Dating back to the time Big Bank Hank of the Sugar Hill Gang borrowed Grandmaster Caz’s rhyme book and used his lyrics without credit on “Rapper’s Delight,” MCs have been feuding on and off wax.
Hip-hop is a culture built around machismo and bravado, so backing down or losing a battle is detrimental to an artist’s career. One slip-up and you could find yourself with a one-way ticket to obscurity. Certain MCs have built entire careers around beefing with other artists, while others have had their careers destroyed with just a couple lines. But what once began as two rappers simply battling over skill has turned into big business—with parody music videos, elaborate stage shows, and entire albums dedicated to the coveted battle.
The ante is constantly being upped to keep the fans entertained, so lines will be crossed while artists strive to find unique and creative ways to slander their opponents. Mothers, women, and children have all been involved. On the heels of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s historic back-and-forth, Complex has updated our list of the 50 best hip-hop diss songs ever. Vegetarians beware.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published on June 23, 2011]
Target: Nas, Jadakiss, Mobb Deep, Ja Rule, Kelis, Shyne, Fat Joe, Lil Kim
Producer: Needlz
Album: The Massacre
Label: Shady/Aftermath/Interscope
Best Line: “Jada, don’t fuck with me if you wanna eat/’Cause I’ll do yo little ass like Jay did Mobb Deep”
No stranger to beef, 50 Cent kicked off the promo campaign for his sophomore album, The Massacre, by creating a massacre of his own: attacking every rapper in NYC. Well, almost. Feeling a certain way about Fat Joe and Jadakiss appearing on arch-nemesis Ja Rule’s “New York,” 50 viciously attacked all parties involved. He accused Jadakiss of only popping locally and called Fat Joe on releasing a dud of an album after dropping the massive hit “Lean Back.” Heck, even Mobb Deep (who 50 would sign months later), taking a shot for Havoc showing up to Ja’s video shoot. The video was an animated mess but does score points for depicting Nas as “Captain Save Em” chasing down the Kelis “Milkshake” truck.
Target: Big Boy Records, Mystikal
Producer: Mannie Fresh
Album: Uptown 4 Life
Label: Cash Money
Best Line: “You fake cheerleadin, bitch” (Yella Boy)
Feeling slighted by some stray shots Mystikal fired off on his single “Beware,” crosstown rivals UNLV struck back with “Drag Em ‘N the River,” a scorching N.O. anthem that poked fun at Mystikal’s braids and his past as a high school cheerleader. At the time, Cash Money (where UNLV was signed) and Big Boy Records (home to Mystikal) were battling for top indie label status in New Orleans, and “Drag Em” quickly escalated the tension between the two factions. Mystikal eventually responded via a few bars on “Let’s Get Em” from Master P’s Ghetto D album, but at that point Mystikal was riding with the Tank and was far too big to concern himself with lowly regional artists.
Target: Lil Wayne
Producer: The-Dream
Album: N/A
Label: G.O.O.D. Music/ Def Jam
Best Line: “Contract all fucked up/I guess that means you all fucked up/You signed to one nigga that signed to another nigga/That’s signed to three niggas, now that’s bad luck”
Pusha-T and Lil Wayne have been at odds for over a decade. It’s rumored that their disdain for each other started all the way back at Baby’s “What Happened to That Boy” video shoot, where Wayne was allegedly so enthralled by the Clipse’s style, he began dressing like the Brothers Thornton—switching from his New Orleans style of dress (tees, ’Bauds, and Rees) to the more refined BAPE look. The Clipse’s 2006 single “Mr. Me Too” was reportedly in reference to Lil Wayne, and the two have been at odds ever since. But the issue finally hit a boiling point in 2012, when Push released “Exodus 23:1,” a scathing track littered with not-so subtle jabs at Weezy F Baby. “Exodus” claimed Wayne was getting screwed by his recording contract with Cash Money (which we now know to be true), and that the people around him really weren’t down to ride. In hindsight, Pusha’s diss was pretty damn accurate. The truth hurts.
It did, however, prompt Wayne to take the bait and respond to Push, which was a v rare occurrence (he hadn’t jumped in a beef since he dropped 500 Degreez in 2002, which was aimed at his former labelmate Juvenile) Wayne countered with the lackluster “Goulish,” which was met with a collective trash emoji from the public at large. It did include the hilarious opening line: “Fuck Pusha-T and anybody that love him,” which was the only saving grace.
The beef remained quiet for the next few years until Lil Wayne began to publicly diss Cash Money Records on Twitter. Pusha then trolled Wayne with the classic: “if u wanna drop albums and don’t want your CEO’s rubbing they hands all in your videos, COME TO G.O.O.D. MUSIC!! (Suge Knight voice)”
Target: DJ Quik (I-IV)
Producer: DJ Slip
Album: Straight Check’n Em, Music to Driveby, We Come Strapped, Death Threatz
Label: Epic/Orpheus
Best Line: “And you don’t wanna see me/DJ Quik in a khaki bikini”
As DJ Quik was rising to prominence in Compton’s hip-hop scene in the late ’80s, he gave a shout out to the already-accomplished MC Eiht from Compton’s Most Wanted on a local mixtape, letting Eiht know that Quik was on the rise. Taking the mention as a slight, MC Eiht began a series of hilarious diss songs toward Quik that would stretch over half a decade under the “Def Wish” title. The best known of the series is 1993’s “Def Wish III,” from Eiht’s We Come Strapped album, that paints Quik as a goofy, perm-wearing, clucker in a Khaki bikini. The series finally ended in 1996 with Eiht’s fourth and final installment, that went to the well one too many times with the Khaki bikini reference.
