The Corniest Rap Beefs of All Time

These are the most ridiculous rap beefs that artists like Nicki Minaj, Jim Jones, Kanye West, Eminem and other rappers have had.

Rap Beef
 

Image via Complex Original.

35.

Rap beefs have provided us with some of the most memorable, entertaining moments in music history. And feuds between rappers have resulted in a long list of incredible songs, from 2Pac's "Hit Em Up" and Ice Cube's "No Vaseline" in the '90s to modern-day gems like Drake's “Back To Back” in 2015. Of course, sometimes beefs go horribly wrong, like Eminem and Nick Cannon's unfortunate decade-long beef, which rages on to this day. Sometimes the wrong individuals get involved at inappropriate times and instead of creating great music, they yell just yell dumb things back and forth. Remember Ice-T's strange YouTube-driven beef with Soulja Boy in 2008? That's what we call a corny rap beef. These are the 34 corniest rap beefs of all time.

34.Azealia Banks vs. Iggy Azalea

iggy banks
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Jennifer Graylock /(Right) Image via Getty Images/Redferns

Year: 2012

This beef has gone on forever, and has lots of twists and turns. It also barely/rarely involves actual music, and instead has a lot more to do with Twitter rubbernecking from uninvolved parties who like watching rappers beef on social media. Primarily, through a string of interview quotes and Twitter @'s, the Azalea vs. Azealia battle has forced us to double-check the spellings of these rappers' similar names numerous times.

According to an interview with Iggy, it started when Banks claimed to have called herself a "Barbie" before Nicki, and had a song called "Pussy" before Iggy Azalea. Iggy responded on Twitter, and since then it's been a downward spiral of shots fired after shots fired after shots fired. What does this have to do with music? Very little, although Banks' comment about Iggy calling herself a "runaway slave...master" is pretty on point. Either way, caring about this beef is a net loss for the internet, because it feels super petty. —David Drake

33.Tru Life vs. Jim Jones

Tru Life Jim Jones
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Ray Tamarra / (Right) Image via WireImage/Getty Images

Year: 2007


It's good to be the boss. Rather than do the dirty work, Def Jam president Jay Z kicked back and had his intern do it. Tru Life, a nu-Roc signee, took the task with gusto, lashing out at the Dipset boys; they responded in kind. Fine, normal. But then things took a turn: Jim Jones offered to put up $50,000 to fight Tru Life on pay-per-view; Tru Life never responded. (Jimmy said Tru Life lacked both money and heart.)

Months later, in 2007, the downtown rapper put out his mixtape Tru York, the cover bearing photoshopped image of Jim's face on Borat's body (the one with the green painkini) and Killa Cam looking very Lil Kim-ish. Jim hired some nerds to hack into Tru Life's MySpace page and make HIS team look like girls. Tom, the first friend on both accounts, didn't know how to choose sides.

32.Coolio vs. Weird Al Yankovic

Coolio Weird Al
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/RedFerns / (Right) Image via Getty Images/Vince Bucci

Year: 1996


Weird Al Yankovic became a star parodying hit songs by everyone from Michael Jackson to Madonna. "Beat It" became "Eat It," "Like a Virgin" became "Like a Surgeon," and so on. He probably never imagined he'd ever get into beef with Coolio, but when he turned "Gangsta's Paradise" into "Amish Paradise" that's exactly what happened. Apparently the joke made Coolio's hair stand on end: "I really, honestly and truly, don't appreciate him desecrating the song like that."

On top of that, in 1997, Coolio recorded "Throwdown 2000," which included the lines, "Fools be in the bars, unadvanced with a switch/Uppercuts and fight kicks with Weird Al Yankovic." Weird Al opted for the path of nonviolence, sending a letter of apology to Coolio.

The beef's been buried: the two were spotted laughing together at the 2006 Consumer Economics Show in Las Vegas. There's a fuller account here, where-among other things-you'll learn that Weird Al signs his emails, "Yours in cheese sauce, Al."

