The 5 Best Hip-Hop Diss Tracks

Socrates Johnson6 years ago

As a big fan of both hip-hop and non face-to-face confrontation, I love me a good rap beef. But, in recent years, the no-holds-barred, Clash of the Titans-esque rap beef seemed to have passed us by. Sure, rappers have taken some passive aggressive shots here and there, but nothing that really gets those juices flowing.

With this Pusha T-Drake beef in full swing though, I am happy to say that the rap beef is officially back. In his latest diss track The Story of Adidon, Pusha T brought up Drake’s absentee dad, his single mom, his best friend who has multiple sclerosis, his alleged ex-porn star baby mama, and his supposed kid. Something tells me that this thing isn’t going to end until someone gets, I don’t know, seriously maimed.

Of course, this whole back-and-forth got me to reminiscing about some of the diss tracks that have, in one way or another, led us to this point. So, here are what I think are five of the best diss tracks in hip-hop history.

5. The Sauce – Eminem

You can’t really write up a best diss tracks list without including Eminem in some capacity. The guy has gone after everyone from Ja Rule to the Insane Clown Posse. Yeah, it’s safe to say that Marshall has had to work out some anger issues over the years.

There’s so many classic Eminem diss tracks that deserve top billing, but The Sauce is one of Em’s best not only because of how hard it goes, but also because he doesn’t even go after a legit rapper in this one.

Raymond “Benzino” Scott was the co-owner of hip-hop magazine “The Source” and basically said that Eminem being white was bad for hip-hop. It turns out that Eminem didn’t appreciate that opinion very much and proceeded to utterly obliterate Mr. Scott in less than four minutes.

Benzino spent a lot of time and money trying to ruin Eminem’s career. But Eminem is still, well, Eminem and Benzino’s biggest accomplishment in the past 15 years was an reoccurring role on “Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta.”

4. Takeover – Jay-Z

If you scroll further down the list, you’ll see that J ultimately took the L in his beef with Nas, but the ruthlessness of this track would’ve immediately ended the careers of most rappers out there today.

When you look at the Jay-Z of today, — being married to Beyonce, the father of three kids, and one of the richest rappers alive — it’s hard to imagine him being capable of such mud-slinging. But late ’90s, early 2000s Jay-Z truly did not give a fuck.

3. No Vaseline – Ice Cube

When most music groups break up, everyone pretty much quietly goes their own way. When N.W.A broke up, it basically turned into a full-on rap war.

Ice Cube’s No Vaseline definitely isn’t subtle and picks apart each of his former group members, particularly Dr. Dre and Eazy-E. No Vaseline went so hard that it even managed to get Cube in trouble with civil rights activists.

It’s safe to say that this definitely isn’t a track that you’d be able to hear on the radio today.

2. Ether – Nas

Ether pretty much gained a entire new entry in the lexicon after Nas dropped this diss track aimed at Jay-Z. Nas didn’t just throw in some digs here and there, he crafted an entire story with the purpose of ending the beef once and for all.

If you look at the situation as a whole, sure, Jay-Z probably ended up winning the war. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Ether will go down as one of the most vicious diss tracks of all time.

1. Hit Em Up – Tupac

The beef between Tupac and Biggie started the whole East Coast rap versus West Coast rap situation in the mid-’90s and, unfortunately, resulted in the deaths of two of the most prolific rappers in rap history.

In Hit Em Up, Tupac and the Outlawz dismantled Biggie and Bad Boy Records to the point where Biggie probably briefly considered going on some sort of extensive weight loss diet.

They probably could’ve just dropped the mic and called it a track with the “that’s why I fucked your bitch, you fat motherfucker” intro line. .

Image via Wikimedia Commons