Target: 22Gz
Producer: AXL Beats
Album: N/A
Label: Self Released
Best Line: “Better recognize who you dealing with/Run up, gun up, gon’ be a death/Leave a blicky lookin’ all sticky, drippy Paramedics looking for his chest”
Sheff G is a pioneer of New York drill, and the genre wouldn’t have had its initial burst at conception without “No Suburban.” The track was a response to fellow Brooklyn drill rapper 22Gz’ “Suburban,” and the authentically New York diss track became a hit on the streets because it takes square aim at its target’s chest. “No Suburban” works so well because it doesn’t try to complicate things. As Sheff G would say on “No Suburban, Pt. 2,” this is “a diss track, this is not a song.” —Jordan Rose
Target: Machine Gun Kelly
Producer: IllaDaProducer
Album: N/A
Label: Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records, Shady Records & Universal Music Group
Best Line: “And for the record, you would suck a dick to fuckin’ be me for a second/ Lick a ballsack to get on my channel/ Give your life to be as solidified”
Eminem versus Machine Gun Kelly was like when Dillion Brooks wanted to challenge LeBron James in the 2023 NBA Playoffs; the young brash player got handled by the seasoned legend. MGK was out of his depth with this one, and Em’s response to his “Rap Devil” was four minutes of the Detroit rapper putting both of their careers in perspective. From “Stan” references to Eminem comparing where he was in his career at 29 to where MGK was at that time, the entire track serves as a lesson to never bring up a Rap God’s name in vain without expecting holy retribution in the form of bars. The delivery isn’t as sharp or ferocious as some of his disses of old, but it still gets the job done against an opponent that never really needed a “Killshot” in the first place. —Jordan Rose
Target: Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records
Producer: Eric B. & Rakim
Album: N/A
Label: Self Released
Best Line: “I rule you—before, you used to rap like the Fu-Schnickens/ Nas designed your blueprint, who you kidding?”
Nas’ 2001 album, Stillmatic, was praised as a return to form, and his one-man Roc-A-Fella slaughter, “Stillmatic Freestyle,” was a fitting warmup. Spitting over the Coldcut remix of Eric B and Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” Nas gets off on Jay-Z and most of the Roc team with an energetic flow, neat rhyme structures and ruthless concision. Here, he cuts through Hov’s hard-earned mythology. Ahead of HOV’s then-forthcoming sixth studio album, Nas’ lyrical exercise was an incisive way at deconstructing HOV’s blueprint. On a song filled with questions centered around street credibility and Jigga’s aptitude as a business exec, a comparison to the Fu-Schnickens might just be the most disrespectful insult. —Peter Berry
Target: Jadakiss
Producer: Wayne-O
Album: N/A
Label: Self Released
Best Line: “What’s funny Jason, really think you grimy too/And everybody likes you better in that shiny suit”
A cocktail of gunplay, tidy rhyme schemes and dated, but charming puns, Beanie Sigel’s first Jadakiss assault is like a Sistine Chapel of brute rap savagery. Here, Beans turns song titles and affiliations against the Yonkers rapper: Styles P is called “The Ghost” because he’s Jadakiss’ ghostwriter, and after an encounter with Beans, Kiss will want to knock himself out. When he’s not boasting about his military-grade weaponry, he’s employing some dismissive humor; the gun talk is fun, Jada, but go back to wearing the cute neon suit Bad Boy picked out for you. Throw in some well-placed death threats, and you get a vicious diss song befitting of the man they call the Broad Street Bully. —Peter Berry
Target: Beanie Sigel
Producer: Mr. Walt
Album: N/A
Label: Self Released
Best Line: “Yo when I met you, you was on my dick/ Jigga gave you his old Bentley’s, now you on some shit/And I don’t know where they found you son/But since ya pops ain’t around I’mma punish you and ground you son”
As far as titles go, it never gets more to the point than “Fuck Beanie Sigel.” Checking in at a dense 2 minutes and 54 seconds, Jadakiss’ diatribe is an exercise in wholesome disrespect. In just the opening bars, he accuses Beanie of flexing with Jay-Z’s hand-me-down Bentleys and being a copycat before saying he’ll ground Beanie for punishment; after all, his absentee father isn’t around to do so. Bitter, clever. and skillful, he punctuates it all with a nod to Beanie’s boss, serving up an “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” flip that’s as biting as it is efficient; a fitting command from a man who sounds like he genuinely wants to send his opponent into the ether. —Peter Berry
Target: Lil Flip
Producer: Rick Rubin
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “Lyrically I’ll murk you/Physically I’ll hurt you/You ain’t never ran the streets you had a curfew”
Nick Fury, the producer of Lil Flip’s 2004 hit “Game Over,” invited T.I. to appear on the star-studded remix of the record, but Flip wasn’t with it, and T.I. was left snubbed. Lil Flip went on to allegedly diss T.I. during a concert in his hometown of Atlanta, while the self-proclaimed King of the South was incarcerated.
Once free, T.I. went on a Lil Flip slander campaign, claiming it was game over for Flip, who was nothing but a studio gangster who lived in the suburbs and wore Leprechaun outfits (which Flip famously donned on the cover of his The Leprechaun album). The beef was eventually squashed, but not before the two came to fisticuffs in Flip’s Houston neighborhood of Cloverland, where T.I. was visiting with a camera crew to expose Flip as a fraud.
Target: Kendrick Lamar, Future, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky, Ja Morant, The Weeknd & Metro Boomin
Producers: Boi-1da, Tay Keith, Preme, Fierce, Dramakid, Coleman, and Noel Cadastre
Album: N/A
Label: OVO/Republic
Most memorable line: “Metro shut yo hoe ass up and make some drums, nigga”
“Push Ups” is a masterclass in multitasking, a song where he efficiently takes shots at Kendrick Lamar, Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, The Weeknd, and even Ja Morant with four minutes of straight bars on a beat that sounds like it could have soundtracked the Halloween franchise. Taking on half the rap game in one song is a daunting task, but Drake makes it look easy as he dedicates a few bars to everybody, shooting back at Kendrick, Future, Rick Ross, and The Weeknd, while delivering one of the funniest one-liners in rap with, “Metro, shut yo hoe ass up and make some drums, nigga.” “Push Ups” surfaced in a fumbled rollout that caused everyone to question the validity of a low-quality leak that sounded like it could have been AI, but the song itself is very strong and was a great counterpunch. —Jordan Rose
Target: Death Row Records, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg
Producer: Rhythum D and Eazy-E
Album: It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa
Label: Ruthless/Priority
Best Line: “All of the sudden Dr. Dre is the G thang/But on his old album covers, he was the she-thang” (Eazy-E)
When Dr. Dre left Ruthless Records under suspect terms (and means) to start Death Row Records with Suge Knight, the feud between the two labels kicked off almost immediately. Dr. Dre led off his solo debut, The Chronic, with “Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’),” which attacked his former friend and record label for their suspect business practices. The accompanying video featured comedian A.J. Johnson portraying the goofy “Sleazy-E,” who was seen holding a “Will Rap for Food” sign on a freeway exit.
