beef
Page: 2
HipHopWired Featured Video
Joe Budden and Adam22 may occupy the same space these days as popular online broadcasters but only one of these men has a history as an elite lyricist. That face didn’t stop Adam22 from taking shots at Joe Budden in a recent cipher session, but the self-proclaimed “Podzilla” responded as only he could.
Adam22, the host of the No Jumper podcast and YouTube show, shared clips of a cipher featuring all the hosts from his network with an emphasis on his bar work. Although we’ve never heard the host — real name Adam Grandmaison — rap before, he at least remained on beat and sounded as comfortable as he could considering his displayed skill level.
In the actual track, Adam22 doesn’t waste any time in going at Budden, who has since long retired from rapping to focus on his podcast empire. The pair have also crossed paths and in one of their chats, things got tense when Budden pressed the fledgling MC about his past dating history.
“‘Pump It Up’ the last time I heard Joe rap/That old ass throwback finally got his gold plaque,” Adam said over the trap-styled beat, referring to a moment when Budden received an RIAA-certified gold plaque to commemorate the classic single officially selling over 500,000 copies.
In response, the Podfather, another self-coined nickname, took to X, formerly Twitter, and didn’t pay the jabs too much attention, writing “LOL” in a quote reply on the social media network.
Adam aside, it’s tough out here for a lot of folks… do everything you can.
— Joe Budden (@JoeBudden) September 5, 2024
He then followed that reply with, “Adam aside, it’s tough out here for a lot of folks… do everything you can.”
One could imagine that this will get traction on both Adam22’s No Jumper podcast and The Joe Budden Podcast over the weekend.
—
Photo: Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Azealia Banks may have unfairly garnered the disdain of music fans due to her outspoken nature but when she speaks, the world listens intently to the gems she drops when she speaks on social media. Amid the Cleotrapa and Ice Spice beef, Azealia Banks opened up a show slot on Halloween and has chosen a side.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Azealia Banks defended Cleotrapa and took swipes at Ice Spice and her manager, James Rosemond Jr. With Rosemond accusing the “Von Dutch” rapper of clout chasing by raising issues with Ice Spice over alleged mistreatment while serving as her tour support, Banks held nothing back in a series of replies on X that hit their intended marks.
At first, it appeared that Banks fired a shot at either Baby Storme, who is also in the beef mix, or Cleotrapa by writing, “Welp. Baby toad…. looks like I gotta hand this one to ya. . . You got it sis.”
The X reply sparked a flurry of angry responses from fans defending Storme and Cleo, with some attempting to slam the trajectory and status of Banks’ career. She immediately made it clear she was on Cleotrapa’s side in a following reply, never addressing the fans who tried to ridicule her.
“I was super into the lil’ orphan Annie vibes + her being the only female rapper without a wig/weave. But it is all Hella low budget, the y2k aesthetic was amiss plus I absolutely adore Cleo…….. oh well poor dat,” Banks wrote.
To further stamp her support, Banks shared that she’s set to host a show next month on Halloween in New York.
“I don’t like how everyone is trying to make cleotrapa look. Any f*cking who @iamcleotrapa will be performing with me on Halloween Oct 31. at @Terminal5NYC. She will – be paid, have her own space to glam, whatever she wants on her rider.. because i have f*cking respect & class,” Banks wrote.
With fans of Ice Spice, Clepotrapa, and Azealia Banks invested in all the chatter, we were able to grab some replies from the X platform to share in the gallery below.
—
Photo: Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
Taylor Swift and Ye, also known as Kanye West, will probably never end up being friends after the producer crashed the singer’s big moment at the 2009 MTV VMAs. If recent chatter is true, Taylor Swift changed her track “thanK you aIMee, with the letters, K, I, and M capitalized as a rumored shot at Kim Kardashian but now the song is titled “thank You aimEe,” capitalizing the letters Y and E.
