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 exhausting to not love the fireplace and venom of Lamar’s verse right here, bashing J Cole and Drake.
19. The Recreation – 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 Recreation – goes on for the perfect a part of quarter-hour. The shifting manufacturing deftly mirrors the umpteen lyrical references to hip-hop classics, because the Recreation 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 truly written by Huge Daddy Kane – is the higher observe, lyrically and musically: “Step again, peasants!”
17. Canibus – Second Spherical KO (1998)
A traditional case of profitable the battle however shedding the struggle. Of the assorted 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 the perfect (and most stinging). However Canibus’s profession quickly pale; LL Cool J’s status as certainly one of hip-hop’s pioneers stays intact.
16. Nicki Minaj – Roman’s Revenge (ft Eminem) (2010)
Aimed toward Lil’ Kim – “has-been/dangle 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 position. Lil’ Kim’s response, Black Friday, was no match by any means.
15. Gucci Mane – Reality (2012)
Anger, as John Lydon as soon as recommended, is an vitality. Gucci Mane is nobody’s concept of a deep lyricist, however his beef with fellow Atlantan Younger Jeezy – which had already resulted within the dying of Jeezy’s affiliate Pookie Loc – impressed Reality, a observe that punches via by way of sheer simmering rage.
14. Eazy-E – Actual Muthaphuckkin G’s (1993)
Eazy-E’s response to pictures fired by Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg all through 1992’s The Persistent isn’t simply brutal – it’s additionally perceptive, a minimum of with regard to the grim ambiance round Suge Knight and Dying Row Information: “Gotta comply with your sergeant’s instructions / Or get your ass popped with this Smith and Wesson.”
13. 50 Cent – How one can Rob (1999)
Not a lot a diss observe as a kamikaze act of provocation aimed toward, nicely, everyone: 49 artists in complete, starting from Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z to the Trackmasters (which appeared a bit a lot, given the Trackmasters produced it). How one can 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 traces, however no explicit goal, Kick within the Door takes on Nas, Jeru the Damaja, 2Pac (probably) and varied members of the Wu-Tang Clan. Its dismissive tone is amplified by a improbable 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 traditional Bam Bam offers the earworm hook.
10. Eminem – Killshot (2018)
It’s important to be impressed by Machine Gun Kelly’s cojones. Accused of constructing inappropriate feedback on social media about Eminem’s underage daughter Hailie, he recorded a diss observe referred to 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 likelihood 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 traditional, a historical past lesson peppered with insults.
8. Widespread – The Bitch in Yoo (1996)
A feud that began over the course of hip-hop itself. Widespread referred to as gangsta rap “showbiz” on I Used to Love HER; Ice Dice took offence, calling Widespread 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 widespread grievance 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: an excellent 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 listing than the rest. Using a monster G-funk bassline, Dre’s contribution is extra wearily dismissive than offended. Snoop will get a lot of the finest traces, 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 referred to as The Story of Adidon “bringing a gun to a knife combat”; some folks 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 medical 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 the perfect observe from their long-running feud? In reality, 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 non-public life, needling him about all the things 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 essentially the most proficient MC within the group. No Vaseline opens with samples of their disses, earlier than unleashing the total energy of his lyrical capacity 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 improper. 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 essentially the most laid-back of beats (Dennis Edwards’ soul traditional Don’t Look Any Additional, by way of Eric B & Rakim’s Paid in Full). Its anger feels actual, nearly nihilistic – practically 30 years on, it nonetheless sounds surprising.
