over many tracks, notably "Frontin Like Ya Daddy", and "Warning Shots". DJ Kurupt has recently released the Mixtape: Gillie Da Kid vs. Lil' Wayne. It is also rumoured that Gille released the photo of Lil' Wayne and Birdman kissing on the mouth.

• D12 vs. Royce da 59: Royce and Eminem were mutual friends with Proof, of Eminem's six-man clique, D12. Royce gives Proof a shout-out on "Nickel Nine Is...", from Rock City. However, Royce and another D12 member, Bizarre had beef originating from a freestyle battle with Royce's brother. With the break down of communication, this beef developed to include all the members of D12.

In 2002, Royce would call Eminem and ask to be signed to Shady Records. Busy with his movie 8 Mile at the time, Eminem refused, but about a week later signed 50 Cent. Royce took this in stride, agreeing to do the Anger Management Tour with his crew D-Elite. While on tour, D12 took offense to a line Royce had written for the tour: "Fuck Anger Management, I need someone to manage my anger."

They took the line to Eminem, and from there a series of misunderstandings escalated the beef. A barfight between D12 and D-Elite culminated in Eminem and Royce not speaking, and a rekindled beef between Royce and all of D12, including Proof.

Detroit's radio stations were alive with the controversy, playing diss tracks back and forth which included "Smack Down" (D12 minus Eminem over 50 Cent's "Back Down" beat). The track opens with an audio clip from an interview where Royce disses