Virginia rapper and noted ghostwriter Skillz has delivered his annual "Rap Up"—the year's events recapped in rhyme form—at the end of every year since 2002. It's become a much-beloved annual tradition.
But since 2014, Skillz has had competition in the recapping game from Uncle Murda, who has been doing his own version of a yearly (w)rap up. The two seemed to co-exist more or less peacefully until this year.
As 2017 turned into 2018, the competition between Skillz and Uncle Murda erupted into open beef. On Wednesday, Skillz dropped a song called "Murda Gram (Uncle Murda Diss)," which is exactly what it sounds like—a four-and-a-half minute verbal attack on Murda.
The track begins with an interview excerpt where Murda talks about how he "took" the rap-up from Skillz. The Virginia rapper posted a screenshot of a text message exchange where Murda makes that claim to him, and Skillz mockingly responds, "Who is this?"
The song itself pokes fun at Murda from a variety of angles. Skillz claims that Clark Kent initially tried to warn Murda away from copying the year-end concept. Kent, Skillz says, pushed for the two rappers to collaborate. "Nigga, you must be faded," Skillz raps when recalling the incident. "Why the fuck would I collab on some shit that I created?"
Skillz continues, saying that Murda's version only receives attention from the rapper's home region, and "never get[s] past Jersey." He calls Murda "a comedian" and "fake," as well as "one of the reasons that New York's soft." Skillz also mentions the 2008 incident where Murda was shot.
"This the future," Skillz raps. "Now who the fuck gets shot and make a tape called Respect the Shooter?"
He then makes a long list of Brooklyn rappers he considers better than Murda, ranging from Buckshot and Sean Price to Joey Badass and Talib Kweli to Foxy Brown and Lil Kim.
After releasing the track, Skillz tweeted that the song was "for the culture."
I been stopped rapping. But that was for the culture.