Obviously the Godfather of gangster rap didn’t take this lightly, and quickly responded with an entire EP dedicated to the beef: It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa (the EP’s inserts included the infamous sequins suit-wearing picture of Dr. Dre in makeup, from his World Class Wreckin’ Cru days).
The best of Eazy’s disses, however, was “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s,” which slighted Dre for being a studio gangster, dubbed Snoop Dogg as the “anorexic rapper,” and claimed Suge Knight ruled Death Row with an iron fist. But perhaps the most noteworthy revelation was that Eazy was still making money on Dr. Dre’s publishing, so “Dre Day” was actually good for business.
Target: Nas
Producer: D-Moet, Pretty Boy, Trackmasters
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “Take your daughter, R. Kelly/Have my way with her face” (Cam’ron)
After Hot 97 canceled Nas’ 2002 Summer Jam performance, God’s Son went on New York’s Power 105.1 and spazzed on the industry. One of the recipients of Nas’ blackout was Cam’ron, who Nas claimed was a “good” lyricist, but dropped a “wack” album. Never one to turn the other cheek, Cam jumped on Nas’ “Hate Me Now” instrumental and went straight for his jugular. Lines were crossed, low-blows were thrown, and Jim Jones introduced the amazing term “Kufi Slapper.” Killa!
Target: 50 Cent
Producer: Alchemist
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “Yeah, you got a felony, but you ain’t a predicate/Never the King of New York, you live in Connecticut”
After 50 viciously attacked Jadakiss on “Piggy Bank” (and portraying him as a Ninja Turtle in the video), J to the Muah fired back with “Checkmate,” a strategic response record, focusing on 50’s public shortcomings. The track was filled with quotables, with Kiss alluding to 50 being a snitch, having the weakest flow in G-Unit, and asks what’s so cool about being shot nine times and not shooting back.
Target: Nicki Minaj
Producer: Ron Browz
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “And I got a few words for the moms of the young Barbz/Guess who supports a child molester? Nicki Minaj”
“ShETHER” defecates on Nicki Minaj’s entire existence. The audio assault nods to Nas’ devastating 2001 song “Ether,” flipping the scathing Jay-Z diss’ title while sharing the song’s Ron Browz beat. And Remy Ma is ruthless in her critique of Nicki, portraying her as both an opportunistic clique bopper who’s slept with Trey Songz and Hot 97’s Ebro Darden—both have denied the claims—and a bedroom prude whose rumored butt implants interfered with her sex life with ex-boyfriend Meek Mill. Rem also accuses Minaj of spitting ghostwritten rhymes and claims to have footage of powdering her nose without MAC or Sephora.
But Remy reaches Super Saiyan savage when she addresses Nicki’s older brother Jelani Maraj, who is facing life in prison after being charged with raping a 12-year-old girl. (He’s currently awaiting trial.) Her lines slice deeper than any cosmetic surgeon’s knife. —John Kennedy
Target: 2Pac
Producer: Havoc and Prodigy
Album: Hell on Earth
Label: Loud Records/RCA/BMG
Best Line: “Got raped on the Island you officially got/Kick that thug shit, Vibe magazine on some love shit” (Havoc)
While incarcerated in 1995, 2Pac caught wind that NYC-duo Mobb Deep shouted “Thug Life we still living it” in the chorus of their hit single “Survival of the Fittest” (it probably didn”t help that Puff Daddy was featured in the video). As the face and frontman of the group Thug Life, 2Pac saw this as a direct shot, and upon his release from prison in late-1995, waged a war against Mobb Deep. Although Biggie Smalls was Pac’s public enemy No. 1, he was sure to slam the duo at any given opportunity, and they became mainstays in each of Pac’s diss tracks.
While most of Pac’s adversaries remained mum and refused to respond to the disses, Mobb Deep chomped at the bit with “Drop a Gem on Em,” a joint featuring thinly veiled barbs relating to Pac’s NYC robbery and shooting and even accusations that he was raped on Rikers Island. Although it’s reported that “Drop a Gem on Em” was recorded before Pac passed away, the track didn’t see an official release until two months after he died, which was seen by some as a tasteless move on the part of Mobb Deep and Loud Records.
Target: BDP
Producer: Marley Marl
Album: N/A
Label: Cold Chillin’
Best Line: “Now KRS-One you should go on vacation/With that name soundin’ like a wack radio station”
After KRS-One claimed “Roxanne Shante is only good for steady fuckin” on “The Bridge Is Over,” it was only right for Roxanne to join the BDP vs. Juice Crew battle. After proving she could hold her own against male opponents (she took on UTFO years earlier), Roxanne and Marley Marl crafted “Have a Nice Day,” filled with hilarious jabs aimed at the KRS-One and Scott La Rock. Despite rumors that her rhymes were written by Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane, Roxanne proved that a female could step in the ring in a male-dominated genre and keep the battle entertaining.
Target: Stan Spit
Producer: DJ Mark the 45 King
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “Hung out with you on Mother’s Day because your mother’s dead”
Probably best known for his appearance in the movie Belly, and his guest verse on Big L’s posthumous single, “Puttin’ It Down,” Harlemite Stan Spit became embattled with his one-time mentor, Cam’ron, after dissing him on an obscure freestyle. In response, Cam recreated Eminem’s smash “Stan” and flipped it into a cleverly crafted diss track poking fun at the opponent’s actual government name. The lopsided battle found Killa taking shots at “Stan’Ron” for being unable to score a deal in an era when all you needed was a pulse to get signed, and even brought up Stan’s dead mother. In the aftermath, Stan’s career went the way of his character in Belly and was subsequently never heard from again.
Target: Sole
Producer: El-P
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “From now on you’re immortalized playin’ yourself on my record/Congratu-fuckin-lations isn’t that what you wanted, idiot” (El-P)
After Anticon member Sole dissed Company Flow frontman El-P on “Dear Elpee,” El-P used art of war tactics and slyly recorded a phone conversation between the eager-to-apologize Sole and himself. Sole turned out to be more stan than enemy, professing “I love Company Flow” and “I wanna be down,” self-ether at its finest. This “Linda Tripp” tactic (named after the Pentagon employee who secretly recorded her phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky, which led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton) would be used many times over the course of hip-hop history. I believe the kids now call it being “Young Buck’d.”