31.Nelly vs. Chingy

Nelly Chingy
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/WireImage / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2004


In 2004, Chingy was riding the St. Louis accent wave high-"Right Thurr" was a hit! Trying to keep The Lou all to himself, Nelly took some shots at his one-time neighbor on "Another One," saying: "I like the way you do that right thurr/Just remember when you do that right thurr/I made it tight to be country/They thought country was bummy/Till country start making money."

Chingy said some things; Nelly said some things. (Both claimed credit for the term "derrty," which nobody should ever take responsibility for.) At the time, Nelly told MTV News, "[Chingy] don't even realize how his words can get blown outta context. There's people who want to see us get into it." Nope! In 2005, Chingy tried to make peace with Nelly in front of the BEEF III cameras. They've since collaborated on a few songs since (none of which you've probably heard).

30.Nicki Minaj vs. Ransom

Nicki Ransom
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/FilmMagic /(Right) Image via @ransom on Instagram

Year: 2013

What's cornier than a beef instigated by a media-driven misunderstanding?

Rapper Ransom released a song called "Man Alone," on which he'd rapped "Don't get it misconstrued, there is no hate involved," before mentioning that "before Nicki was wearin' those crazy wigs, I was doin' verses for her just hopin' she'd make it big."

A reporter asked Nicki about this line, although specifically asked "What do you say about Ransom saying that he ghostwrote some of your songs?" This was a distortion of what he'd actually rapped. Was he actually claiming to ghostwrite? He would claim later on that he was just saying he used to do his own verses for songs with Nicki, although considering the often-collaborative nature of rap music, it's entirely possible the truth is somewhere in between. But hip-hop fans still take ghostwriting accusations very seriously. Nicki shut down the reporter; Ransom seemed hurt, and mentioned that what she'd said was "disrespectful." —David Drake

29.Future vs. Rich Homie Quan

Future vs. Rich Homie Quan
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images for BET /(Right) Image via Getty Images for BET

Year: 2013

It is undeniable that Rich Homie Quan's voice sounds like Future's. It's even weirder that his voice sounds like Future's despite not using autotune. Quan, however, is no Sacario. he's written an actual hit with "Type of Way," and a more minor regional hit with "Differences." And he does rap from a personal perspective; as Quan put it in his interview with us, "I’d rather be judged on what I’m talking about, as opposed to how I sound, because that’s something that I can control. I can’t control how I sound at all, but I can control what I talk about."

But nonetheless, the comparisons must have started to get to Quan. This became particularly evident when Future went on Sway's show and made some comments about Quan's style. "I started this. You use the same pattern… You can’t use the same pattern that Future uses. You can’t say ‘turn up,’ you gotta say another word. You sound like Future… People gon’ put you in the Future category.”

Quan's response, "A Nigga," is musically not even bad, but it draws more attention to the comparison than is probably healthy for either of them. Being the guy who makes desiccated pitchy T-Pain-After-The-Apocalypse rap is apparently like being The Highlander: there can be only one. —David Drake

28.Khia vs. Lil Kim, Nicki Minaj, etc.

khia
 
Image via Getty Images/Ray Tamarra

Year: 2011


Some people talk smack to their enemy's face. Others talk smack behind their enemy's back. Khia-the rapper who's kinda remembered for her raunchy song, "My Neck, My Back"-talks her talk from a place where no one can find her: on her Myspace blog. In 2011! Long after everyone else had logged off that site!

But when she goes off, she really goes off. Khia spent 2,927 words, and who knows how many hours coming up with disses for everyone she knows, A to Z. Literally. Khia went through the alphabet, from Amber Rose ("she been on a strippa pole since she was 5 years old, suckin' clits since 12, and decided to TRICK and SUCK every n***a in the game and all of a sudden wanna be a model at 35.") to Kim Zolciak ("We all knew that you's a gold-digging, money hungry ass whore with no talent!").

She ends her rant by claiming it's all in good fun: "No hate intended because I am the industry and have the right to report all of the fuck shit that is going on in it. Remember, I am an entertainer and I am here to entertain.....Weren't you entertained?" Wait... she's still on Myspace?

