Foul Shots! When Athletes Get Involved In Rap Beef

Floyd Mayweather Jr. rolls with 50 Cent. Rick Ross rolls with jelly and butter.

Rapper 50 Cent likes boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. Rapper Rick Ross hates 50 for trying to do him like Ja Rule and end his career. Therefore, Officer Rawse and Pretty Boy Floyd don't get along. After taking shots at each other in songs and interviews, Ross clowning Mayweather for his problems with the IRS and Floyd questioning Ricky's credibility and money-making abilities, punchy and paunchy bumped into each other last weekend in Las Vegas. A fight nearly broke out at the opening of the Hard Rock Hotel's Vanity nightclub, but Diddy, the party's host, separated the two dudes and their entourages before it could come to anything more than verbal fuckery.

Pretty Boy isn't the first athlete to get caught up in some beef with a rapper. Whether the causes are disses or shared misses, it's always stupidity (and that's why we love it). You've already checked out the best athlete-dissing rap lyrics, now check out more cross-court beefs!

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL VS. SKILLZ
Where's the beef?: In 2004, L.A. Lakers center Shaq dissed Virginia rapper Skillz (formerly Mad Skillz) on DJ Sickamore's Drop Another Day mixtape: "I don't care how mad your skills is, you can't serve me. You don't like Deez? Take off my throwback jersey!" The attack came out of nowhere, though some people theorized that Shaq was taking Kobe's back after the Virginian made light of his rape case on "The Rap Up 2004." Rapping-ass rapper that he is, Skillz promptly released Street Wars: The Finals (Skillz vs. Shaq), a mixtape almost entirely devoted to dissing the Diesel with lines like "99 free throws and you won't hit one, when you at the foul line, I feel bad for you, son!" That's how you cross the (free throw) line!

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MIKE TYSON VS. LL COOL J
Where's the beef?: Despite being friendly with LL, Tyson made a cameo on "Second Round K.O.," Canibus' 1998 dis track directed at the rapper, and coached him to "eat, eat, eat, eat MC's." (Note: Iron Mike did not coach 'Bus to declare, "You ain't got the skills to eat a nigga ass like me!") On "The Ripper Strikes Back," LL responded, "Heard that convicted rapist on the record too, fresh out of jail, ass cheeks still black and blue." Though Tyson later said he wanted to eat boxer Lennox Lewis' children, and he has put on some pounds, he has not yet eaten LL.

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PAUL PIERCE VS. BENZINO
Where's the beef?: In 2000, at Boston's Buzz Club, the Celtics guard reportedly tried to break up a fight involving members of rapper Benzino's Made Men crew. For his meddling, he was stabbed 11 times in the face, neck, and back (requiring lung surgery) and had a bottle smashed over his head. OK, technically this was not a beef, but athletes should know better than to go to the same nightclub as 'Zino.

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ROY JONES JR. VS. FAT JOE
Where's the beef?: In his guest verse on Ja Rule's "New York," a track that also sparked beef between 50 Cent and Fat Joe, the Terror Squad leader rapped, "Even Roy Jones was forced to lean back," a reference to his wildly successful "Lean Back" single and dance and Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson knocking the once unbeatable Jones Jr. the fuck out. The boxer and his fists stepped to Joe at a party to express their displeasure. No punches were thrown, but the rapper subsequently issued both private and public apologies, which gave Jones Jr. a win out of his weight class.

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SEBASTIAN TELFAIR VS. FABOLOUS
Where's the beef?: Members of Fabolous' crew were rumored to have relieved fellow Brooklyn native and Boston Celtics point guard Telfair of his $50,000 diamond chain in 2006. Bassy did not report the robbery to police until later that night, after Fab had been mysteriously shot in the thigh outside Justin's, Diddy's club. In the streets as on NBA hardwood, one bad foul call deserves another.

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STEPHON MARBURY VS. JAY-Z
Where's the beef?: In 2003, on his track "La, La, La," Jigga went at his rap adversary Fat Joe's basketball playing homie, warning, "Don't confuse me with Marbury out this bitch. Run up on me at the light, you can lose your life." Waaay later, in 2009, Steph responded with one of his crazy man web videos in which he called Jay-Z "camel" (like Joe Camel) and argued that Jay-Z would in fact NOT kill anybody. That's cold-blooded murder right there!

RELATED: Off The Jock: The Top 12 Rap Lyrics Dissing Athletes