Target: Drake
Producer: The Alchemist
Album: N/A
Label: Interscope
Most memorable line: “Fuck a rap battle, he should die so all of these women can live with a purpose”
The gloves came off and the war went to a dark place when Kendrick challenged “Family Matters” with “Meet the Grahams” within an hour after the former dropped. Up until this point, it was still a “friendly fade” between Drake and Dot, but “Meet the Grahams” takes things into dark waters as Kendrick uses each member of Drake’s immediate family to address him and accuse the rapper of having a substance abuse problem, being a sexual predator, and of abandoning an 11-year-old daughter. Drake immediately refuted these allegations and claimed he planted this information for Kendrick to use on “The Heart Part 6,” but the damage from the song had already been done. The song has little to no replay value, and Kendrick sounds like Jigsaw as he talk-raps through all of these serious allegations. It works well as a diss track, and ultimately, “Meet the Grahams” will be remembered as the song that marked the point of no return in this war. —Jordan Rose
Target: Carmen, Nas
Producer: Megahertz/Dr. Dre
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “I came in your Bentley backseat/Skeeted in your Jeep/Left condoms in your baby seat”
After feeling the effects of Nasir’s potent “Ether,” a visibly dazed Jigga started to hit below the belt with “Super Ugly,” the third and final act of the Jay-Z vs. Nas saga. “Super Ugly” was commonly seen as a rushed fail on Jay’s part and left most believing Nas was true victor in the battle. However, a closer inspection reveals a ruthless and remorseless diss, in which Jay brags about sexing Nas’ baby-mother, Carmen Bryan, and leaving condoms on his daughter Destiny’s car seat, that even had Hov’s mom insisted he issue a public apology to Nas and family, to which Jay obliged.
Target: Common
Producer: The Beat Bully
Album: Rich Forever
Label: Maybach Music Group/Def Jam
Best Line: “It bothers me when the gods get to acting like the broads”
One beef that may not make the beef hall of fame, other than for being remembered as possibly the weirdest beef ever, will have to be the great Common and Drake battle of 2012. It was a love triangle starring Drake, Common Sense, and Serena Williams. Drake, who is the real life Mr. Steal Your Girl, apparently got a little too friendly with Com’s recent ex Serena Williams, and it caused Com to react on “Sweet”—a joint praised by critics for bringing Common back to his rugged MC roots. Common claimed he wasn’t taking shots at anyone in particular, but real heads (read: everyone) knew he was talking about Drake. You didn’t even really have to read between the lines.
Rappers are constantly taking subliminal shots at Drake, even MCs he’s allegedly “friends” with for that matter. But Drake is no innocent man—his subliminal game is on par with Jigga’s. It’s mean and vicious. And Drake came back swinging at the Oscar-winning rapper on his guest shot on Rick Ross’ “Stay Schemin” record, chastising the Chicago rapper from going from broad to God, and throwing stones and hiding hands. It was as aggressive as we’d ever heard from Drake.
The response was so potent that it sent Common back into the lab to record ANOTHER response that included his best diss line since “The Bitch in Yoo,” claiming that Drake was “Canada Dry.” Lulz.
Target: The Fugees, Wyclef
Producer: Lauryn Hill, Che Guevara, Vada Nobles
Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Label: Ruffhouse/Columbia
Best Line: “It’s funny how money change a situation/Miscommunication leads to complication/My emancipation don’t fit your equation”
When The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill dropped, most had no knowledge of the love affair gone wrong between Lauryn and her Refugee partner Wyclef Jean; they just noticed Jean’s lack of involvement in her project. In scorched earth mode, Lauryn addressed the situation and aired out her former bandmate, citing money and hunger for fame as the reason for the split. Things were never the same, and years later we still haven’t seen another Fugees album. Or another listenable Lauryn project, for that matter.
Target: Bad Boy, The Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, Jay-Z, Nas, Xzibit
Producer: Big D and Makaveli
Album: The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory
Label: Death Row/Interscope
Best Line: “I’m a Bad Boy killa/Jay-Z die too/Looking out for Mobb Deep/Nigga, when I find you” (2Pac)
If you thought Pac had gotten everything off his chest and cleared his head with “Hit Em Up,” then you were sadly mistaken. Just weeks before 2Pac was tragically murdered in Las Vegas, he cut “Bomb First,” the intro track to his final (living) album and released under the Makaveli moniker. While “Hit Em Up” primarily focused on slandering Biggie, Bad Boy Records, and Junior Mafia, “Bomb First” took aim at the rest of the East Coast, with Nas (the alleged ring leader), Mobb Sleep, and Jay-Z (of Hawaiian Sophie fame) in his crosshairs. Complete with a fake Kevin Powell news clip at the beginning, Pac rode on his enemies for over two minutes before letting his Outlaw comrades, E.D.I Mean and Young Noble, get in some words.
Target: South Bronx, BDP
Producer: Marley Marl
Album: Down by Law
Label: Cold Chillin’/Warner
Best Line: “Should’ve stayed in school learned comprehension/Stating facts that I did not mention”
After BDP shook up the Juice Crew with “South Bronx,” MC Shan and Marley Marl had to come back strong, as the Juice Crew’s reputation was on the line. KRS-One accused MC Shan of claiming hip-hop started in Queensbridge (on Shan’s “The Bridge”), however Shan quickly refuted the claim, stating KRS lacked comprehension and didn’t properly digest “The Bridge”‘s lyrics. Although Shan agreed hip-hop started in the BX, he was steadfast that Queens MCs were the better breed, and he intended to kill the rest of the noise with this response record.
Target: Dilated Peoples, Limp Bizkit, Everlast
Producer: Eminem
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “Figured you could diss me to jumpstart your career/I’ll punch you in your fucking chest until your heart kicks in gear” (Eminem)
The feud between Eminem and Everlast began after Em supposedly snubbed Everlast backstage at a concert in 1999. The two traded a few disses back and forth, but it wasn’t until Everlast brought Em’s daughter, Hailie Jade Mathers, into the mix on “Whitey Ford’s Revenge” when the beef got serious.
Mocking Everlast’s flop of an album that was Eat at Whitey’s, Em went on to clown Everlast’s career as a singer and leaned heavily on his poor heart condition. On the second half of the track, Eminem remade 2Pac’s “Hit Em Up,” using Pac’s rhyme pattern and cadence to continue the attack on Everlast, before letting D12 get in on the action.
