Dr. Dre Vs. Eazy-E (1992)Listening to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg on the classic "Dre Day," you're too busy dancing to realize that it's a dis record. But once you take a break from getting your groove on, you'll hear it's on. ("Mr. Busta, where the f--- you at?" hisses Dre). Again, with these OGs, the feud had nothing to do with being the best lyricist.
Dre was already rolling with Death Row, and Eazy was suing his former groupmate. Among Eazy's allegations was that Suge Knight threatened him with a baseball bat to let the Doc out of his contract. Meanwhile, Dre's "Dre Day" guest star, Death Row franchise Snoop Doggy Dogg, took his time on the mic to address Luke and Bronx MC Tim Dog, who made the song "F--- Compton."
Eazy came back with "Real Compton Gs" and showed, for the first time, the infamous back-in-the-day pictures of Dre in a glitter suit. However, with the Row turning into a juggernaut, Dre and Snoop could do no wrong. Eazy didn't stand a chance.
DJ Quik Vs. MC Eiht and Compton's Most Wanted (1991-95)
This is the beef that never was supposed to happen. Back in the day, on one of the underground tapes Quik and his crew sold in the streets, he gave props to a bunch of Cali rappers, from N.W.A to King Tee. Unfortunately, MC Eiht and Compton's Most Wanted took it the wrong way and went after some payback.
Eiht threw the first official blow with "Def Wish," and Quik responded on "Let You Havit," saying, "And yeah, I said your monkey-ass name in my underground tape ... / We wasn't dissin'."
From there it just got ugly. Eiht went on to make three more sequels to "Def Wish," and today, Quik openly admits he regrets some of the things he said on his musical receipts, including "Dollars & Sense." The two have since squashed everything and even recorded together a year and a half ago. No word on when that tune will see daylight, though.
LL Cool J Vs. Canibus (1997-98)
Leave it up to hip-hop battle king LL Cool J to dis somebody on the same song he's performing with them. Depending on who you ask, there's a misunderstanding at the heart of the badmouthing.
In 1997, Uncle L invited then-mic upstart Canibus to perform on the posse cut "4,3,2,1" along with Redman, Method Man and DMX. While recording, Bus made a reference to the microphone tattoo on L's arm. The self-proclaimed Greatest of All Time took it as a dis and later made the youngster change his verse. The final version of the song hit shelves complete with a venom-filled LL verse warning "shorty with the big mouth" that "the symbol on my arm is off limits to challengers."
The following year, Bus took off the gloves for "Second Round K.O.," where he threatened to stick L up for his MTV Video Vanguard Award. L responded with the equally poisonous "Ripper Strikes Back." The two would subsequently spit at each other again, with Canibus' then-mentor Wyclef Jean jumping in the fray with a freestyle toward L on "What's Clef Got to Do With It." It was all academic, however. The Bus' career ran out of gas.
The Battle for Queensbridge (1997-?)
These guys take the term "love/hate relationship" to the next level.
Nas, Mobb Deep, Tragedy, Nature, Cormega, Capone and Noreaga all grew up in the same housing projects (while Nore and Mobb Deep's Prodigy are actually from Lefrak City, Queens, they have strong ties to the Bridge because of their partners in rhyme). At one time they professed love for one another and even appeared on songs together. However, the tables turn often out there in the Bridge.
Nas has gone back and forth on records dissing Cormega and Nature. He threw jabs at Prodigy as well, but P has yet to retaliate. Cormega also went at it with Nature over his replacing Mega in the group the Firm. C-N-N were signed to Tragedy's label at one point, and they severed ties with him; neither side had anything nice to say about the other on their records. Capone, Noreaga and Tragedy have since made up, but as for the rest? It's anyone's guess.
Jadakiss Vs. Beanie Sigel (2001-?)
If you would have asked some diehard rap fans early last year, they would have told you that Jadakiss would be going at it with a member of the Roc-A-Fella family, but most would have told you it would be Jay-Z not his bad lieutenant, Beanie Sigel.
Although Jadakiss never used Jay's name, people assumed that some of the indirect disses in Kiss' rhymes were really for Jigga. Kiss dismissed, saying the two were friends. With animosity already in the air, Jada got a rise out of Beans when he was quoted in reports saying that some rappers from Philly stole his rhyme flow.
Things boiled over this summer when the freestyles "Fu-Jada" and "Fu-Beanie" hit the mixtape circuit. It's been a slobberknocker since, with the two using mixtapes, radio and concerts for their belligerent rhymes. With Beanie Sigel's State Property squad and Jadakiss' LOX crew climbing on board as we speak, who knows when this merry-go-round of verbal jabs will stop turning?