20. Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar – Like That (2024)
Whether or not you view the meat that has consumed hip-hop’s higher echelons as a spicy addition to the style or a dispiriting Trumpian train by grandstanding millionaires, it’s arduous to not love the fireplace and venom of Lamar’s verse right here, bashing J Cole and Drake.
19. The Sport – 300 Bars N Runnin (2005)
The diss observe as an act of dogged persistence: 300 Bars N Runnin – written after 50 Cent reignited a supposedly quashed feud with the Sport – goes on for one of the best a part of quarter-hour. The shifting manufacturing deftly mirrors the umpteen lyrical references to hip-hop classics, because the Sport relentlessly slings abuse the best way of fifty Cent and G-Unit.
18. Roxanne Shante – Have a Good Day (1987)
Shante might have single-handedly invented the hip-hop beef with 1984’s UTFO-bashing Roxanne’s Revenge, however Have a Good Day – provoked by a sexist insult from “featherweight” KRS-One in Boogie Down Productions’ The Bridge Is Over and really written by Large Daddy Kane – is the higher observe, lyrically and musically: “Step again, peasants!”
17. Canibus – Second Spherical KO (1998)
A basic case of profitable the battle however dropping the conflict. Of the varied diss tracks that flew between LL Cool J and the hotly tipped younger rapper Canibus, Second Spherical KO, full with a Mike Tyson cameo, is one of the best (and most stinging). However Canibus’s profession quickly light; LL Cool J’s repute as certainly one of hip-hop’s pioneers stays intact.
16. Nicki Minaj – Roman’s Revenge (ft Eminem) (2010)
Geared toward Lil’ Kim – “has-been/cling it up/flatscreen” – Roman’s Revenge takes its title from the unique diss observe, Roxanne’s Revenge, and options Minaj and Eminem’s alter egos buying and selling ferocious verses. Minaj’s have the sting, relegating Slim Shady’s disturbing invective to a supporting function. Lil’ Kim’s response, Black Friday, was no match in anyway.
15. Gucci Mane – Fact (2012)
Anger, as John Lydon as soon as advised, is an power. Gucci Mane is nobody’s thought of a deep lyricist, however his beef with fellow Atlantan Younger Jeezy – which had already resulted within the demise of Jeezy’s affiliate Pookie Loc – impressed Fact, a observe that punches by way of through sheer simmering rage.
14. Eazy-E – Actual Muthaphuckkin G’s (1993)
Eazy-E’s response to photographs fired by Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg all through 1992’s The Persistent isn’t simply brutal – it’s additionally perceptive, no less than with regard to the grim environment round Suge Knight and Dying Row Data: “Gotta comply with your sergeant’s instructions / Or get your ass popped with this Smith and Wesson.”
13. 50 Cent – Tips on how to Rob (1999)
Not a lot a diss observe as a kamikaze act of provocation aimed toward, properly, all people: 49 artists in whole, starting from Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z to the Trackmasters (which appeared a bit a lot, given the Trackmasters produced it). Tips on how to Rob is uproariously humorous and, as a debut single, it did the job: consideration was duly attracted.
12. The Infamous BIG – Kick within the Door (1997)
One other diss observe with loads of vituperation and a plethora of nice strains, however no specific goal, Kick within the Door takes on Nas, Jeru the Damaja, 2Pac (presumably) and varied members of the Wu-Tang Clan. Its dismissive tone is amplified by a incredible beat sampling Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
11. Lauryn Hill – Misplaced Ones (1998)
There isn’t any getting round the truth that most celebrated diss tracks are by males, however the fabulous Misplaced Ones is proof that you just don’t want an extra of testosterone to land a succession of bruising lyrical punches. Hill’s ex-bandmate and ex-boyfriend Wyclef Jean will get it within the neck as Sister Nancy’s reggae basic Bam Bam supplies the earworm hook.
10. Eminem – Killshot (2018)
It’s important to be impressed by Machine Gun Kelly’s cojones. Accused of creating inappropriate feedback on social media about Eminem’s underage daughter Hailie, he recorded a diss observe known as Rap Satan, with maybe inevitable outcomes. Killshot, an enormous industrial success, finds Eminem sounding completely re-energised, dispatching MGK with deadly precision and wit.
