Tuesday, July 15, 2008

WHO'S KILLIN' IT?: BEEF


Is it just me or are you too waiting to go to your next hip-hop show and and see a ring on the stage with Michael Buffer standing in the center yelling "...and in this corner..." This "beef" syndrome has grown out of control. It has become an over used marketing tool, that has only proven successful to only a handful of artists. I remember when it was entertaining, only because it was real and relevant. LL vs. Kool Moe Dee, BDP vs. The Juice Crew, Cube vs. NWA, Dre vs. Eazy, B.I.G. vs. Pac, Jay vs. Nas... It worked because these men had legitimate problems with one another (money, contracts, baby mamas, bullets...), luckily, in most cases, the wax was the last resort. Now its all a game, choreographed like the WWE. Unknown people are coming out and calling out reputable veterans like a new wrestler calling out John Cena to start an episode of Smackdown. Who the fuck really cares about Lil Boosie, Shawty Lo, Plies, Papoose, Peedi Crack, Gillie Tha Kid, and so on and so on. The cats are just trying to build some pub and gain a rep. Newsflash...how about just resting on the laurels of actual talent to build a rep, crazy idea but it just might work. All this beef shit does is make it easier for an MC to be contradicted. For example, how many diss records has The Game dropped since he said "...this beef shit is for the birds and them birds fly south..." on the "Hate It or Love It" remix. The Game's career is built on beef and name dropping (shout out to Clubba Lang). If 50 ain't beefing, he ain't selling (whats good Kanye). This is not a sport, but pretty soon we are gonna need weight classes. You can only battle somebody if you have the same amount of hits as then, if not STEP BACK!!!! (big up to DJ Don Cannon). I guess what I am trying to say is if you are a young aspiring rapper and you thumb through your book of rhymes and subtract all references to beefing, crack, shooting niggas, bitches, and hos and all you got is blank pages...listen to this, and go back to the drawing board.

On that note I got another poll for you, best diss record of all time, I got some heavy hitters down there so listen closely. Which ever cut makes you say "damn!!", "hell naw!!", or "no he didn't!!" the most vote for it. Here it is, in no particular order because I love them all. Don't forget to vote on the right.









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