Via the X Taylor Swift fan account @chartstswift, the song title change was highlighted. The song appears on Swift’s eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, and was assumed by fans and observers to be a dig at Kardashian. Ye and Kardashian reportedly recorded a phone call with Swift and altered the audio to make it appear that the singer agreed to a line Ye uttered on the track “Famous” from his The Life of Pablo album. Kardashian posted the audio to her social media channels, and it’s been up ever since for Swift apparently.
Of course, Swift hasn’t confirmed the rumors but that hasn’t stopped the Swifties from piecing together their theories, and considering how the beef started, who could blame them?
If you wanted to check out Taylor Swift’s “thank You aimEe” for yourself, it appears the track was initially being sold as a live song version but is no longer being sold on her website.
—
Photo: Kevin Winter/MTV1415 / Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
LL COOL J is back in album mode and hitting the press circuit as he preps for the release of his 14th full-length project, The FORCE. In a new interview with media personality Charlamagne Tha God, LL COOL J discusses his legacy along with his brief beef with JAY-Z and more in their chat.
LL COOL J, 56, was the first guest for Charlamagne Tha God’s new series, Out Of Context, and the pair launched into an easygoing conversation that centers on LL’s status as a GOAT of the culture with the celebrated rapper showing massive amounts of humility throughout.
At the start of the interview, LL challenges the idea of what legacy means in Hip-Hop culture, reminding viewers that at the very least, this is an art form open for interpretation and you can’t worry about the perception from the fans. LL is also aware that releasing music in the age of the Internet is different from his beginnings in 1985 when he was still a teenager.
Around the 50-minute mark, Charlamagne Tha God raised the point of how battling in Hip-Hop has taken a new turn with LL making mention of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef while adding that in these types of contests, you can’t take it personally.
However, Charlamagne inquired about a long-running rumor that LL and JAY-Z battled in a parking lot in the 1990s with Sauce Money, then affiliated with Roc-A-Fella Records, attempting to challenge the Queens rapper as well. LL explains that JAY-Z also began rapping but shared that he ran out of rhymes but it didn’t appear that he was deeply affected by the moment.
Check out the full interview below with Charlamagne Tha God and LL COOL J.
[embedded content]
—
Photo: Julia Beverly / Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Shakur Stevenson is the current WBC Lightweight champion and made a successful defense of his title over the weekend against Artem Harutyunyan in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, N.J. The fight was reportedly not a thrilling one, with Cam’Ron and Ma$e critiquing Stevenson’s performance, promoting a fiery tirade from the boxer online that has now erupted into a true war of words.
Shakur Stevenson, 27, was made aware of the disdain that not only fight fans but his corner also noticed on July 6. Many times throughout the fight, Stevenson’s corner pleaded with him to throw punches but Harutyunyan was also relatively inactive. This performance caught the eye of Cam’Ron and Ma$e, who had some things to say on their It Is What It Is sports talk program.
Much of the vitriol from Stevenson landed in the direction of Ma$e, and we’ll share some of the Xitter replies in question in the gallery below. Let’s just say that it’s very much up for Stevenson against the It Is What It Is hosts.
The artist born Mason Betha responded to Stevenson with a menacing drawl letting it be known in so many words that it can turn to beef if it needs to. Killa Cam also added some sauce on top of the brewing beef, telling Stevenson that street boxing isn’t the same as boxing in the ring.
Despite enjoying his recent title defense, Shakur Stevenson has been going off on Xitter, which made Ma$e and Cam’Ron essentially say that the boxer is crashing out.
Check out the chatter and reactions below.
[embedded content]
—
Photo: Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: @aldreday courtesy of @hiphopwired / A.L. Dre | iOne Digital
The spirit of competition has always fed the beast that is Hip-Hop. Not just anyone could set up a sound system, plug into a streetlight and DJ for the block party.
