THE BEEF IS BACK
It has been one of the music genre’s saltiest years to date, writes
The early 2000s were a wild time for hip-hop fans. Tupac and Biggie Smalls had been dead long enough for artists to feel comfortable roasting* each other by name again and 50 Cent always seemed to be at or near the centre of it all.
Most famously the New York rapper was beefing with Ja Rule, but he was also at the necks of basically everyone making hiphop including: Jay-Z, DMX, Ma$e, The Game and Fat Joe. He wasn’t the only one.
Jay-Z and Nas kicked things off but by the end of it all Eminem had gone at Cannibus, Benzino and half the graduates of the Mickey Mouse Club. Cam’ron had said some wild things about Ma$e and Joe Budden was also feeling vocal.
For a few years rap was essentially just a Royal Rumble sans the wrestling Speedos. It was not long before fatigue set in. One too many artists had used beef as a means to ignite their careers rather than an avenue to air out genuine ill-will and outright lyrical sparring once again retreated and, in mainstream hip-hop at least, people stuck to throwing sneaky little subliminal jabs instead. Good news, 2018 looks like the year the Royal Rumble came back and this time social media is involved.
Cardi B and Nicki Minaj’s back and forth is the latest exchange in what has been one of hip-hop’s saltiest years to date and they (and the year’s other verbal pugilists) have shown why beef in 2018 may be more fun than ever. If you’re not caught up, the internet is dying to fill you in but just know it involves a fight at a gala event, podcast/Instagram rants and a $100,000 reward for “footages”.
Nicki and Cardi B’s squabble comes on the heels of the epic Pusha T and Drake saga which was also revived just when everyone had thought it was dead. Cam’ron and Ma$e also spent time at each other’s necks and 50 Cent and Ja Rule seem content to trade barbs until their grandkids delete their social media.
What makes 2018 beef better than the early 2000s era is diversification and access. Back when 50 Cent and Ja Rule started beefing, keeping up with it, especially the minutiae, required arcane knowledge of the illegal download environment. Furthermore it moved at a glacial pace. Jay-Z dropped his diss track to Nas, Takeover, in September. It would be almost three months before Nas responded with Ether. Finally, everything had to be in a song. Nowadays replies are instant, readily available and not always musical. The week after Drake and basketball player Lebron James got on YouTube to breathe new life into his beef, Pusha T participated in a two- hour laundry-airing session via podcast.
The point is people are beefing again and for those of us who enjoy watching petty squabbles play out, 2018 is the equivalent of having access to front-row seats, all the camera angles in 4K and blow-by-blow commentary all at once. Thank God for progress.
*insulting