27.Gillie Da Kid vs. Lil Wayne

Gillie Da Kid vs. Lil Wayne
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/FilmMagic / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2007


When Gillie Da Kid left Cash Money in 2006, it was highly questionable. On his way out the door he claimed to be responsible for the success of Lil' Wayne, which was highly questionable. He claimed to have ghostwritten almost all of Lil' Wayne's songs off Tha Carter, which Wayne said was highly questionable.

He said he was definitely hotter than Wayne, which was highly questionable. And ever since leaving Wayne's side, his career has been highly questionable. And in words directed toward Lil' Wayne, he told HipHopDX, "I'm on ya head n***a, I'm on ya ass." Highly questionable.

26.Joe Budden vs. Drake

Joe Budden
 
Image via YouTube

Year: 2016

You know the “beef” between Joe Budden and Drake was corny because no one even remembers why it happened in the first place. According to Budden, who has a way of creating controversy with his peers, Drake heard Budden’s podcast outlining his criticism of Views, which made Drizzy record a verse on French Montana’s “No Shopping” that interpolated “Pump It Up.” OK.

What transpired next:

Budden recorded an ENTIRE podcast breaking down how Drake allegedly dissed him on “4PM in Calabasas.”

Budden drops diss track No. 1, "Making A Murderer (Part 1).”

Budden drops diss track No. 2, “Wake.”

Budden takes shots at Drake on Twitter.

Notice a pattern?

French Montana’s “No Shopping” eventually dropped, and, yes, it included lines that appeared to sound like they were directed at Drake. So of course Budden dropped another diss (No. 3) the same night titled “Afraid.” That earned a few words from Drake while on tour, so Budden responded with more #bars on “Just Because" (No. 4).

And then it just ended, but not before Joe Budden got into an altercation with kids Drake fans. You never thought that hip-hop would take it this far.

25.Jermaine Dupri vs. Dr. Dre & Timbaland

dupri
 
Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2002


Just for the record, none of these producers are particularly amazing rappers-yet for some reason they keep throwing diss tracks at one another. It all started when Dupri said, in the November 2001 issue of XXL, that he was the best producer around, calling out Dre and Timbo by name. The Doctor responded first, referring to JD as "Mini-Me" and saying, "When I see you I'ma step on you, and not even know it, you midget." (Another choice line: "Over 80 million records sold, and I ain't have to do it with ten or eleven-year-olds.")

Dupri, who initially said there was no beef, then hopped on a few Dr. Dre instrumentals for "JD's Replay," a melange of disses that are so bad they're barely worth printing. (Like, "See I know you don't do half the work in the studio/Plus you like lettin' n****s play with your booty hole." Honestly? Honestly.) Dre and Em responded on "Say What You Say," which ended with a phoned-in message from Timbaland: "Suck ficky-ficky my dick." They might've forgiven each other, but we sure didn't.

24.Tyga vs. Drake

King Cairo Birthday Party
 

Year: 2014 – 2015

The biggest rapper out against rap's favorite punching bag...hardly the makings of a marquee moment. Credit where credit is due, though: Tyga's "Make It Work," which mayyyy be a Drizzy diss, kinda slaps. Of course, then he got sonned in half a bar with "act your age, not your girl's age." So, yeah, here's the reason why we're all salivating for Drake to duke it out with someone formidable (like, say Pusha T).

23.Ludacris vs. Big Sean and Drake

Luda Big Sean
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/FilmMagic / (Right) Image via Getty Images/Getty Images for BET

Year: 2011


Luda recently dropped a mixtape song that not-so-subliminaly hit Drake and Big Sean for failing to give him his proper due for rapping in a certain way, long before they ever did. It's like Ludacris ruled the elementary school toy box for years, graduated and seemingly moved on, only to return in a foul mood because some other kids were having fun in his old corner-and they didn't give him credit for playing there first.