The streets had to be with you (or else, you’d be risking robbery or bodily harm). Same goes for the rappers who would soon enough come to the forefront. Sure, you might have been friends with the DJ, but the crowd would expeditiouslymake it clear if that alley-oop was either adept curation or “you might want to give up the mic before you get really booed, or jumped” folly. This hierarchy, along with the human propensity for misguided dislike or “hating,” meant that “beef” has long been intrinsic to Hip-Hop’s DNA. Whether for the sake of getting your own time in the spotlight or just letting the listeners know why you’re the better option, the thin line between a friendly feud and cold-blooded animus has always been there.
At its worst, the bitter rivalries led to spilled blood, even homicide (rest in powerful peace Tupac and Biggie). But at its best, which is more common, it spurned innovation and timeless records. Beef has permeated Hip-Hop throughout its 50 years and going life, as covered in By The Numbers: How Rap Beef Affects the Culture and has moved the culture, as noted in It’s What’s For Hip-Hop: 9 Rap Beefs That Shifted Hip-Hop Culture. Also, the tour de force that is Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” makes it clear Hip-Hop will always have an appetite for well-crafted and no holds barred battle.
Back in the early 1990s, before the Internet, artist André LeRoy “A.L. Dre” Davis cooked up a artistic depiction of one of Hip-Hop most infamous if now forgotten beefs—KRS-One vs. PM Dawn. The story goes The Teacha stepped to PM Dawn’s Prince B at a now-shuttered venue in NYC called Sound Factory, and it ended badly for the “Set Adrift” rapper. There were no cell phone cameras in the building 30 or so years ago, so Dre artfully recreated what allegedly went down for The Source magazine, and the rest is history.
So we felt it would be dope to use A.L. Dre’s artwork, with his permission of course, to flip a homage to Hip-Hop for Hip-Hop Wired’s first-ever digital cover. The assignment was understood and executed to perfection.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Theo Wargo / Getty
There is a thin line between competition and conflict and in the ever-evolving landscape of Rap and Hip-Hop, all it takes is a few words or actions to tilt the scale towards beef.
At their best, the beefs gave us quotables and songs that have become a part of our cultural catalogue from KRS-One’s iconic lines on “The Bridge is Over” or Jay-Z’s jab at Nas’ iconic song “The World is Mine” on “Takeover.” At their worst, the beefs led to violent interactions that served as warnings for the future (rest in powerful peace Tupac Shakur, Christopher Wallace and too many more).
Whether you rooted for the underdog or cheered for the villain, here is a list of nine Hip-Hop beefs that altered the way we listened to the culture’s music to this day.
9. Kool Moe Dee and LL Cool J
Considered by many as one of the first instances of rap beef, the two’s feud not only produced some of the biggest rap moments (Kool Moe Dee’s rap Grammy performance and LL’s Jack the Ripper series), but also set a precedent of using rap disses to enlarge both stars’ brand. For LL, he’d become one of rap’s earliest commercial successes, leading the line of success and respect into the 90s and beyond. His rise also foreshadowed a theme with the pioneer’s anger with younger MC’s who felt slighted by the next generation’s hubris.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
8. Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown
Kim’s ascent into rap in 1996 alongside the Notorious B.I.G. and Junior Mafia brought a new aesthetic for female rappers as she embraced a more sexual and aggressive energy. Unfortunately, competition between her and fellow Brooklyn rapper Foxy Brown became inevitable as the two traded words over the years on various songs including Kim’s verse on Lil Cease’s 1999 song, “Play Around,” “The Notorious Kim”, and Mobb Deep’s “Quiet Storm Remix”. Foxy’s venomous verse on “Bang Bang” proved prophetic, and the violence and residual tension that followed over the years make it one of rap’s most memorable beefs.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
7. Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy
For these two southern MC’s who have since gone on to rectify their differences, their dispute over Gucci’s first commercial record, “So Icy,” ushered in a flurry of diss records back and forth that escalated to alleged violence off the records. Unfortunately, their antics and the energy behind it ushered in a new dimension of dissing enemies, encapsulated by Gucci’s gesture of smoking on the remains of an enemy, a move he’s since condemned.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
6. LL Cool J and Canibus
For Canibus, the rising phenom in rap at the time, being featured on a song with someone as accomplished as LL Cool J was an honor. His initial verse on the posse cut, “4,3,2,1,” however innocent, prompted LL’s furious response, and the records that followed only made LL’s battle rap status grow larger. Canibus’ “Second Round KO” and L’s “The Ripper Strikes Back” also introduced whether fans preferred battle records from overtly lyrical rappers or more commercially renowned artists.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
5. 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G.
