Ludacris dropped a mixtape yesterday, and a couple of tracks in particular have a lot of people talking. There's an internet's worth of speculation going on, but first, some background:
In an interview with AllHipHop, Drake spoke about the hashtag flow, also known as the "Supa Dupa" flow, and he explained that he believes Big Sean was the originator:
To be honest, that flow, you can trace it back to like…I trace it back to Big Sean. That’s the first guy I heard utilize that flow throughout the duration of a verse. I’ll give him that credit. I think Kanye got it from him. Me and Wayne found a dope way to do it. I don’t want to sound cocky, but the best way its been used was on “Forever.” Those lines just all individually make so much sense. They’re all punchlines. Then a bunch of rappers started doing it and using the most terrible references in the world. I don’t want to offend somebody…I hate that rappers picked that flow up. I wish they had left that for people that know how to use it. [They go like] “It’s a parade! MACY’S!”
That Macy's line, of course, was from Ludacris' "My Chick Bad." During a later interview with MTV, Big Sean was asked about the flow. He responded:
“I think some artists just did it so wack man. Every time I say names I get in trouble and it’s like I’m dissing, but some people used it wack. If he said Ludacris used it wack, hey.”
Those two interviews laid down the groundwork for a beef between Ludacris and the tagteam of Big Sean and Drake, but that was back in February and March. Months passed, and we didn't hear anything from Luda. Until yesterday.
About halfway through Luda's 1.21 Gigawatts: Back To The First Time mixtape, there's an interlude called "History Lesson." It traces the hashtag flow all the way back in time, running through snippets of the flow being used by multiple rappers over the years and ending in 1991 with Q-Tip. This seems like a clear response from Luda—his presentation of evidence that Big Sean was not the first to use the flow.
"History Lesson" was just the beginning of Luda's response. The next track on the mixtape is called "Bada Boom," and this is where Luda really goes in. No names are mentioned, but throughout the song, the veteran rapper makes it pretty clear what he's talking about. Here are some of the lines in quesion:
"Counterfeit rappers say I'm stealing they flows, but I can't steal what you never made up bitch/Y'all some duplicate rap cloning niggas/I manufacture you hoes put on your makeup bitch.
This has been a long time coming, but it looks like Ludacris finally got tired of holding back.
