Stormzy clashes Wiley, Pusha T on Drake, Nas' Ether... the best diss tracks ever

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Hip hop is a game of hierarchy and nothing lights a fire under a rapper like a little beef.

Artists fighting to be top dog is nothing new: back in 1979, the Sugarhill Gang's Big Bank Hank caused a rift with Grandmaster Caz after shamelessly lifting his lyrics for Rapper's Delight, word-for-word and without credit.

Since then, battles on wax have spiralled into surprisingly serious things – anyone backing down is risking their image, and consequently their career. Sometimes, though, its far less serious than that – in a hallmark of playground tiffs, Jay Z's mum forced him to apologise to Nas once she heard Supa Ugly. Things don't always end so sweetly.

And it's not only on that side of the Atlantic where things can get heated. Over in the UK, clashes are a fundamental part of what has made grime so great - inspired by hip-hop in part, but very much it's own beast. Anyone who's seen the grainy VHS footage of the old pirate radio spars will attest to that.

Here are some of the fiercest diss tracks of all time.

No Vaseline - Ice Cube

Ice Cube never sounded more swaggeringly confident than on this 1991 track calling out his former NWA bandmates and former manager Jerry Heller. After they’d ripped him out for leaving the group in "Message to BA", the title referring to Cube as a 'Benedict Arnold', the response was furious. Cube mocks them every way he can: for their financial problems, for their more commercially friendly image, for being manipulated by Jerry Heller, for DJ Yella wearing lipstick once upon a time and for their lack of MC skills (“Ay yo Dre, stick to producing”).

What makes it particularly devastating is that it’s completely hilarious and incredibly catchy, with one of Cube’s best ever beats; everyone just wanted to listen over and over and over. Unsurprisingly, NWA never responded. What would be the point?

The Warning - Eminem

While many diss tracks are coded and indirect in their subject matter, there’s no prize for guessing who The Warning is aimed at. Eminem tears into Mariah Carey after the singer denied having a relationship with him and even parodied him in the video for Obsessed. The song starts by saying “the only reason I dissed you in the first place is because you denied seeing me, now I’m pissed off,” before name checking her and revealing some incredibly intimate details.

Eminem might be one of the most prolific rappers when it comes to diss tracks, hitting out at everyone from his family to Limp Bizkit, Ja Rule and Donald Trump over the years, but this is up there with the most venomous tracks of its kind. Nick Cannon doesn't come out of it too well, either – he recorded his own response, I'm A Slick Rick, but it's best avoided.

Control - Big Sean ft Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar made a name for himself with killer debut album good kid, m.A.A.d city, but he really arrived with his appearance on Big Sean’s Control. The vitriolic verse sees Kendrick slate some of rap’s biggest names and call for hip-hop to up its game. Drake, J. Cole, Tyler, The Creator and A$AP Rocky face Kendrick’s wrath — not even Big Sean himself escapes. “I’m trying to raise the bar high/Who trying to jump and get it?” he says. It’s the sound of a once in a generation performer leading by example and single-handedly taking the rap game to new places.

Hit ‘Em Up - Tupac

Despite the hilarious video – The Outlawz seem childishly delighted just to be there, which rather undermines the whole seriousness of it – there’s no doubting how angry Tupac was recording this one. He laid down the track believing Biggie had been involved in a 1994 shooting at Tupac’s studio, which had left the rapper fighting for his life. Pac came out swinging with his first words: “That's why I f***** yo' bitch, you fat motherf*****”.

What follows is a vicious attack on Biggie, his labelmates and his family, where Tupac repeats his claim that he’s slept with Biggie’s wife, scolds him for ripping off his style, and mocks their former friendship. What really stings, though, is the last 90 seconds or so, where Pac sounds as enraged as anyone ever has on record.

It’s a tirade, where Pac threatens not only Biggie but everyone associated with him, going so far as to say he’ll murder their children. He doesn’t sound like he’s joking; when he says “F*** you”, there’s no doubting he means it. Mobb Deep replied with the admittedly excellent Drop a Jem on ‘Em, but few cared.

Ether - Nas

Most definitely not a subtle one, even the beat quite literally says “F*** Jay-Z”, while the record opens with the sound of gunfire. Nas was enraged after Jay-Z had called him out on “The Takeover” (“Now you're just garbage/Fell from top 10 to not mentioned at all”) and responded with a track so biting that its title has become a verb, as in: Pusha T ethered Drake. Nas’ track has all the bitterness of Tupac’s Hit ‘Em Up but instead of out-and-out f***-yous, it cuts much, much deeper, getting intensely personal.