Largely remembered for the shocking claims made by 2Pac against Biggie on the song “Hit Em Up”, the primarily one-sided beef spurred a slew of responses from Biggie and others, both directly and subliminally which fueled the environment that led to their untimely deaths. The behind-the-scenes antics between Bad Boy Records and Death Row only exacerbated the tension and forced former friends to cross all types of lines that rap had yet to see before then.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
4. Jay-Z and Nas
After years of tension and perceived disrespect, Jay-Z and Nas’ early 2000s beef produced two of rap’s biggest diss records, “Takeover” and “Ether,” and simultaneously added to both stars’ classic repertoire of albums and songs. Despite the propensity for violence that existed, both men’s decisions to end their issue and work together represented a rare display of maturity, unlike anything we’d seen at that time for stars of their magnitude.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
3. Ja Rule and 50 Cent
Arguably one of the most influential rap beefs of the early 2000s, 50 Cent’s and Ja’s behind-the-scenes issues spilt onto the national stage when 50 attacked Ja multiple times on his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’. 50’s unrelenting vendetta against Ja and Murder Inc. successfully made him a legend in many eyes and all but erased the stellar run of one of rap’s most influential and successful rap labels. Despite both artists moving on to different endeavours, the beef between them remains one of rap’s most noticeable land mines, going off at least once a year on social media without fail.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
2. Ice Cube and N.W.A
In the eyes of many rap fans including Cube himself, his 1991 diss response “No Vaseline” is arguably the most known and well-crafted. Before rap fans became accustomed to the idea of a 20 v 1 type battle, Cube took it upon himself to diss his former group N.W.A singlehandedly, so much so that they decided not to respond. At the top of his game both critically and commercially, his diss carried the same weight as Jay-Z and Nas with a level of sophistication and execution that has yet to be reached by a diss record since.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
1. Kendrick Lamar and Drake
Much like how Jay-Z and Nas’ beef festered over the years before exploding onto the scene, Kendrick and Drake’s feud following his verse on Big Sean’s “Control” grew, culminating in years of subliminal jabs. Kendrick’s feature on the Future and Metro Boomin’ single, “Like That” forced both sides into the competition and from there, we got more rap disses in a week than we’d ever seen from two competitors. The speed of their releases, rollout strategies and cleverness upped the ante for rap feuds that typically played out over time and showed us the lyrical brilliance of both camps regardless of who you felt was the victor.
Culturally, the response to Kendrick’s song, “Not Like Us” both online and during Kendrick’s Juneteenth concert, continues the communal call-and-response aspect of rap disses that we’ve loved since its inception. In a short amount of time Not Like Us has become a rap anthem and one of the year’s most streamed songs, much like Drake’s Back to Back became a Grammy-nominated song.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Ma$e is currently the co-host of the It Is What It Is podcast with Cam’Ron, a long way from his time playing basketball and rising in the Hip-Hop ranks while in Harlem. On his podcast, Murder Ma$e shared details of beef he had with the late Big L, who allegedly set up the former Bad Boy Records rapper to be robbed.
On the Wednesday (June 26) episode of It Is What It Is, Ma$e, real name Mason Betha, told the tale of the beef he had with Big L. According to the Harlem World rapper, Big L reportedly stole lyrics from him and he decided to confront the Diggin In The Crates member.
