Beef is the hip hop term for a feud or a rivalry between two or more rappers. The main aim of beef is to make your foe look bad or at least worse off than you. Beef is not a friendly sparring session where two artists may record a track to try and see who has more skill. Beef is not a freestyle battle where the winner is judged by the dexterity of delivery and how pernicious their punch lines are. No. Beef is prolonged rivalry where slander is the order of the day.
The most common weapon available to artists engaged in beef is the ‘diss song’ (disrespect song). This is when an artist will record songs with the sole intention to libel their rival. Multiple songs may be recorded where the insults will go back and forth and this tennis match will only end when one of the contenders gives up.
The press and other public platforms usually serve as an arena where beef continues ‘outside the ring’. One rival will start humiliating rumours or reveal personal information about the other artist.
Although some may consider beef to be a healthy competition that generates publicity (and sales) for the parties involved, we have seen in the past that the results may not always be desirable. These rivalries can sometimes lead to violence and death.
In South Africa we have been fortunate not to have beef reaching lethal levels. However we have witnessed violent situations at various gatherings where beef has trickled onto our dance floors where punches fly along with the blood from the instigators and victims.
The most famous beef of our time was surely the rivalry between Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records during the mid ‘90s. The deaths of the biggest names in hip hop at the time, 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G, are attributed to this beef.
However one of the most publicized beef of our time is between Jay Z and Nas. This is a typical example of how beef starts and resolves. The article below contains excerpts from Wikepedia purely for your reading pleasure.
Initially, the relationship between the two rappers was friendly and respectfu. There were stories about how the two rappers used to hang out and how their families knew each other.Their relationship changed after the death of The Notorious B.I.G. The position of ‘most popular New York rapper’ became vacant. Fans were eager to see who would fill that role. This is when the competition between the two started and ultimately turned nasty.
In 1996, while recording his debut album Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z's producer Ski used a vocal sample from Nas' The World Is Yours as the chorus to his song Dead Presidents. Nas was offended by this because no one had asked for his permission. However, Jay-Z invited Nas to re-rap the line. When Nas agreed to this Jay-Z was happy, but Nas never showed up to record the line. After being stood up several times, Jay-Z became angry. This soured the relationship between the two rappers and is seen as the beginning of the quarrel between them.
Nas also stood Jay-Z up on a second occasion. After releasing his second album Nas a**embled The Firm with AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega (later Nature), and planned to release their debut album on Roc-A-Fella Records but later decided to sign with Aftermath without telling Jay-Z .
Jay-Z continued to show his respect to Nas in 1997 by referencing him on his song "Where I'm From" ("Who's the best MCs? Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas"). Nas responded to Jay-Z on his track "We Will Survive" (released in 1999, on his album I Am…). On the song, Nas criticized several rappers, including Jay-Z, who claimed to be "New York's King" following Biggie's death. This was seen as disrespectful by Jay-Z, and was the spark that finally kicked off the feud. Also around this time, Nas and Memphis Bleek, who was also under Jay-Z's Roc-a-fella Records label were beefing as well.
The tension between the pair surfaced on their next releases, as each included aggressive songs entitled "Come Get Me", and various verbal jabs were thrown during subsequent mixtape appearances. The beef bubbled over into the public eye when Jay-Z mocked Nas's Queensbridge, Queens allies Mobb Deep on stage at the Hot 97 Summer Jam hip hop festival, reciting the opening verse to "Takeover", which ended with the line, Ask Nas, he don't want it with Hov.
Nas responded with an attack on Jay-Z during a radio freestyle over Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid In Full" beat, dissing most of the R.O.C. members subliminally — specifically, Jay-Z, Freeway, Memphis Bleek, and Beanie Sigel. Initially, the freestyle was untitled but was later called "Stillmatic", perhaps aimed to promote his new album Stillmatic (It is also called "H To The Omo" as a direct reference to Jay-Z's song "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"). This freestyle contained the rhyme "Is he H to the izzo, M to the izzo? / Fashizzle, you phonie, the rapper version of Sisqo", some even claiming "it was that short, but it touched the nerve."
