New beat, different beef

Khalil Harry, writer

Beef within the rap community is essential. Controversy is a way to draw in not only the ears of listeners but also their mouths through gossip, and their eyes by seeing the drama at hand on television as well as social media.

Significant beef in the rap game such as Bad Boy Records vs. Tupac and Ice Cube vs. N.W.A. has set the precedent for rap beef for millennials and post-millennials.

Contrary to the beef scene in the 90s, which involved more blunt and bold comments as well as gun violence and face to face altercations, today’s rappers are more likely go on social media to take their shots. Apps such as Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat are used as battlefields for rappers to let their fingers do all of the fighting.

Reasons for beef are most often miscommunication between rappers trolling one another, but sometimes there’s straightforward, blatant disrespect being expressed.   At times rappers use controversy to make themselves relevant again.

An example of this is Soulja Boy’s most recent radio interview with the Breakfast Club.  During the interview, he rambled on about how he had started much of the trends that are seen in today’s rap game–most notably the use of social media to further one’s music career.

In his desire for recognition, he spoke down on many artists such as Tyga, Drake, Chris Brown and even the Migos. Since this publicity stunt, Soulja Boy has been getting a lot of negative feedback from the people.

Although this may be true, his name has resurfaced onto the rap scene causing him to gain more relevancy. One thing he should watch for is the backlash he will get from other fan bases and the target that is on his back due to the disses that he’s made.

More recently, in the news of beef, is J.Cole’s apparent diss on Kanye West. In his latest single, Middle Child, J.Cole throws shade at Kanye West for beefing with Drake over his misfortune in the shoe industry and Kanye’s quest to gain more relevancy in the rap community.

This is also not the only time that J.Cole has dissed Kanye West. Back in 2016 his song, False Prophets, confronted Kanye’s about how his life was a facade.

With every year comes new beef among musical artists. The rap game is a dog-eat-dog world where everyone is scratching and clawing to get to the top. There is no telling what confrontation waits around the corner. All we can do is wait.