This latest rap rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar has made a new generation of fans understand a true rap war that those in the days of Tupac vs Biggie or Jay Z vs Nas witnessed.

GLOBAL PRESENCE OF RAP BEEF

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With the advent of social media, the rapid fire of events is something to allure in comparison to the days of hip hop’s early years with “The Bridge Is Over.” The battle over the origin birthplace of the genre. Now we have a battle crossing countries with Kendrick Lamar representing the west coast and Drake representing a whole country in Canada.

The era was more in tune with the essence of the music and culture as fans were embracing graffiti battles to DJ showdowns to breakdance-offs, competition has always been integral to hip-hop culture. MCs, with their egos and lyrical prowess, are particularly adept at engaging in verbal sparring matches, often escalating to public feuds has occurred since then with both women and men. Roxanne Shante who was known as a teenage sensation and to some the “King Of New York” paved the way for the likes of battles that would include rap icons such as Nicki Minaj, Remy Ma, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, and more.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

The Drake-Kendrick beef has modernized the art of beefing due to it going to another level. Social media has accelerated the rap warfare with memes, reaction videos, and gifs.

Some major outlets have given their different takes and victor to this feud. Rolling Stone had a writer declare Kendrick Lamar the winner, while KOTD personality has given the crown to Drake.

 

Is it also no wonder that Drake who has competed with the King of Pop in terms of chart success, took aim at one of the most popular artists in history got him backlash online?

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Drake does have a strong connection to his fan base, but did Kendrick Lamar deliver the final uppercut that he can’t recover from? Some people are in actual tears over this beef.

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Whatever side you fall on, we got a tremendous throwback to how rap battles were in peaks and valleys of yesteryear. Los Angeles has been a breeding ground for diss tracks and Kendrick Lamar had a heavy load to lift being from Compton. Which long time hip hop fan doesn’t remember the days of Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline” to 2Pac’s “Hit ‘Em Up,” as those two singles changed the landscape for rap battles forever.The east coast of course had the aforementioned above and Jay Z vs Nas that included Ether and Takeover as iconic showdowns that are considered to be the elite in history.

THE BUSINESS OF RAP BEEF

When Drake released Back To Back on Meek Mill, it entailed some of the best memes in the current era of hip hop. It had fast food restaurants beefing when Wendy’s took aim at McDonald’s in a bid to get attention from the beef.

“Meek Mill take it from us- if you gonna serve beef serve it high quality,” Texas-based fast food chain, Whataburger, tweeted. Kendrick Lamar used a line in Euphoria that caused a Toronto restaurant to get viral in mainstream media and paid an ode to fast food chains use of rap beef.

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Kendrick Lamar and Drake have both benefited with sales through this rap beef. However, could their back and forth also hurt the businesses that sponsor or invest into these rap stars? Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds speak about the impact of Drake’s commercial ties possibly being at stake.

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The two rap icons also have allowed hip hop fans to make money from reacting to their songs by removing copyright claims from reaction videos.

In conclusion, rap beefs have always been a cornerstone of hip-hop culture, showcasing the competitive spirit and lyrical prowess of its artists. Whether settling scores or making bold statements, diss tracks continue to captivate audiences and shape the evolution of the genre. Drake in recent times has been involved in the biggest rap beefs in the last decade that includes his tussles with Meek Mill and Pusha T.

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GREATEST RAP BEEF KNOCK OUT SONGS

Fans are always the winner at the end of the day in these entertaining battles, but there is also rap wars where there is an undisputed winner. A victor that changes the careers of a rapper not for the better in terms of their competitor. We have compiled the top 5 biggest rap songs that fit this narrative.

TUPAC SHAKUR’S HIT EM UP

Tupac is a one of kind rap star that still divides audiences today in terms of some saying he is not lyrical and others believing his influence directly pushed rap away for good from consciousness in the mainstream due to his beef with Biggie Smalls.

“Hit Em Up” had huge consequences because of the way the single changed how one would diss another rapper. He was an avid reader of books such as the “Art Of War” and he would use techniques of Machiavelli to the point he renamed himself Makaveli during the beef.

In the infancy of the internet, Tupac would spread like wildfire as if he was a Baptist preacher speaking to his congregation. As Kendrick takes on a Messiah complex, it did not match in comparison to Tupac as illustrated in his album cover for 7 Day Theory. He knew coming out of prison that he was going to be targeted in the rap world, the streets, and the media. He embraced it all as he gave stray bullets to Faith Evans and Prodigy in his war against Notorious B.I.G.

Other foes such as Puffy, Lil’ Cease, Lil’ Kim, Chino XL, and Bad Boy Records as a staff, record label, and as a “mother&%^**’ crew caught headshots.Similar to how Kendrick Lamar crafted “Not Like Us” going at OVO.

NAS WITH THE ETHER ON JAY-Z

Everybody thought it was game over for Nas when Jay-Z dropped “Takeover” at SummerJam 2001 with photos of Prodigy as it was bait for the full song that had Nas barbs. Before the event Jay-Z said, “Ask Nas, he don’t want it with Hov” and would proceed to call Nas a has been.

“Four albums in 10 years, n—a? I could divide / That’s one every, let’s say two / Two of them shits was, doo / One was nah, the other was Illmatic / That’s a one hot album every 10-year average.”

Nas woke from his slumber to release Ether which is now associated with finishing a rap battle. It also caused the word “Stan” to be used as well due to the connection to the single with Eminem,who by the way also was used as content to lash at Jay-Z over the Renegade single. The song didn’t end the career of JAY-Z, but we never got the future billionaire to get into a high profile battle ever again.

HONORABLE MENTION

Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline” was the first true diss song that had no retaliation and it was against his former group of rappers in the infamous N.W.A. It saw the departure of Dr. Dre soon afterwards.

The group is known for being the fathers of gangsta rap, but Ice Cube put a question mark to that when he said, “I’ll never have dinner with the president,” a reference to Eazy-E accepting a luncheon invitation from the George H. W. Bush White House.” It made some fans wonder if N.W.A did indeed sell out.