22.Soulja Boy vs. Bow Wow

Soulja Boy Bow Wow
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Steve Mack / (Right) Image via Getty Images/Hulton Archive

Year: 2009


This gift box takes a while to unwrap. Soulja Boy and Bow Wow were once friends, having recorded "Marco Polo" together in 2008. It was a single with a video premiered on MTV and everything. But in December of that year, Soulja Boy dropped an eight-minute long YouTube video in which he stated that Nas killed hip-hop. On New Year's Day of 2009, Bow Wow rapped over Jay-Z's "Friend or Foe," saying, "I'd never disrespect Nas, I'm not Soulja Boy."

Okay. Cut to February, when they released Internet videos going at each other-every day, for a week-over whose Lamborghini was better, even daring the other to race-which they eventually did, two years later. Soulja Boy mispronounced 'Gallardo'; Bow Wow corrected him.

Soulja Boy accused Bow of not owning his Lambo; Bow produced papers. Soulja Boy told DJ Skee he'd end Bow's career; Bow said he was responsible for Soulja Boy in the first place. Tragically "Marco Polo" never made Bow Wow's album, but the biggest tragedy of all is that I just watched all eighteen of these videos and my brain is now a puddle on the floor.

21.J. Cole vs. Canibus

j cole canibus
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Steve Jennings / (Right) Image via Getty Images/RedFerns

Year: 2011


The saying, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," means don't be ungrateful when you receive a present. So why is late-1990's lyricist Canibus mad when current star J. Cole not only cited Canibus as an influence, but put a bow on it as well, introducing new fans to Canibus' catalog?

Canibus went after Cole, calling him "J. Clone," put out a diss song, and accusing young Cole of speaking about him "like I am dead." In keeping with the whole "gift horse" theme-Cole is out there looking like a stud, while Canibus has been put out to pasture.

20.Joey Bada$$ vs. Lil B

Joey Badass Lil B
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Tim Mosenfelder /(Right) Image via Getty Images/Roger Kisby

Year: 2013

In 1996, you had Tupac and Biggie. In 2013, you had Lil B and Joey Bada$$.

OK, so it's not quite a West Coast/East Coast war, but in the early moments of this year, Joey decided to highlight a few lyrics from 2012's "Survival Tactics" on his Twitter.

“They say hard work pays off / Well tell the Based God don’t quit his day job."

The sad irony was that these lyrics were from Capital Steez, who had recently passed. Perhaps not realizing this, the Based God responded with a response track titled "Lil B - Im The Bada$$ (joey bada$$ DISS AND WARNING SHOTS) REAL HIP HOP ALIVE." The song was light on specific disses, until the end: "Lil B bitch, call me lil bars/And if you really think, that you're a badass/I'll turn you into trash little bitch!"

Joey responded over the Lee Bannon-produced beat sampling Janet Jackson's "That's The Way Love Goes." He threatens to make it so the task force misses Lil B. Joey then—temporarily—deleted his Twitter account. And then, eventually, things went back to normal. —David Drake

19.Charles Hamilton vs. Soulja Boy

Charles Hamilton Soulja Boy
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Roger Kisby / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2009


In an interview with Shade45 radio in December of 2008, Charles Hamilton was asked about his Interscope label-mate Soulja Boy: "It's because of Soulja Boy that the way I live, the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' shit that's dead real to me, is considered a joke." That's probably not why, Charles. He went on to say in a subsequent conversation that Soulja Boy gamed the system by adding MySpace friends, which ruined the chances of making it for rappers like Cory Gunz, Mickey Factz and Kid Cudi.

Soulja Boy, fresh from burying Ice-T, got to cracking on Charles in a WorldStar video: "Go back to the drawing board, get a magic marker, X out the Sonic-you might want to fuck with Mario." And then he got serious, adding, "But at the end of the day, man, perfect your craft." (Can you believe Soulja Boy uttered the words "perfect your craft" unironically?) In 2009, Charles Hamilton was dropped from Interscope, having lost all of his MySpace friends.

18.Yung LA vs. Alley Boy

Yung LA Alley Boy
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/FilmMagic / (Right) Image via AtlanticRecords

Year: 2011


Last February, with the world still reeling from Gucci Mane's electric ice cream cheek tatt, Yung LA walked into an ink parlor and got the image of a mean-looking cartoon duck drawn into his face. Turns out it's the logo to Duct Tape Ent-Alley Boy's label, a label that Yung LA is not and was never signed to. Alley Boy demanded he take it off.

