“Fawk Jay-Z…I know you aint talkin bout me dog, You? What? Fawk Jay-Z…You been on my package n*gga, you love my style n*gga!” – Nas “Ether”
The lyrics from one of the Greatest Diss Records, Ever! Where would Hip Hop be without the “Diss Record?” Sadly, you don’t have to look far to find the answer because that’s exactly where we are today. Hip Hop lives in the subliminal day and age, where the traditional direct shot doesn’t exist anymore. Now the diss looks more like this:
“Talkin bout baby money, I got yo baby money, Kidnap yo Beyotch & get that how much you love yo lady money!” – Lil Wayne “It’s Good”
If you’re not an individual that’s abreast to what’s going on, you have no clue what Lil Wayne is talking about. So has Hip Hop caused us all to think more…Maybe? Using your brain to decipher and analyze isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Except for when it comes to dissing/disrespecting another M.C. No matter who you sided with in the beef between Jay & Nas, you appreciate both Ether and TakeOver. Both of those records are in the diss records, “Hall of Fame,” so to speak. There was no question as to who was being talked about, or in what way. So what’s happened to the direct shot? Who or what is to blame for this subliminal era? There are only two reasons I can think of: 1. Social Media and 2. Jay-Z
Think about it…How many times have we seen a rapper, athlete or celebrity get caught in “Twitter Beef.” We’ve all seen tweets re-tweeted into our timelines, with artists going back and forth about some nonsense, only to say they were “Hacked,” afterwards. How corny would Hip Hop be if Social Media was around when Biggie and Pac were beefing?
Sway – “What up world, welcome to this MTV News brief…Rapper Tupac Shakur has just posted a picture of him and Faith Evans on Facebook!!! Yes, since posting the picture he’s even Twitpic’d it, with the following message “@2pac Dats why I Twitpic’d Yo Beyotch N*gga, Death Row!!!” He’s also put the photo on his Tumblr, and is now uploading it to Instagram! Word on the street is that he’ll soon be making it his Avatar on his YouTube Page as well! We’ve since sent out G-Chat invites to members of the Bad Boy Camp, but our requests went unanswered. We’ll have more on this story, as it unfolds!”
So has social media completely left out the need to record an actual “Diss Record?” Twitter creates an element where you can engage with whomever, directly. So why waste time going to the studio, when you can just @ the person that you have an issue with, for the world to see. But email thuggin shouldn’t be how these “Gangsters” are handling their issues, right? Instead of killing your battery life on your Smartphone and only limiting your feelings to 140 characters, why not take 4 minutes to tell us all how you REALLY feel about that individual. Besides, the whole “I was hacked,” cop out is dry, and over used. Give the fans a reason to actually follow you on Twitter. Let Twitter be the outlet you used AFTER you’ve already talked about an individual’s mother, wife, and worthless life. Don’t make your Twitter your means of handling a beef.
So now where does Hov come into all of this you ask? His beef with Nas and Prodigy are well documented. Now ask yourself, who else has Hov actually called out on record after that? Go ahead, I’ll wait. Jim Jones, nope…His record over Jimmy’s “Ballin,” was a complete subliminal shot, never used his name. Ok what about Game? Nope. His verse on the radio was just him using the word game metaphorically, and he never said anything directly to dude at all. That’s probably one of the main reasons for Game’s 75 diss records that he’s done, towards Jay, which he’s never responded to either.
So how can we blame Hov for everyone only sending Subliminal Disses? Simple, what rapper got everyone to start dressing more grown up, or doing more grown up type of records. What rapper single handedly killed Auto-Tune? Let’s face it, Jay is a trendsetter. In this particular case, Hov has essentially made it almost “Uncool,” to call out another rapper when dissing them. Beanie Sigel didn’t get that memo, and made one of the hardest diss records we’ve heard in a while, with “Average Cat.” There’ve also been other rappers to do it, but you can find those records on the front page of the #NobodyCares Newspaper.
In closing, Rappers bring back the Diss Record! We need it, the game needs it…Hell, some of you need it! Maybe it’ll wake up the beast in some of you, and you can all get off of this singing tip…But that’s an entirely different subject, for an entirely different day!
Jay-Z – TakeOver
Nas -Ether