Target: Kool Moe Dee
Producer: Rick Rubin
Album: Going Back to Cali [Single]
Label: Def Jam
Best Line: “How ya like me now I’m gettin’ busier/I’m double platinum, I’m watching you get dizzier”
The cover of Kool Moe Dee’s 1987 album, How Ya Like Me Now, featured a grinning Moe Dee standing in front of a Jeep, with the front tire crushing a red Kangol hat. Obviously, this did not sit well with LL Cool J, whose calling card was the red Kangol. How Ya Like Me Now was littered with Cool James disses and accusations that LL was over-hyped and stole Kool Moe Dee’s style. LL jumped in the ring with “Jack the Ripper,” attacking Moe Dee for being a washed-up and unpopular rapper, who was desperately latching onto the more-successful Cool J for attention.
Target: Drake
Producers: Cardo, Kyuro, Sounwave, Johnny Juliano, Yung Exclusive & Matthew “MTech” Bernard
Album: N/A
Label: Interscope
Best Line: “I even hate when you say the word ‘nigga,’ but that’s just me, I guess”
The best diss tracks pick apart opponents in unique ways that will haunt them. But they only withstand the test of time if they have one secret ingredient—pure hater energy. And Kendrick harnesses that on “Euphoria.” Not only is his first official response in the great rap war with Drake filled with easter eggs—like Dot reversing Richard Pryor’s dialogue from The Wiz when he’s being exposed as a fraud or the title being named after the sexualized high school drama Euphoria, which Drake executive produces—it also meticulously picks apart The Boy’s massive persona. Kendrick takes jabs at everything from Drake’s relationship with his Blackness to various ghostwriter allegations. And “Euphoria” doesn’t rely on salacious information to get at the rapper, but leans fully into the fact that Kendrick just doesn’t like the guy. Sometimes it pays to be “the biggest hater.” —Jordan Rose
Target: Gangster rap, N.W.A, Compton
Producer: Ced Gee
Album: Penicillin on Wax
Label: Ruffhouse
Best Line: “Dre beatin’ on Dee from Pump It Up/Step to the Dog and get fucked up”
Frustrated that artists from the West Coast, in particular the city of Compton, were receiving more attention than their counterparts on the East Coast, South Bronx MC Tim Dog took the entire city of Compton—namely N.W.A—to war. Claiming their beats, lyrics, and style of dress were inferior to those popular on the East, Tim threatened to “crush Ice Cube” and “chew Eazy like tobacco and spit him in shit.” The accompanying video featured N.W.A lookalikes being assaulted while donning jheri curls and Raiders caps. The track is also noteworthy as it’s an obvious precursor to the East Coast vs. West Coast battle that plagued hip-hop years later.
Target: MC Eiht
Producer: DJ Quik
Album: Murder Was the Case Soundtrack
Label: Death Row/Interscope
Best Line: “E-I-H-T, now should I continue/Yeah you left out the G, ‘cause the G ain’t in you”
The battle between Compton, Calif.’s DJ Quik and MC Eiht began in 1991, with each rapper dropping (at least) one diss song toward the other per album. Quik, a Tree Top Piru, and Eiht, a Tragniew Park Crip, weren’t set-tripping but rather vying for the top spot in Compton. The wittiest and most cleverly crafted of the saga, was DJ Quik’s “Dollaz + Sense,” which had a high-profile slot on Death Row’s Murder Was the Case Soundtrack.
Quik dismantled Eiht, claiming Eiht was “shaking like a crap game” when the two crossed paths in an airport, and poking fun at his below-average acting skills in Menace II Society. The beef eventually left wax for the streets years later, when an altercation broke out at L.A.’s El Ray Theatre between Quik and Eiht’s entourages, during a Quik concert. Although DJ Quik denied involvement in the incident, he discussed the altercation on his popular record, “You’z A Ganxsta,” where he also offered an olive branch to Eiht.
Targets: Kendrick Lamar, Future, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd & Metro Boomin
Producers: Boi-1da, Tay Keith, Mark Ronson, Fierce, and Kevin Mitchell
Album: N/A
Label: OVO/Republic
Best Line: “Rakim talkin’ shit again/ Gassed ‘cause you hit my BM first, nigga, do the math, who I was hittin’ then?/ I ain’t even know you rapped still ‘cause they only talkin’ ‘bout your ‘fit again”
Despite being immediately stomped on by Kendrick’s “Meet the Grahams,” “Family Matters” is a good diss song because of its range in sound and the different flows Drake exhibits. In reality, it would have probably served him better to split the track into two separate songs so he could focus solely on Kendrick (ASAP Rocky gets the most creative disses). But Drake still manages to lob some decent jabs and heavy accusations Kendrick’s way—the main one being that the Compton rapper has been allegedly physically violent toward his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and that his creative partner Dave Free fathered one of his children. (Neither of these accusations have been confirmed.) The song is well put together, and has a layered music video that features Drake crushing the same model Mini-van that was featured on the cover of good kid, m.A.A.d city. —Jordan Rose
Target: Jeezy
Producer: Zaytoven
Album: Trap God
Label: 1017 Brick Squad Records/Asylum/Warner Bros./Tommy Boy Entertainment
Best Line: “Go dig your partner up nigga, bet he can’t say shit”
On “Truth,” the beef between Gucci and Jeezy that began with “Icy” and led to the shooting death of CTE rapper Henry “Pookie Loc” Clark III in 2005, got too real. Guwop evaded murder charges by claiming self-defense, yet he brought up Jeezy’s friend and affiliate on this song: “Go dig your partner up, nigga, bet he can’t say shit.” That’s worthy of a fade on sight. —John Kennedy
Target: Dave Mays, The Source, Benzino
Producer: Eminem
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Best Line: “What you know about being bullied over half your life/Oh that’s right/You should know what that’s like/You’re half white”
No stranger to beef with hip-hop magazines, Eminem began feuding with former Source co-owner Raymond “Benzino” Scott when Benzino publicly attacked Eminem’s whiteness, claiming he had an unfair advantage over rappers of color and was bad for the culture. After threats of an Eminem boycott from The Source, and a slew of diss songs from Benzino, Em unleashed the ether-filled “The Sauce” and “Nail in the Coffin” on a Shady mixtape.
