A History of Rapper-Athlete Beefs

From 50 Cent vs. Floyd Mayweather to Drake vs. Everybody, here are the top celebrity feuds between rappers and athletes.

Rapper Athlete Beefs
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Rapper Athlete Beefs

Rappers want to be athletes. And athletes want to be rappers. It’s an adage that’s decades old and still applies today. But the mutual respect and admiration usually shared between the professionals from different genres isn’t always standard operating procedure.

Bad blood, often for very stupid and ridiculous reasons, has a way of boiling to the surface from time-to-time, most especially thanks to the proliferation of Twitter and Instagram over the past 10 years. At the very least, social media has given athletes a chance to respond, tell their side of the story, or clap back in ways that weren’t readily available 20 years ago over an occasional diss stashed in a random verse.

Whether the public clapping between rappers like 50 Cent and athletes like Floyd Mayweather is/was ever truly legit, or more likely just a bunch of bull so they could bask in the attention, we’ll leave the final interpretation up to you. But we’d be lying if we said it wasn’t entertaining as hell and fun to document the many notable verbal battles between rappers and athletes that are best characterized as silly and superfluous. 

Drake vs. Everybody

Drake Draymond Green 2019 NBA Finals Getty

50 Cent vs. Floyd Mayweather

50 Cent Floyd Mayweather Vegas 2012 Getty

The Game vs. Brandon Jennings

The Game Brandon Jennings

Lil B vs. James Harden

Lil B James Harden 2020 Getty

Fabolous vs. Sebastian Telfair

Fabolous Sebastian Telfair

Lil Wayne vs. Chris Bosh

Lil Wayne 2011 NBA Finals Miami Getty

50 Cent vs. Conor McGregor

50 Cent Conor McGregor 2 Getty

Benzino vs. Paul Pierce

Benzino Paul Pierce

Kanye West vs. Kris Humphries

Kim Kardashian Kanye West 2012 Los Angeles

Rick Ross vs. Floyd Mayweather

Rick Ross Floyd Mayweather 2014 Getty

Jay Z vs. DeShawn Stevenson

JAY Z deshawn Stevenson

LL Cool J vs. Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson LL Cool J

Jay Z vs. Stephon Marbury

Jay Z Stephon Marbury

Lil Wayne vs. LeBron James & Dwyane Wade

LeBron James Lil Wayne Dap 2012

Roy Jones Jr. vs. Fat Joe

Fat Joe Roy Jones Jr.

T.I. vs. Floyd Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather T.I.

Joe Budden vs. JR Smith

Joe Budden JR Smith

Chris Brown vs. CM Punk

Chris Brown CM Punk Getty Images

Lil B vs. Kevin Durant

Lil B Kevin Durant

Lil Wayne vs. Dez Bryant

Dez Bryant Lil Wayne

Nelly vs. Floyd Mayweather

Nelly Floyd Mayweather

Snoop Dogg vs. Nick Young

Nick Young Snoop Dogg

Russell Wilson vs. Future

Future Russell Wilson Ciara

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