In the world of hip-hop, beef is nothing new. In the early days, rappers would battle to prove who was the superior MC. But that healthy spirit of competition has largely been lost on us.

Recently, beef has become like watching a juvenile high-school dispute. So it's funny that rap's latest beef is between two individuals not too far removed from banging beats on the lunchroom table.

It seems [artist id="2814953"]Soulja Boy Tell'em[/artist] and [artist id="1292934"]Charles Hamilton[/artist] aren't the best of friends. In a video on ThisIs50.com, Hamilton is asked about his recent blowup on Shade 45 Radio, in which he reacted strongly -- to say the least -- against being compared with Soulja Boy.

"Don't compare me to somebody who made a great marketing ploy when I'm just living my life regular," Hamilton said, adding that while Soulja was smart for taking advantage of the [news id="1599138"]online marketing capabilities[/news] of YouTube and MySpace, some of his antics have hurt the chances of other up-and-coming artists.

"It's because of Soulja Boy that the way I live, the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' sh-- that's dead real to me, is considered a joke," Hamilton fumed. The MC, who is known for his love of the "Sonic the Hedgehog" video game (he even released a mixtape called Sonic the Hamilton), said that the way he expresses himself is now viewed as a gimmick. He said he and other artists like Kid Cudi and Cory Gunz's opportunities to gain mainstream acceptance have been spoiled.

Never one to be outdone by an Internet video, Soulja Boy's reply is posted just above Hamilton's video on ThisIs50.com. In what may be a moment of maturity, Soulja Boy almost takes the high road.

"I'd rather take the positive route and not get into beef, and just let you know that it's not my fault that whatever you got going on ain't going right," Soulja Boy said. "You're going to have to go back to the drawing board, get the magic marker, X out the 'Sonic' and you might want to f--- with 'Mario.' "

Soulja Boy said that he's not trying to hurt anyone's career opportunities, and that his goal is to make fun, entertaining, club-friendly music. He even said that he wanted to sign Cory Gunz.

But he also said that Hamilton shouldn't blame any shortcomings on other artists.

"If my next album flops, do you think I'm going to be like, 'Man, it's Lil Wayne's fault. It's T.I.'s fault.' Nah, n---a, it's my fault."