Equally venomous, both tracks picked apart Benzino’s failed rap career, age, and the exploiting of Zino’s son for his own financial gain. The Source and Benzino would never be the same, despite spending many years and dollars attempting to kill Marshall’s career.
Target: Drake
Producer: Metro Boomin
Album: We Don’t Trust You
Label: Wilburn Holding Co. Boominati/Epic/Republic
Best Line: “Motherfuck the big three, nigga, it’s just big me”
With one explosive verse, Kendrick finally put an end to all of the pump-faking he and Drake had been engaging in since he last pushed the red button on “Control” in 2013. What’s most impressive about “Like That,” though, is how effective Kendrick is in so few bars. He wastes no time refuting the Big three label, shits on Drake’s affinity for Michael Jackson with a clever bar about Prince, and makes it clear that he wants all the smoke. Metro Boomin, finding a way to say “fuck you” to Drake through the production, also helps make the case for “Like That,” a song that sat at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks. —Jordan Rose
Target: Juice Crew, MC Shan, Marley Marl, Queensbridge
Producer: Ced Gee, Scott La Rock, KRS-One
Album: Criminal Minded
Label: B-Boy Records
Best Line: “So you think that hip-hop had its start out in Queensbridge/If you pop that junk up in the Bronx you might not live”
When Queens-based rapper MC Shan dropped his hometown anthem, “The Bridge,” it struck a nerve with South Bronx-outfit Boogie Down Productions, who felt the track made claim that hip-hop originated in the borough of Queens. Not one to turn the other cheek, the always outspoken KRS-One crafted “South Bronx,” a little story of where they (BDP) comes from. KRS clowned Shan for being dropped from MCA Records, and made sure the world knew the actual birthplace of hip-hop: the South Bronx. This was the first shot in what would become known as “The Bridge Wars,” the blueprint for all hip-hop battles.
Target: MC Antoinette
Producer: Audio Two
Album: Lyte As a Rock
Label: First Priority/Atlantic Records
Best Line: “You’re a beat biter/A dope style taker/I’ll tell you to your face you ain’t nothin’ but a faker”
After MC Antoinette blatantly jacked the beat from Audio Two’s “Top Billin” for her single “I Got an Attitude,” MC Lyte, the younger sibling of Audio Two’s Giz and Milk, took it upon herself to diss her fellow femcee. The track featured a multitude of now-classic lines such as “hot damn hoe, here we go again” and “you’re a beat biter, a dope style taker.” Ironically, the beat for “10% Dis” sounded more like “Top Billin” than “I Got an Attitude” did.
Targets: The Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, De La Soul, Puff Daddy, Nas, Jay-Z, Jimmy Henchmen, Haitian Jack, Stretch, King Tut
Producer: Hurt-M-Badd and Makaveli
Album: The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory
Label: Death Row/Interscope
Best Line: “This little nigga named Nas think he live like me/Talkin’ ‘bout he left the hospital, took five like me”
If “Bomb First” was the crazed, manic introduction to Pac’s Makaveli persona, “Against All Odds” is the mature, collected farewell. The final song on Pac’s The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory album, featured Pac attacking the usual suspects: Biggie, Mobb Deep, Puffy, Nas, and randomly De La Soul. But this was the first time Pac addressed his former NYC associates Stretch (Randy Walker), King Tut (Walter Johnson), Haitian Jack (Jacques Agnant), and music industry vet Jimmy “Henchmen” Rosemond.
Unknown to the general public, Pac labeled the latter two as snitches, accusing them of setting him up during his sexual assault trial, and leaving him to take the fall alone. This added a whole new street element to the 2Pac saga, which ended tragically just weeks later. If any of this was correlated to Pac’s demise, the world may never know.
Target: Ice T, MC Hammer, Kool Moe Dee
Producer: Marley Marl
Album: Mama Said Knock You Out
Label: Def Jam
Best Line: “But I’m a drink you down over the rocks/While the freak on your album cover jocks”
During LL Cool J’s long and successful career, many rappers have tried and failed to defeat James Todd Smith in the ring. On “To Da Break of Dawn,” LL took aim at his detractors (Kool Moe Dee and Ice-T), and one seemingly innocent bystander (MC Hammer), and wiped them out in one fell swoop. Dedicating one verse to each foe, LL mocked Kool Moe Dee for wearing “Star Trek shades,” called MC Hammer a gym teacher, and clowned Ice-T for being a parking-lot employee with a perm. In the end, LL was victorious against all opponents, effectively crushing Moe Dee, Hammer, and Ice T’s girl.
Target: Ice Cube
Producer: Pete Rock
Album: Relativity Urban Assault
Label: Relativity Records
Best Line: “Hyprocrite, I’m filling out your death certificate/Slanging bean pies and St. Ides in the same sentence”
Taking offense to Common’s analogy on “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” which included the line, “I wasn’t salty she was with them Boyz N the Hood,” Ice Cube dissed the Chicago MC on Mack 10’s “Westside Slaughterhouse,” saying, “All you suckas wanna diss the Pacific, but you busta niggas never get specific/Used to love H.E.R., mad ‘cause we fucked her/Pussy-whipped bitch, with no Common Sense.”
Common quickly retaliated with “The Bitch in Yoo,” which reminded Cube that there was no “busta” in Com, and that he’d “backed into a Four Corner Hustler.” Com went at Cube, labeling the Don Mega as a washed-up gangsta rapper who hadn’t made a good album since Amerikkka’s Most Wanted and taking shots at the Westside Connection. The beef was eventually squashed when Minister Louis Farrakhan intervened and had a sitdown with the two.
Target: Entire Murder Inc. Roster, Ja Rule
Producer: Dr. Dre
Album: Get Rich or Die Tryin’
Label: Shady/Aftermath/Interscope
Best Line: “I’m back in the game, shorty, to rule and conquer/You sing for hoes and sound like the Cookie Monster”
By the time 50 Cent’s debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, hit stores in early 2003, most hip-hop fans had already turned their backs on the once insanely popular Ja Rule and switched sides to align with the new kid on the block: Curtis Jackson.
Although 50 had been on a Ja Rule slander campaign for years (as far back as “Life’s on the Line” in 2000), including hilarious skits and mixtape diss tracks, it wasn’t until “Back Down” when 50 landed the true knockout blow. 50’s attacks left Ja’s career in shambles and created a new verb for hip-hop beef: being “Ja Rule’d.”