After saying, "Duck still on my face, and it ain't going nowhere" Yung LA covered it up with a huge Dodgers symbol. End of story? Nope! Two months later, a video popped up on Worldstar of Yung LA getting rocked in the face by a bag of knuckles. He walks through a door, singing, and Alley Boy cold-cocks him. Goodnight, Yung LA!

17.Noreaga vs. Perez Hilton

Noreaga Perez
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Ray Tamarra / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2009


Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus, and Perez Hilton is from another planet. Still it came as more than a small surprise that the pink-haired Hollywood gossip blogger would even have a rapper like Noreaga on his radar. Perez trashed N.O.R.E. on his website after the grimy New York rapper was arrested for fighting at a Miami restaurant, finishing by calling him a bitch.

Noreaga fired back on Twitter, calling Hilton, a "dirty mud butt" and a "fake-ass Madonna." The Twitter-swings continued, until Noreaga (after bringing in friend and producer The Alchemist) called the feud a draw. But the question remains: was Perez intrigued when he heard that N.O.R.E. reps Queens?

16.Eminem vs. Nick Cannon

Eminem
 
Image via Getty/Kevin Winter

Year: 2009-2019

No rap beef on this list has spanned as long as Eminem and Nick Cannon’s feud. The pair have been going back and forth for an entire decade, and yet, barely anything about this beef makes any sense. It started back in 2009 with the release of Eminem’s sixth studio album, Relapse. The project featured the single, “Bagpipes from Baghdad,” which fired shots at Mariah Carey, Cannon’s then-wife. The two then spent a year firing shots at one another on diss tracks, including Em’s “The Warning” and Cannon’s “I’m A Slick Rick.”

By 2016, the beef appeared to dissipate. Cannon even extended several invitations to Eminem to appear on his MTV series, Wild ’N Out, but he never got a response. It wasn’t until 2019 when tensions began to rise once again. During an interview on T.I.’s podcast, ExpediTIously, Cannon re-opened old wounds from his beef with Eminem, recalling a long letter he wrote to the rapper following the release “Bagpipes from Baghdad. “I wrote this long ass letter pretty much saying, ‘I respect you as an artist… I think you’re on of the best to ever do it, but from man to man, you talking out of pocket to my wife,” Cannon recalled. “I said, ‘I know I’m not gonna be able to out-rap you, but I will whoop your ass.’” And that’s when things got even cornier.

Eminem blew off some steam on “Lord Above,” which Nick then responded to on “The Invitation.” Luckily, Eminem didn’t retaliate with another diss, but Cannon dropped a second record called “Pray For Him,” baiting the Detroit artist to respond. What’s even worse than several half-baked diss songs is that the two then engaged in a corny war of words on Twitter. “I demand an apology Nicholas, you’ve made my gardener so jealous,” Eminem tweeted. Cannon replied: “Fuck apologies! Pull Up!” Neither artist knew when to let go and move on, which makes this an extremely corny feud.

15.Lil Yachty vs. 2Pac

Lil Yachty Tidal
 
Image via Getty

Year: 2016

And Lil Yachty vs. Biggie. And Lil Yachty vs. Pete Rock. And old people at large. Apologies for joking, but nothing about this situation demands seriousness. When Lil Yachty told Billboard that he couldn’t name five songs by the Notorious B.I.G. or Tupac Shakur, some perceived it as an affront to hip-hop, like Yachty had hawked a loogie on the history of the genre. (Let’s set aside questions of whether what Yachty does is hip-hop, or whether we need a new taxonomy.) Lil Yachty is free to choose his idols; that he doesn’t count Biggie or ‘Pac among his influences doesn’t mean that his music is necessarily lesser. Rap frequently privileges the energy and frenetic, reckless innovation of youth—why would we suddenly demand respect for the past from a 19-year-old?

