In its 50-year history, full of brash and unapologetic artists, hip-hop unsurprisingly saw some of its most popular acts butt heads from time to time. Being a genre based on unhindered expression, rappers would characteristically refuse to mince words, sometimes catching their peers in the crossfire.
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When retrospectively examining the history of rap, it’s easy to see how many of the culture’s marquee names found themselves in beef, whether it be Drake, Eminem, Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. and more. So, as we reflect on the last five decades of hip-hop, which many other institutions have taken the time to do this year, we look back on some of the most iconic songs that were birthed from these conflicts.
Here are six of the most legendary diss tracks.
“Hit Em Up,” Tupac (1996)
In 1994, while Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. still had a respectful relationship, Pac went to make music with Biggie at Quad Recording Studios in Times Square. However, upon arriving, Pac was shot five times in the lobby. Although he made a full recovery, he believed Biggie, Biggie’s label Bad Bay Records, and Bad Boy’s founder Diddy were responsible.
So, after being released from prison in 1996, and after catching wind of a 1995 Biggie song titled “Who Shot Ya?”, Pac decided to dish off a cold-blooded diss at his new East Coast rivals. Mostly aimed at Biggie, “Hit Em Up,” also took aim at New Yorkers like Jay-Z, Nas, Diddy, Chino XL, Mobb Deep and more, airing out loads of dirty laundry about all of Pac’s enemies.
Now, when I came out, I told you it was just about Biggie
Then everybody had to open their mouth with a motherfuckin’ opinion
Well, this is how we gonna do this: Fuck Mobb Deep! Fuck Biggie!
Fuck Bad Boy as a staff, record label, and as a motherfuckin’ crew!
And if you wanna be down with Bad Boy, then fuck you too!
“No Vaseline,” Ice Cube (1991)
After leaving the group he co-founded in the late 1980s, N.W.A., Ice Cube’s solo career still saw him lament his broken relationship with his former colleagues, and more specifically their manager Jerry Heller. So, when N.W.A. put out their 1991 album N****z4Life, which saw them refer to Cube as “Benedict Arnold,” he decided enough was enough.
Dropping “No Vaseline” soon after, while also including it on his sophomore album Death Certificate, Cube left no stone unturned, telling his former rap group how they were disappointing their own hometown of Compton, California, by associating themselves with Heller.
Earlier this year, Cube called “No Vaseline” the “top battle song of all time” in hip-hop, adding that “it’s not even close.”
“The Story of Adidon,” Pusha T (2018)
Drake and Pusha T’s years-long subliminal rivalry finally came to a head in 2018. After Pusha’s beef with Drake’s mentor Lil Wayne finally led to the Toronto rapper also holding a hatred for him, Pusha decided to test the limits of Drake’s restraint. After dissing him on “Infrared,” the outro to his 2018 album Daytona, Pusha finally got a direct response from Drake.
Releasing “Duppy Freestyle” soon after, Drake included shots at Pusha’s close colleague Kanye West, as well as a distasteful remark about Pusha’s then-fiancé and now-wife. This was all Pusha needed.
Not much time went by before Pusha would drop “The Story of Adidon,” a ruthless bombardment of disses over the instrumental from Jay-Z’s hit “The Story of OJ.” Discussing Drake’s family life, such as the fact that he and his dad were both allegedly absent fathers, Pusha revealed to the world that Drake was keeping his son Adonis a secret out of shame.
Drake never issued a response.
“Back to Back,” Drake (2015)
Before Drake took the brutal diss from Pusha T in 2018, he was on the giving end of a lyrical annihilation, aiming his 2015 song “Back to Back” at Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill. After Meek accused Drake of using ghostwriters for their smash hit collaboration “R.I.C.O.”, Drake decided to show him just how impressive his pen game was on “Charged Up” and “Back to Back,” two straight diss tracks that gave Drake a clear victory in the beef over Meek’s singular “Wanna Know” response.
“Ether,” Nas (2001)
Two of the most formidable titans of 1990s and 2000s hip-hop in New York, Jay-Z and Nas have not held a healthy relationship with one another in decades. Most of this is due to their trading of diss tracks at the turn of the century, which started with Jay-Z’s “Takeover” and continued with Nas’ “Ether.” Questioning the validity of Hov’s self-proclaimed drug kingpin lifestyle, Nas delivered a performance on “Ether” that has been celebrated ever since its 2001 release.
“Killshot,” Eminem (2018)
Years in the making, Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly’s war of words reached a boiling point in 2018. After MGK indirectly flirted with Em’s daughter Hailie Mathers in 2012, when she was a minor, Em banned MGK from making appearances on his famed Shade45 radio show, which frequently spotlighted many of hip-hop’s most talented actors.
A fan of Em growing up, MGK felt scorned by the Detroit legend, dissing him on the 2018 song “No Reason” with Tech N9ne, a friend and colleague of Em. Em would then return the favor, dissing MGK on his surprise 2018 album Kamikaze. This led the two to trade diss tracks, starting with MGK’s “Rap Devil” and ending with Eminem’s “Killshot.”
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