Target: LL Cool J
Producer: Wyclef Jean
Album: Can-I-Bus
Label: Universal
Best Line: “Mad at me ‘cause I kick that shit real niggas feel/While 99 percent of your fans wear high heels”
In 1997, elder statesman LL Cool J invited the hottest young guns in hip-hop to contribute to his track “4,3,2,1” from his Phenomenon album. After hearing newcomer Canibus’ initial verse, LL caught feelings over Canibus’ “L, is that a mic on your arm, let me borrow that” line (referencing the microphone LL had tattooed on his arm) and insisted he rewrite the verse.
Canibus agreed and revised, but when the song eventually dropped, Canibus’ verse was removed (he was only featured on the remix) and LL Cool’s verse included a shot at ‘Bis for having the audacity to ask for his mic.
Canibus thoroughly studied his opponent and responded with “2nd Round K.O.,” one of the best-written battle raps of all time, with guest vocals from Mike Tyson. Canibus attacked LL for only appealing to females, lying about being a drug-free role model, and being an inferior MC for changing his “4,3,2,1” verse after hearing what Canibus wrote.
Target: Luke, Tim Dog, Ruthless Records, Eazy-E
Producer: Dr. Dre
Album: The Chronic
Label: Death Row/Interscope
Best Line: “Used to be my homie/Used to be my ace/Now I wanna slap the taste out your mouth” (Dr. Dre)
A label built around controversy and beef, Death Row Records revolutionized the way diss songs were recorded and presented to the public with “Dre Day.” Sure, rappers had been parodying other rappers in music videos prior to “Dre Day,” but Death Row brought big-budget beef to mainstream America, raising the bar in the art of battling. The clip was a mainstay on MTV and BET, and had a slew of goofy actors and comedians portraying their list of enemies.
It was no longer just about the song—the visual was now equally important. Dr. Dre and his protégé, Snoop Doggy Dogg, responded to disses from Luke (“Fakin Like Gangsters”) and Tim Dog (“Fuck Compton”), but it was Dre’s former accomplice Eazy-E who was the focal point of the “Dre Day” song and video, which was built around a character named Sleazy-E. “Dre Day” changed hip-hop beef forever, pelted Tim Dog into obscurity, and introduced the world to the term “Frisco Dyke.”
Target: Meek Mill
Producer: Daxz
Album: N/A
Label: Cash Money
Best Line: “Yeah, trigger fingers turn to twitter fingers/Yeah, you gettin bodied by a singin nigga/I’m not the type of nigga that’ll type to niggas/And shout out to all my boss bitches wifin niggas”
How fitting that Drake’s response to a beef ignited by accusations of ghostwriting led to some of his best songwriting to date. “Back to Back” builds to raucous moments that serve as death blows to Meek Mill and also creates club-ready bellow-along-with-your-boys moments—it’s genius. This is Michael Myers music, as Drake stalks his prey calmly and assuredly—”I’m not sure what it was that really made y’all mad”—before quickening pace—”trigger fingers turn to Twitter fingers—and going in for the kill—”Shout to all my boss bitches wifin’niggas!” Drake recorded one of the most laser-sharp, precisely crafted songs while inebriated. If he never goes to another Grammy ceremony again, the Recording Academy deserve it for not giving this the statue. —Frazier Tharpe
Target: Drake
Producer: No I.D.
Album: N/A
Best Line: “You are hiding a child”
Drake titled his long-awaited Pusha-T diss after a patois term for “ghost,” and poked at Push’s penchant for uber-privacy in a bar that invoked his fiancée’s name (and impending marriage) as a threat. To let “Adidon” tell, Pusha couldn’t be happier he was given an opportunity to fire back at Drake. His reply is 100 straight seconds of an unrelenting exhumation of just a few of the skeletons in Drake’s room. If Pusha’s implications are to be believed, Aubrey’s closet is like two stories, and the song simultaneously reveals:
– an extremely awkward blackface photo
– a secret lovechild
– a plan to unveil him in a corporate synergy sneaker rollout,
– a baby mother who definitely does not fit the good girl standards of a Drake pop song
These are concentrated headshots, and that’s to say nothing of the intentional collateral spray Pusha coldly aims at 40’s health issues, as well as Drake’s parents’ failed marriage, his dad’s personal style, and his mother’s loneliness. Diss songs rarely end careers, especially when the target is one of the biggest A-listers in music. And yet, for as much as Drake throws his weight around and dismisses Pusha’s stature, the Virginia boy still sent Drake to the notes app to cop pleas—effectively dashing the Adidas deal and burdening Scorpion with songs that are more focused on subliminal responses than being good. It also turned J. Prince’s book tour into a PR spin and had Drake talking about it with LeBron James on Home Box Office.
The biggest misconception, though, is that the track wins off its gossip-mongering—not off the strength of actually being, you know, a good song. You can dock points for it being a glorified “Story of O.J.” freestyle, sure, but even that works as a shot when you factor in the blackface image and the original song’s context. The matter-of-fact delivery of “you are hiding a child” will go down in the history books. And the flow is tighter than ever, from “tick, tick, tick-six-six-six” to the malevolent way that “Love that baby, respect that girl/Forget she’s a pornstar, let her be your world” is the place Pusha chose to tag his trademark “yuugh.” Can you imagine what this man would have done over an original beat? I wouldn’t reply to someone who says, “If we all go to hell, it’ll be worth it,” either. —Frazier Tharpe
Target: Jerry Heller, Ruthless Records, N.W.A
Producer: Ice Cube, Sir Jinx
Album: Death Certificate
Label: Priority/EMI Records
Best Line: “I saw it coming, that’s why I went solo/ And kept on stomping/ While y’all mothafuckers moved straight outta Compton/ Living with the whites/ One big house and not another nigga in sight”
After Ice Cube left N.W.A over a financial dispute, his former group attacked him on their 100 Miles & Runnin and Efil4zaggin albums, likening Cube to American history’s most infamous traitor, Benedict Arnold. Cube responded with the extremely graphic “No Vaseline,” an exposé on Eazy E and Jerry Heller’s (N.W.A’s manager) shady business tactics, littered with gay and racial slurs.