It’s a defining characteristic of all art forms, the need to tear up the rule book and dismiss what came before as not fitting the contemporary moment. It’s true in visual art, in poetry, novel writing, classical music—name a form, and there have been upstarts who have declared that what came before was insufficient. And the thing is, Yachty didn’t even go that far. He just said he wasn’t familiar with ‘Pac and Biggie, causing older artists like Pete Rock to publicly denounce him and his generation. Rock thinks that he’s some kind of righteous martyr for a dying form. It’s really, really silly. And corny. —Ross Scarano

14.P.M. Dawn vs. KRS-One

pm dawn krs one
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/WireImage / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 1992


In the months leading up to that night, everyone was watching KRS-One's throne: Ice Cube dissed his positivity; X-Clan called him a sell-out. And then, Prince Be of P.M. Dawn-a hip-hop/R&B duo known for hushed tones and gentle kisses-said, in an interview with Details, "KRS-One wants to be a teacher, but a teacher of what?"

A teacher at the school of hard knocks, apparently, because-a week later-as P.M. Dawn took the stage at NYC's Sound Factory, KRS-One and his Boogie Down Productions crew took them off. Forcefully. As in, P.M. Dawn was literally thrown off their own stage, in front of MTV's cameras. As an end-note, KRS performed "I'm Still #1," and the crowd went wild. So, in the end, Ice Cube and X-Clan got off easy; P.M. Dawn took the fall.

13.Azealia Banks vs. Rita Ora

azealia rita
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/WireImage /(Right) Image via Getty Images Europe

Year: 2013

Azealia Banks has had her fair share of ridiculous beefs over the years, but nothing can really touch her tweeting about being FIRST! on bringing back Jellies, those hideous sandals from the late-80s/early-90s. The beef began because Rita Ora claimed she was going to bring back Jelly shoes; Banks claimed to have brought them back a year previous. It is unclear what the purpose is in trying to attain subcultural capital by raiding your childhood closet for fashion inspiration, but needless to say, no one in this situation looks cool. —David Drake

12.Eminem vs. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

eminem triumph
 
Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2002


In 2002, Eminem walked around like the neighborhood bully in a playground, picking on bystanders whose only mistake was being popular. Moby. Britney Spears. Chris Kirkpatrick-one by one, Eminem chewed them up and spit them out while the public ate it up. He got away totally unscathed until the 2002 VMAs, when he came face to face with a big, bad dog.

More precisely, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog-a dirty-mouthed puppet on the end of TV writer Robert Smigel's arm. After Triumph finished ragging on Moby, he barely got off one insult to Eminem before Slim Shady- along with half of D12-aggressively batted the puppet away on live TV. Bad doggy!

11.Terry Kennedy vs. Lupe Fiasco

terry kennedy lupe
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Dove Shore / (Right) Image via Getty Images/Noel Vasquez

Year: 2007


Lupe Fiasco is a rapper who wrote a skateboarding anthem in, "Kick, Push." Terry Kennedy is a skateboarder who felt like Lupe was stepping into his lane. So he decided to return the favor and get his Lupe on: a skateboarder rapping a diss song about a rapper who skated. Terry's song got as much air time as Lupe doing an ollie. Guys like that should be looking out for each other, rather than looking out for each other.

10.6ix9ine vs. Trippie Redd

6ix9ine getty michael campanella
 
Image via Getty/Michael Campanella

Year: 2018

It's difficult to have an Instagram-based beef with another artist on your own label and not end up near the top of a Corniest Rap Beefs list. After yelling at each other on their respective Instagram stories for months, the beef turned physical when Trippie was allegedly jumped by 6ix9ine's crew in a hotel, but then they quickly took things back to Instagram. The corniest moment came when Trippie called in to a 6ix9ine Instagram Live session and the two had to sort out technical difficulties for an excruciatingly long time because Trippie's bluetooth headphones kept automatically connecting to his phone, ruining the audio. Later, 6ix9ine recorded skits of himself in bed with Trippie's girlfriend and uploaded them to his feed. This is what rap beefs looks like in 2018.