Almost immediately, Jay-Z composed a re-written version of "Takeover" for the The Blueprint, on which he added a verse (the song originally only addressed Prodigy of Mobb Deep), which had 32 lines (while the other verses had 16) that attacked Nas for never matching the critical success of his debut Illmatic. He rapped these lines towards Nas:
"Use your - BRAAAAAAAIN! You said you been in this ten
I've been in it five - smarten up Nas
Four albums in ten years nigga? I can divide
That's one every let's say two, two of them shits was due
One was - Ehh, the other was "Illmatic"
That's a one hot album every ten year average
And that's so - LAAAAAAAME! Nigga switch up your flow
Your shit is garbage- what, you tryna kick knowledge (f*** outa here)"
This is the first direct diss track toward Nas and it contains the lyric: "you-know-who/did you-know-what/with you-know-who/But lets keep that between me and you (for now)." Later on, both Jay-Z and Nas stated that this line is in reference to Jay-Z sleeping with Carmen Bryan.
Nas responded with a greatly acclaimed track entitled "Ether" from his album Stillmatic, in which he mocked Jay-Z's early years as an aspiring young rapper (during which he supposedly idolized Nas) and accused him of being a misogynist. He also explained how Jay-Z exploited The Notorious B.I.G.'s legacy by stealing his lyrics and claiming that he is a better artist. "Ether" begins with the sound of gun shots sampled from "Who Shot Ya" and contains a Screwed vocal sample by Tupac Shakur from "f*** Friendz" where he says "f*** Jay-Z" and Nas himself mocks Jay-Z's line "I will not lose" from "U Don't Know". He derisively points out that Eminem showed him up on his own album, alluding to the song "Renegade". Nas claims that "The King is back (ill) / where the crown at? (ill will)", claiming that he is the true recipient of the throne after Notorious B.I.G. The song also made fun of Jay-Z's very limited physical attractiveness and implied he was a homosexual, reffering to him as Gay-Z, "Put it together, I rock hoes. You rock fellas."
The positive response to "Ether" created enormous interest in the rivalry throughout the hip hop community, the music media and even mainstream news outlets. Jay-Z responded to "Ether" in a radio freestyle that became known as "Supa Ugly". The first verse of the song is delivered over a sample of Nas' "Got Ur Self A...," when Jay-Z claims " I got myself a gun". In the song, Jay-Z dismisses the "Ether" track as being filled with falsehoods and questions Nas' street credibility. The beat of the song then switches up to Dr. Dre's "Bad Intentions", which Jay-Z alluded to an ongoing sexual relationship with Carmen Bryan, the mother of Nas' child. The song also alleges that Bryan also had a relationship with Allen Iverson:
Me and the boy A.I. got more in common
Than just ballin and rhymin, get it? More in Carmen
I came in your Bentley backseat, Skeeted in your Jeep, left condoms on your babyseat
Here, nigga, the gloves is off, The love is done
Its whatever, whenever, however nigga, ONE!
And since you infatuated with sayin that gay shit
Guess you was kissin my dick when you was kissin that bitch
Nasty shit, you thought I was bonin' Renette
You callin' Carm a hundred times I was bonin her neck
You got a baby by the broad, you can't disown her yet
When is your lies end, when does the truth begin
When is reality set in, or does it not matter
Gotta hurt, I'm your baby mama's favorite rapper
And ask your current girl, she know wa**ap
Holla at a real nigga, Jigga, I don't give a f***
Jay-Z's mother heard the song on the radio and demanded Jay-Z publicly apologize to Nas and his family, to which Jay-Z oblige. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Jay-Z claimed that mentioning his relationship with Bryan was fair game when Nas implied Jay-Z was gay in "Ether". The feud continued to simmer, and rumors of a live pay-per-view freestyle battle began to circulate but never came to fruition.
