OF MISCOMMUNICATIONS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS: HIP HOP BEEF IN THE 21ST CENTURY
So what exactly happened to beef in Hip Hop in the last few years? It’s kind of hard to say, because in my humble opinion, the idea of “Beef” had been all over the place. Ever since probably the most famous/infamous beef in Hip Hop history between B.I.G. and 2Pac resulted in both rappers’ ultimate demise, things have changed drastically. True enough, it did seem like things were coming back around to simply keeping beef on wax when Jay-Z and Nas went at each other in the early part of the 2000s, but it damn sure didn’t stay that way, as many beefs have resulted in the some rappers being catapulted into super stardom (50 Cent and T.I.) while their adversaries are left to suffer from basic career failure (Ja Rule and Lil Flip, respectively.
But is it me, or do current day beefs seem to be offset by the smallest things. It could be the way one rapper looks at another, subliminal shots taken at an emcee on a mix tape track, a past altercation, not showing proper respect or damn near anything one can think of. One of the biggest (but to me, also one of the lamest) beefs that has occurred already this year was between Common and Drake, and we all know how that ended. Now, the two camps that were embroiled in that lyrical scuffle (if that’s what you call it) are once again at odds with Pusha T supposedly calling out Drake and other YMCMB camp affiliates on his newest joint “Exodus 23:1″, and the video for it was just released today:
And of course, YMCMB General Lil Weezy responded with this track:
The truth is none of us can really say what makes these beefs boil over and come about. But sometimes (and again, this is just MY personal opinion), many of them seem to be pretty unfounded. And on top of that, it just seems that beefs these days in the Hip Hop world are a bit more manufactured than they used to be, as in they’re not actual beefs based on real or valid problems between two or more emcees. Hell, there was even a DVD series at one point that was extremely popular with fans and made lots of money. But then again, who am I (and who are we) to say that the dislike or distrust between two rappers isn’t valid in this day and age?
Personally, I’ll go out on a limb and say that one of the main problems with Hip Hop beefs these days is that the general public can actually get involved through social media. Yes, I’m a Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Stumbleupon geek and I admit it, but I never want to use any of these tools to get involved in something that truly doesn’t involve me. And from what I see, that’s what happens. There was a time that if a rapper had a problem with another rapper, we as the public would have to watch it from a distance, in interviews, videos, award shows and live performances. Not so these days. As fans we want to be involved in the music more than ever, and in Hip Hop, that means even being involved in the Beef side. I’ll be there are plenty of people taking to all kinds of social networks, blogs, websites, web magazines and other things to make their thoughts and feelings known to the world, whether we want that opinion or not.
Maybe I’m just pining for the days when beef in Hip Hop stayed strictly on wax and between two rappers or two camps. Maybe it’s a case where it will never be like that again because of the socially-connected world we live in. And maybe this is just the evolution of Hip Hop Beef as we know it. Who really knows? Guess we just gotta see where it takes us, as fans, followers, artists and anyone else that’s involved in the great game of Hip Hop.
Thanks for following as always and I’ll try to do better next time!
Cool opinion piece, Ron. Well written.Let me just preface my comment by saying I barely follow mainstream Hip Hop anymore because the artists seldom show lyrical prowess anymore (so bless your dedicated heart for sticking to it, Ron – you're a trooper). That said, Lil Wayne's diss was a waste of 90 seconds. Period. He kept bouncing between dissing Pusha T and doing his usual weak bragging. A diss track is not where you want to let your ADD get in the way. If you're dissing a dude, spend the 90 seconds dissing him. I don't know much about Pusha T, but his diss track was better, though I'm not sure why there's a beef. Props the music video director, though – it was incredibly gritty, and the cinematography was on point. However, we could've probably done without the actual snorting footage. There've been plenty of Hip Hop videos in the past depicting drug deals and drug use, but the snorting just somehow seemed a little over-the-top. These doofuses need to remember who watches these videos – tweens and teens. But that's a whole other conversation.
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"Beef these days are extremely manufactured and its simply to increase revenue and to create hype. there havent been any real or serious beefs since 50 Cent and Ja Rule which spilled over to include Ross, Khaled and a few shots at Jada. Artist mimic the beef strategy as they did 50s formula for the mixtape to garner attention and ultimately success. For whatever reason it seems as tho the machine is trying to market a beef between G.O.O.D. music and YMCMB. Pusha & Wayne have been beefin for years and nobody cares but now after an unsuccessful beef between Common & Drake let's reignite Pusha & Weezy and add Drake. Bad move in my opinion but we all know "beef" is good for business look at 50/Kanye. No real beef but album sales were great for both parties."- care of Trey Jordan on Facebook. Thanks Trey!