Betha then says that after confronting the “Put It On” artist, he was at the famed Tunnel nightclub and said Fat Joe approached him to attempt to absolve himself of the beef. Later, Betha said that while walking in Harlem with former NBA player and current NBA coach God Shammgod, he was wearing his first Rolex watch.
He goes on to say that a person brandishing a weapon trained the gun on Shammgod and demanded Betha give up the watch. After contemplating running away, Betha said he threw the watch on the ground with him and Shammgod taking off.
The robber was reportedly located in jail and was served a little street justice inside the big house according to Ma$e.
On X, formerly Twitter, fans are reacting to the details of the story. We’ve got reactions from all sides below.
—
Photo: Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Source: Rolling Stone / Getty / Yungeen Ace
It didn’t take long for Julio Foolio’s death to take an interesting turn.
Rapper Julio Foolio became another victim of senseless gun violence over the weekend when he was shot and killed on his 26th birthday.
Another rapper, Yungeen Ace, threw more fire onto the situation, releasing a new video for an old “diss track” named “Do It, which some believe is aimed at the dead rapper.
In the video, a hooded person can be seen being shot and being relieved of his jewelry.
Per The Vibe, on the song Ace raps:
“Seven days a week, we run this bi**h, we spinnin’/ Any day this week, I bet a ni**a come up missin’/ Ni**a better stay on point (What), he better not be out here slippin’/ Ayy, let’s call his bi**h, these bi**hes up in here/ Ayy, ni**a be tryin’ and sh*t, ni**a be dyin’ and sh*t, uh, uh/ Tell him go free that h* ‘fore Tillie go blam the bi**h, uh, uh.”
In a deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, right after word hit the internet of Julio Foolio’s death, Yungeen Ace wrote, “That boy going back the same day he came in *crying laughing emoji*.”
Yungeen Ace & Julio Foolio’s Beef Timeline
According to The Vibe, the two rappers’ issues stem from a larger beef involving Ace’s crew ATK and Foolio’s crew KTA. Things escalated when Ace appeared on SpinaBenz’s record “Who I Smoke.”
In the song, Ace mentions several of Foolio’s dead associates.
[embedded content]
Foolio quickly responded with “When I See You,” in the song, he featured audio from the news coverage of Ace’s brother’s death.
[embedded content]
Just ridiculous. Of course, the internet is still talking about this sad situation.
Hit the gallery below for those reactions.
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Julio Foolio, a Florida rapper who had issues with other artists in the state, was shot and killed outside a Florida hotel. According to chatter online, Julio Foolio reportedly shared his location, leading to the deadly ambush.
According to local outlet First Coast News, Julio Foolio, who hails from Jacksonville, Fla., was in Tampa celebrating his birthday at various locations around town. Social media chatter is suggesting Foolio, real name Charles Jones II, shared his location to a Tampa area hotel. The outlet also reports that Foolio was active on social media over the weekend and advertised a pool party in the region.
Tampa Police Department officials report that the shooting took place at a Home2 Suites hotel location early Sunday around 4:40 AM local time. Two cars parked at the hotel’s parking lot were riddled with gunfire and four people were reported injured with one deceased which was later identified to be the rapper.
Fans of Foolio and rapper Yungeen Ace are well aware that the pair are part of rival gang factions. Foolio was reportedly a member of the KTA gang while Ace is said to be a member of ATK. For years, the pair have gone back and forth with each other stemming back to the 2017 shooting death of Zion Brown, Foolio’s cousin. More details can be found in this 2021 article from First Coast News.
On X, formerly Twitter, fans and observers alike are speaking up about the shooting death of Julio Foolio while closely monitoring the socials of Yungeen Ace and others connected to that scene. We’ve got all the reactions listed below.
Julio Foolio was 26.
—
Photo: Instagram