After the promoters of Hot 97's Summer Jam festival refused to allow headlining Nas to crucify an effigy of Jay-Z during his performance at 2002's show, he appeared on Hot 97's rival Power 105 and attacked both the music industry's control over hip hop and the rappers who he saw as submitting to it, including Jay-Z, Nelly, N.O.R.E. and Jay-Z's label mate Cam'ron: "Y'all brothers gotta start rapping about something that's real.... Rappers are slaves." This brought Cam'ron into the Jay-Z/Nas feud; Cam'ron controversially made disparaging remarks about Nas' mother.
After this incident both continued to go against one another on various tracks, the shots taken including Jay-Z criticizing Nas for his apparent hypocrisy on his The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse album's title track. On "Blueprint 2," Jay begins his diss against Nas in the second verse by attacking his street credibility. Jay also says that while he himself is more successful, he is more generous than Nas with his money. Jay goes on to mock Nas's spiritual persona from Stillmatic and after accusing Nas of using both this appearance and convoluted lyrics in an attempt to appear more intelligent than he is:
Cause the nigga wear a kufi, it don't mean that he bright
Cause you don't understand him it don't mean that he nice
It just means you don't understand all the bullshit that he write
Is it "Oochie Wally Wally" or is it "One Mic"?
In the lines immediately after, he also accuses Nas of hypocrisy for putting out commercial/materialistic-oriented tracks and then denouncing materialism and misogyny on other songs. Jay-Z also says, "My momma can't save you this time / Niggas is history" referencing the public apology his mother made him make after "Supa Ugly" was released. However, Jay-Z raps on a verse saying that he became stronger after "Ether”
Meanwhile, Nas compared himself and Jay-Z to the characters Tony Montana and Manolo respectively from the film Scarface, on his track "Last Real Nigga Alive" from his God's Son album. That track detailed how Jay-Z forced Nas into battling him by attacking him while he was raising his daughter, and caring for his dying mother. However, the feud died down somewhat toward the end of 2002.
Jay-Z also made reference to his relationship with Carmen on the songs 'Is That Ur Chick' and "D'evils". This could also be counted as a diss record towards Nas.
Debate continues in the hip hop community about who came out on top in the feud. On December 14, 2001, "Ether" and "Supa Ugly" were pitted against each on a Hot 97 radio phone-in poll, with fans calling in to vote for the winner. Nas's Ether defeated Jay-Z's Supa Ugly 52% to 48%.After the release of The Black Album, both Nas and Jay-Z paid tribute to each other in interviews. The rivalry also aided their careers critically and commercially. The battle was significant in that it revived the trend of using ‘beefs’ as a source for publicity and promotion for hip hop artists, which became unpopular following the tragic deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, but once again prevalent within the hip hop community.
In what can be considered a pivotal moment in hip hop history, the feud was formally ended in October 2005 at Jay-Z's I Declare War concert, where Nas made a special guest appearance and performed the hook to "Dead Presidents" and a few of his own tracks such as "NY State of Mind" and "Hate Me Now". In 2005 at another 105.1 concert Jay and Nas reunited on stage and performed a song together.
In January 2006, Nas signed with at the time Jay-Z's Def Jam Recordings, further emphasizing the truce and raising expectations for a possible collaboration.
Nas and Jay-Z are now business partners and they have toured, recorded and appeared on television and radio together throughout 2006. Jay-Z appeared on Nas' album Hip Hop Is Dead which was released under Nas' new partnership with Def Jam. The track is titled "Black Republican". Nas also appeared on Jay-Z's 2007 album American Gangster on a track titled "Success". Nas is also noticeable in the music video for the song "Roc Boys" from Jay-Z's album American Gangster. The two rappers appeared together on a track titled "I Do It For Hip Hop" with Ludacris for his release Theater Of The Mind. Nas later appeared as a guest on Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 album.