9.Common vs. Drake

common drake
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/WireImage / (Right) Image via Getty Images/FilmMagic

Year: 2011


Common, who did once take on the mighty Ice Cube, is known to be more of a lover than a fighter. So why would he send lyrical daggers Drake's way on his new song "Sweet"? Drizzy had just put out an album that was way more sour in tone than sweet.

Common, who is not the "vile gangster rapper" Fox News claimed he was, explained that he wanted to protect the sanctity of traditional rap, and not have it diluted by rappers crooning-whether Drake or anybody.

Drake hit back on Rick Ross' mixtape cut, "Stay Schemin'," hinting at his street bona fides. Common in turn released his own remix to "Stay Schemin'," calling Drake out by name and dubbing him "Canada Dry." But it seems awfully suspect to blame this whole dispute on singing. The real source of this rift is purported to be Common's ex, Serena Williams-who seems to have gotten between these two like a net on a tennis court.

8.Consequence vs. Kanye West

consequence kanye
 
Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2011


Consequence has always played Robin to Kanye's Batman. He was there from the beginning, helping the G.O.O.D. Music superhero by spitting verses, doing hooks, and making sure the Batmobile was nice and clean. But eventually, Batman added some new Robins to the team: Big Sean, Pusha T, Cyhi Da Prynce, among others, and Consequence was not feeling so super.

After having his album shelved, his portrait removed from XXL's team spread, and his contract unceremoniously dropped by the label, Cons announced it was time to air out Batman's dirty laundry! Pow! He had diss tracks for Kanye and Pusha! Wham! He had behind-the-scenes footage! Boom! He claimed he was "the hottest commodity in hip-hop!" Huh? None of Robin's threats at Batman stuck, and Consequence came to a tough realization. All the while, he'd been playing himself.

7.MC Hammer vs. JAY-Z

mc hammer jay z
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/FilmMagic / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2010


Having watched VH1's Behind the Music, we are all familiar with MC Hammer's financial history. (See also: MC Hammer's 2008 Super Bowl commercial for Nationwide insurance.) In a guest verse on Kanye's "So Appalled," Jay-Z rapped, "Hammer went broke so you know I'm more focused/I lost 30 mil' so I spent another 30/'Cause unlike Hammer 30 million can't hurt me'." It was a 20-year-old joke. No way Hammer could be mad, right? Wrong!

Riding a wave of Twitter fame for some reason, Hammer accused Jay of being an Illuminati member and, for an entire month, attempted to float trending topics like: #HellBoy, #Demons, and #LuciferSong. On Halloween, Hammer released a music video dis, "Better Run Run," an unwatchable montage showing an overweight Jay-Z imposter running from the devil while some Ace Hood look-a-like does Chris Brown dance moves.

6.Lil Kim vs. Nicki Minaj

kim nicki
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/FilmMagic / (Right) Image via Getty Images/Donna Ward

Year: 2011


Lil' Kim and Nicki Minaj go back quite a ways. In fact, Kim would say they go back all the way, since she believes that Nicki has mimicked her whole style. So while Nicki's taken subliminal shots at Kim on "Hello Good Morning" ("Did I kill the Queen? Or Alexander McQueen?") and "Monster" ("So let me get this straight, wait, I'm the rookie? But my features and my shows 10 times your pay?"), and Kim's devoted a whole mixtape to dissing Nicki and threatened to delete her Social Security number... NO ONE'S EVER SEEN THEM IN THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME! So maybe they are the same person, like Kim says-or is Kim just one of Nicki's other personalities? Sorta makes you wonder if this so-called beef ever existed at all.

5.KRS-One vs. Nelly

krs one v nelly
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Michael Ochs Archives / (Right) Image via Getty Images/Hulton Archive

Year: 2002


Frustrated with pop-leaning rappers who didn't pay proper tribute to their boom-bap forbears, legendary MC KRS-One picked a beef with the most melodic of them all, Nelly. The Blastmaster, who became famous by lyrically molesting the likes of MC Shan, Marley Marl, and Mr. Magic, tried a different methodology this time, calling for fans to boycott Nelly's new album, Nellyville.