It tore into Jay Z’s style, his position on the streets and mocked him relentlessly for proclaiming himself the best and ignoring the inspiration he’d taken from Biggie, Big Daddy Kane and Pac. In fact, the lack of respect to his forefathers seemed to grate on Nas the most: “First Biggie's your man, then you got the nerve to say/That you better than B.I.G/D***-suckin' lips, why don't you let the late great veteran live?”

The hardest part, though, was the I’m-not-mad-I’m-disappointed lyrics. “What's sad is I love you, ‘cause you're my brother/You traded your soul for riches/My child, I've watched you grow up to be famous/And now I smile like a proud dad watchin' his only son that made it/You seem to be only concerned with dissin' women/Were you abused as a child? Scared to smile? They called you ugly?” Ether dropped on Jay’s 32nd birthday.

F*** Wit’ Dre Day - Dr Dre ft Snoop Dogg

Dre’s always been best when he’s producing and frankly, this one is on the list because the G-Funk bassline (taken from Funkadelic's [Not Just] Knee Deep) is irresistible. The track takes fairly generic pot shots at Eazy-E and now-forgotten rapper Tim Dog – plenty of homophobic lines, some half-hearted death threats and the mandatory short jokes about Eazy. Still, once Snoop comes on board, the whole thing is just one long ode to oral sex.

Snoop was at his laconic best, teasing and playful, though in the video his menace is far more overt. The teasing about Tim Dog’s mother maybe be schoolyard stuff, but Snoop’s brief allusion to murder (his shout-out to 187, the murder code in California) was rather more sinister, especially as 1993 Snoop was still heavily associated with the Crips and was on a million dollar bail for accessory to murder. If Snoop Dogg getting nasty is your thing, check out Pimp Slapp’d from 2002.

Real Muthaphuckkin G's - Eazy E

Dr Dre has been one of the most influential — and controversial — figures in the game for decades. Back in the early 90s Dre successfully realigned himself amongst the new wave of Gangster Rappers after leaving N.W.A, but the career move didn’t sit well with everyone. Former bandmate Eazy E questioned his credentials and called him out as a “studio gangster” on the track Real Muthaphuckkin G's, and even got in a dig at Snoop: "Tell me, where the f*** you found an anorexic rapper?"

Eazy E’s rap talents may have paled in comparison to his peers but Real Muthaphuckkin G's remains a career highlight, and one line in particular got the last laugh: "Dre Day only meant Eazy's payday" he laughs which due to their contracts, was true.

Shether - Remy Ma

Remy Ma and Nicky Minaj’s feud is one of the most high-profile in modern hip hop. The pair first clashed following Minaj’s 2007 track Dirty Money but things came to a head with 2017’s Shether. Using the same beat as Nas’s infamous Ether, the song sees Remy accuse Minaj of sleeping with half the industry and calls her an “A-list groupie”. “Talkin' about bringin' knives to a fight with guns/When the only shot you ever took was in your buns,” she says at one point, accusing Minaj of extensive plastic surgery. However, Minaj certainly had the last laugh after responding with a scathing verse about Remy Ma on No Frauds a few months later.

The Story of Adidon - Pusha T

Pusha T and Drake's longstanding tiff memorably went past a few irate Instagram stories earlier this year when Pusha T released Daytona, taking shots at just about everyone on final track Infrared (even Will Smith got a hit). If Pusha was hoping for someone to come back at him and raise his profile, it certainly worked; after comparing Drake’s popularity to that of Trump’s and calling out Drizzy for using ghostwriters, the Hotline Bling rapper dropped Duppy Freestyle in less than 24 hours. Drake went in, calling out Pusha’s authenticity (“Man, you might've sold to college kids for Nike & Mercedes/But you act like you sold drugs for Escobar in the '80s”) before cattily slamming his entire career – “I had a microphone of yours, but then the signature faded/I think that pretty much resembles what's been happenin' lately”.

Unfortunately for Drake, it looks like Pusha might have been baiting him all along. He put out The Story Of Adidon, complete with a photo of Drake in blackface. “I see that your soul don't look alive” Pusha sing-songed, before getting personal.