Possibly more offended than the actual members of N.W.A were civil-rights activists and critics, who lined up to paint Cube as homophobic and anti-Semitic. N.W.A never responded to the diss, and Dr. Dre left the group and Ruthless Records shortly thereafter, also citing compensation issues.
Target: Juice Crew, MC Shan, Queens, Marley Marl, Roxanne Shante
Producer: Scott La Rock and KRS-One
Album: Criminal Minded
Label: B-Boy Records
Best Line: “Manhattan keeps on makin’ it/Brooklyn keeps on takin’ it/Bronx keeps creatin’ it/And Queens keeps on fakin’ it”
BDP began the beef with MC Shan and the Juice Crew on “South Bronx” and effectively ended it on “The Bridge Is Over,” the final crushing blow in what would become known as “The Bridge Wars.” Filled with classic quotables, “The Bridge Is Over” was released in response to MC Shan’s “Kill That Noise” and featured a reggae-tinged flow from KRS, who reiterated proudly that hip-hop was born in the BX. In the aftermath, the Bridge wasn’t over, but MC Shan’s career was.
Target: Jay-Z
Producer: Ron Browz
Album: Stillmatic
Label: Ill Will/Columbia
Best Line: “Eminem murdered you on your own shit”
After Jay-Z dropped “Takeover,” a sleeping giant was awoken in Nas, giving God’s Son the kick in the ass he needed to get his career back on track. Where “Takeover” was prepared like a finely written essay, “Ether” was more like a lunchroom taunt.
After the classic “Fuck Jay-Z” vocal sample, a far more vile Nas went in, calling Jay-Z a camel, accusing “Gay Z” of being a Nas stan, and questioning Hov on his overuse of recycled B.I.G. lyrics. So vicious was the attack that “ether” has now become a verb in the hip-hop lexicon, and the song was arguably the launching pad Nas used to revive his at-the-time waning influence.
Target: Prodigy, Nas
Producer: Kanye West
Album: The Blueprint
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
Best Line: “Four albums in 10 years nigga? I could divide/That’s one every, let’s say, two/Two of them shits was doo/One was naahhh, the other was Illmatic/That’s a one-hot-album-every-10-year average”
Jay-Z and Nas had a longstanding rivalry and were engaged in a silent power struggle for years, but the shots remained (somewhat) subliminal until Jay-Z called out Nas on stage at Hot 97’s Summer Jam in 2001: “Ask Nas he don’t want it with Hov.” Nas subsequently took the bait and dissed Jay on his “Stillmatic” freestyle, prompting Jay to unleash the classic “Takeover.”
Jay’s response was crafted more like an essay than an actual battle rap, with Hov introducing the argument, analyzing the data, raising counter-arguments, and then concluding. Prodigy of Mobb Deep was dissed on the second verse, but this was dramatically overshadowed by Jay’s beef with Nas. Hov’s shots at P focused on his small stature, smaller record sales, and the infamous “ballerina” pic he flashed on the screen at Summer Jam 2001.
The Nas portion was far more brutal, attacking Nas’ descent from hip-hop’s top MC list to a guy who was now being out-rapped on posse cuts by his bodyguard. Jay went on to clown Nas’ catalog, and on the final line alluded to sexing Nas’ baby-mother, Carmen Bryan. Many speculated Nas’ career would be finished after “Takeover,” and some believe Prodigy was never able to recover.
Target: Mobb Deep, Puffy, Junior M.A.F.I.A., Lil Kim, The Notorious B.I.G., Chino XL
Producer: Johnny J
Album: How Do U Want It [Single]
Label: Death Row/Interscope
Best Line: “That’s why I fucked your bitch, you fat motherfucker”
Reworking the beat of the opponent’s popular song? Check. Claiming relations with the opponent’s baby-mama? Check. Poking fun at the opponent’s physique and labeling him a biter? Check. Video parody? Check. Letting your little homies get in on the action? Check. On paper, 2Pac perfected and personified the diss song formula on “Hit Em Up,” incorporating all of the elements those before him used to become victorious against their adversaries.
However, Pac kicked his up a few notches, taking this from a war of words to a war of coasts that eventually divided an entire hip-hop nation. What began as a beef between two rappers (Biggie and 2Pac) eventually turned into a battle between the West Coast-based Death Row Records and the East’s Bad Boy Records, who were the top two labels in hip-hop at the time. This sent the media into a frenzy, who dubbed it the East Coast vs. West Coast war, which quickly became the most publicized and sensationalized hip-hop beef of all time.
In the wake of “Hit Em Up,” two of hip-hop’s greatest talents (B.I.G. and 2Pac) would be killed (both murders remain unsolved), changing the face of hip-hop—and beef—forever. This battle will forever be a reminder that, unless kept on wax, rap beef can quickly become real beef with dire consequences.
Target: Drake
Producer: Mustard
Album: N/A
Label: Interscope
Best Line: “Baka got a weird case, why is he around?/Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles”
“Not Like Us” is an unprecedented diss track.
The song somehow manages to be all-time disrespectful—a track so scathing Drake filed a defamation lawsuit—while also massive enough to serve as the centerpiece of a Super Bowl performance. It’s lyrically deft, mixing hyperbolic, juvenile pedophilia jabs (not a pun) with incisive commentary on how Drake has leveraged Atlanta rap and swag to boost his career. (The third verse, in particular, features some of the most wicked rhyme schemes ever heard in a diss record.) It also features a hook so contagious, the song transcends the diss-track category. It’s now an all-time Los Angeles anthem, mentioned in the same breath as “California Love” and “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang,” a record destined to be played in stadiums and clubs for years to come—despite “certified pedophile” being one of the most chantable lines in the song.
So how can it not be considered the greatest rap diss track of all time?
With diabolical precision, Kendrick flipped Drake’s own blueprint. He employed the same strategy Drake once used to dismantle Meek Mill with “Back to Back:” take a bouncy, club-ready beat—this time courtesy of Mustard—and turn it into an anthem destined to dominate the summer.
One way to measure a diss track’s impact is by the opponent’s response and Drake essentially tapped out. He dropped the defensive “THE HEART PART 6,” publicly declared he was done with the beef, and begrudgingly gave the song its props. Kendrick, meanwhile, seized the momentum: a No. 1 album, a sweep at the Grammys, a Super Bowl performance, a stadium tour, and now the official title as the best rapper of his era—with the GOAT title officially in play. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