"I said, 'Yo, we should boycott Universal Records and Nelly to send a message to the recording corporations of the United States, saying that there are people in hip-hop culture who, if they say this is wack, you lose sales," the South Bronx representer told MTV News. "Tell Universal to tell their artist the rules before he goes around yapping, trying to dis those that have paved the way for him to be there."

Nellyville sold 714,000 records its first week, debuting at No. 1, and was nominated for "Album of the Year" at the 2003 Grammys. According to Wikipedia, the album, which was certified 6x platinum by the RIAA on June 9, 2003, has gone at least gold or platinum in over 30 countries. So much for that boycott.

4.Timbaland vs. Scott Storch

timbaland scott storch
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/Ralph Notaro / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2007


What happens when two megawatt stars at the top of their field break up in the public eye? "Cry Me a River." Scott Storch and Timbaland, two of the most talented producers in hip-hop, co-created the beat that became Justin Timberlake's open letter to his ex Britney Spears. But the success of the smash hit also tore the producers apart-Storch felt he deserved more credit, so they took the battle to wax.

"I'm a real producer," Tim rapped. "You just a piano man." Scott returned fire by name-checking another Tim collaborator: "Your boy Danja got to hate you with a passion, man/ He makes the hits while you taking all the credit, damn!" Intense! Thankfully for all involved, it didn't go much further. In the end, Scott would say, "We both admitted to being wrong in that situation." Cry us a river.

3.Ice-T vs. Soulja Boy

ice t soulja
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/WireImage / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2008


The year 2007 was a strange one for hip-hop, as ringtone rap began its climb from the bowels of YouTube to the tinny speakers of Nokias and the playlists of BET. With a couple of clicks, Soulja Boy-Superman-ing hoes across millions of computer screens-became a hero to many, a villain to many more. Within a year, Ice-T had had enough. "Fuck Soulja Boy!" Ice-T said on a mixtape by DJ Cisco. "Eat a dick! This n***a single-handedly killed hip-hop." (Related: Nas' Hip-Hop is Dead album had come out eighteen months earlier.)

Soulja Boy responded in YouTube videos: "You were born before the Internet was created-how did you even find me?" Ice-T, wearing an Iverson jersey, warned of "ramifications" in his round 2 video, asserting that Soulja Boy, by dissing Ice-T, was going up against "the whole West Coast, all the OGs." This beef petered out until 2011, when Ice-T made some more comments about Soulja Boy and Soulja Boy told his elder to "grow a hairline."

2.The Game vs. JAY-Z

game jay z
 
(Left) Image via Getty Images/WireImage / (Right) Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2008

Game needs a new hobby, because his old one-dissing Jay-Z-has got to be the opposite of fulfilling. Game's shots apparently began while he was down with Get Low Recordz (a label whose name is way too similar to Memphis Bleek's Get Low Records). Ever since then, he's spent way too much time sending shots Jay-Z's way. In "Westside Story," he raps, "I don't do button-up shirts or drive Maybachs." In "My Bitch," he dedicated the second verse to Jay-Z, and on and on... Jay has steadfastly refused to respond, which must make this Blood's blood boil.

1.Benzino vs. Everyone

benzino everyone
 
Image via Getty Images/WireImage

Year: 2002

Back in 2002, Eminem was the biggest-selling, most popular, and lyrically gifted rapper in the world. Benzino was a part-time rapper, part-time magazine boss who didn't take too well to the barbs Eminem threw (calling him "Hasbenzino," etc.) following a less-than-perfect rating for Em's album, The Eminem Show in The Source magazine.

Benzino took it to the next logical step: accusing Eminem of succeeding solely thanks to the color of his skin. He staked his entire checkered career on bringing the real-life Eminem show down-along with everyone Shady-affiliated-obsessing through diss songs, radio interviews, and long-form attack pieces in The Source. On the other side, Em effortlessly finished Benzino on two freestyles, and Interscope pulled all of its advertising from The Source, eventually ending Benzino's reign at the magazine.