“Your father walked away at five, hell of a dad thing” came the taunt, before an accusation of Drake parading his father to counterbalance his insecurity over his identity: “[you] always thought you weren't black enough”. The searing verse afterwards went further, alleging Drake has a secret son by former pornstar Sophie Brussaux. The song finishes by laughing Drake’s producer Noah Shebib for his multiple sclerosis, but by that time, it’s all over.

Kick In The Door - The Notorious B.I.G.

Biggie takes aim at just about everyone in Kick In The Door, taken from 1997’s Life After Death. The majority of the criticism is saved for Nas, who challenged his title as King of New York but Jeru the Damaja, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah all face their fair share of scorn too. Biggie even has a pop at the track’s producer DJ Premier at one point. It’s cryptic at points but it’s vitriol is unmissable – a clear warning shot to anyone who dared question his dominance. Who else but Biggie would decide that he wanted to take on the entire world in a diss track?

Killshot - Eminem

Little known rapper Machine Gun Kelly raised his profile by releasing Rap Devil, a track that took shots at Eminem through the eyes of a six-year-old ("His f****** beard is weird"). Rap fans rubbed their hands in glee at the prospect of a response and Em didn't disappoint. While the beat is underwhelming, each line slowly peels away more and more of MGK. It's like listening to a surgeon cut away the skin from bones. It's funny to begin with, with Em mimicking MGK's faltering delivery ("Stan, Stan, son Listen, man, Dad isn't mad/But how you gonna name yourself after a damn gun/And have a man-bun?") before dismissing Kelly's career ambitions ("Younger me? No, you're the wack me, it's funny but so true/I'd rather be 80-year-old me than 20-year-old you") and hits on a crushing truth ("This is it, as big as you're gonna get, so enjoy it/Had to give you a career to destroy it").

It ends with a line that had everyone talking – "But, Kells, the day you put out a hit's the day Diddy admits/That he put the hit out that got Pac kill" – and rap fans taking to Twitter to mourn MGK's career. Talk about digging your own grave.

Ripper Strikes Back - LL Cool J

If there’s anything ladies love more than Cool J, it’s Cool J releasing a fire diss track. The rapper’s feud with Canibus started back in 1997 with collaboration 4, 3, 2, 1, when a throwaway line from Canibus about LL Cool J’s tattoo of a microphone sparked a rivalry. Canibus released his own diss track Second Round KO, which briefly saw him become flavour of the month in 1998. LL responded with Ripper Strikes Back, which settled the feud once and for all and effectively ended Canibus' career.

While Canibus had claimed “99 per cent of your fans wear high heels” LL Cool J hit back with the hilarious “99 per cent of his fans don't exist”. His move into acting and business projects might have diminished his reputation as a top rapper, but Ripper Strikes Back proves LL Cool J was the real deal.

Wiley and Stormzy - Eediyat Skengman and Disappointed

First things first: we can’t pretend this is the best grime clash of all time (Skepta, Devilman, P Money, Big H and plenty others might have something to say about that) but we can’t remember the last time a clash got everyone this excited.

The two MCs involved this time round are Stormzy and Wiley. It all started back in August, when the veteran Wiley called out Ed Sheeran as a “culture vulture”. Chart-topper Stormzy came to Sheeran’s defence, and a brief war of words ensued. It died down and the next month Stormzy dropped Wiley Flow, an homage to the scene’s godfather. Wiley initially seemed to back it, but later went back on that.

The whole thing was reignited in the New Year after Wiley started making jokes about Stormzy and Sheeran on Twitter. Insults were chucked back and forth — Stormzy called Wiley a “fossil” and a “weirdo”, Wiley accused him of being a “pagan” — and then, on January 5, Wiley fired the first shot with the track Eediyat Skengman. Stormzy hit back with his song, Disappointed. Two more war dubs have followed, one from each MC.

Wiley started hard (“You never cared about grime, you just used it/ Worse than Ed with your watered down music”) and Stormzy came back harder (“Crackhead c***”). Wiley amped it up again (“If I see your mum down Croydon market/ I’m gonna rip that weave off her head”), and then Stormzy upped it yet again (“So your dad can’t defend your bro/ And you can’t defend your mum/ Man, I wonder what she thinks/ All the males your family are weak links”).

Who’s winning, then? It depends on who you ask. Stormzy’s fans will tell you this is the new generation asserting their dominance, while Wiley’s devotees are convinced the old master can’t be touched. Whatever — we’re all just enjoying the show.

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