9. Boogie Down Productions – South Bronx (1986)
The Bridge Wars – ostensibly about hip-hop’s birthplace – was one of many earliest beefs. There may be each probability that KRS-One wilfully misunderstood what MC Shan was saying on 1986’s The Bridge, however his response, the James Brown-sampling South Bronx, is the feud’s basic, a historical past lesson peppered with insults.
8. Frequent – The Bitch in Yoo (1996)
A feud that began over the path of hip-hop itself. Frequent known as gangsta rap “showbiz” on I Used to Love HER; Ice Dice took offence, calling Frequent a “pussy-whipped bitch”. The Bitch in Yoo was the response. Gently paced musically however deadly lyrically, it mocked Dice’s declining gross sales and fewer stellar movie roles.
7. Drake – Again to Again (2015)
Riled by Meek Mill’s declare that Drake used ghostwriters – a reasonably frequent criticism about Drake – Again to Again ruthlessly mocked Mill’s relationship with the extra profitable Nicki Minaj and introduced that he had been “bodied” by a rapper who sings: a superb combo of self-own and self-aggrandisement. It was nominated for a Grammy; what number of diss tracks are you able to say that about?
6. Dr Dre – Fuck Wit Dre Day (And All people’s Celebratin’) (ft Snoop Dogg (1992)
The bitter fallout from NWA’s breakup impressed extra diss tracks on this checklist than anything. Using a monster G-funk bassline, Dre’s contribution is extra wearily dismissive than indignant. Snoop will get a lot of the greatest strains, though Dre’s drawling supply of “put down the sweet and let the little boy go” is a delight.
5. Pusha T – The Story of Adidon (2018)
One critic known as The Story of Adidon “bringing a gun to a knife struggle”; some individuals thought its revelations about Drake’s secret son, and hypotheses about Drake’s psyche, went too far. However diss tracks are supposed to be vicious and wounding – and The Story of Adidon is sort of scientific in its character assassination. Tellingly, Drake by no means launched a observe in response.
4. Jay-Z – Takeover (2001)
Is Takeover or Nas’s Ether one of the best observe from their long-running feud? In fact, as tracks, there may be nothing in it. Takeover’s Doorways-sampling beat is impressed and the lyrics are excellent: teasing, however not revealing, gossiping about Nas’s personal life, needling him about all the pieces from declining gross sales to publishing cash.
3. Nas – Ether (2001)
Mockingly, Takeover’s taunts about Nas’s declining inspiration since his debut, Illmatic, provoked Nas into an Illmatic-standard response. Ether edges Takeover as a result of it rattled Jay-Z: his response, Supa Ugly, was a catastrophe for which his mum made him publicly apologise. To “ether” somebody subsequently grew to become hip-hop slang for lyrical evisceration.
2. Ice Dice – No Vaseline (1991)
It was, maybe, a mistake for NWA to tackle the departed Ice Dice, by far probably the most proficient MC within the group. No Vaseline opens with samples of their disses, earlier than unleashing the total energy of his lyrical skill on them to hair-raising impact. Suffice to say, there was no response.
1. 2Pac – Hit ’Em Up (ft the Outlawz) (1996)
In a single sense, it’s the prime instance of a diss observe gone fallacious. Arguments nonetheless rage over whether or not Infamous BIG’s Who Shot Ya? was actually aimed toward 2Pac, or simply an ill-timed launch, however Hit ’Em Up was explicitly designed to exacerbate the east coast-west coast feud – and everybody is aware of how that turned out. However, as a hip-hop observe, it’s extraordinary: a nearly unprecedented explosion of lividity and spite incongruously set to probably the most laid-back of beats (Dennis Edwards’ soul basic Don’t Look Any Additional, through Eric B & Rakim’s Paid in Full). Its anger feels actual, virtually nihilistic – almost 30 years on, it nonetheless sounds surprising.
Supply hyperlink
