Diss Records...

Battle Rap Written by K. Billy

Hip-hop artists have a way of being multi-faceted. You get the conscious, pensive songs and your braggadocios, flamboyant ones. One relationship that has always proved intriguing to me is the constant game of shifting between collaboration and criticism that artists seem to play regularly. The culprits are much lazier with theirs nowadays than they had been in the past. Barring a few exceptions, there may not have been very many battle songs put out in the last 15. What we get now are diss tracks, but really, what’s the difference? Is LL’s verbal diatribe against Hammer and Kool Moe Dee on “To Da Break of Dawn” any different from the musical game of “the dozens” that Luda and T.I. play on “Stomp” any different?

I’m not really one to say, although I think the diss records we get now border on immaturity. Shawty Lo’s “Dunn, Dunn” comes to mind in that regard. All I can think is “whatever.” Perhaps that’s not a fair example, though. Because, although that song is supposed to be a diss track towards T.I., it’s not like you would know it. Not like, say, the wildly straightforward barbs thrown on the aforementioned “Stomp.” Still, even though it’s easy to spot the target of their respective anger, the rest of their verses are mired in the standard themes of today’s rap music. That being said, it doesn’t make it a good battle record. But we end up at the same point anyway. What is a good battle record if you can’t tell about whom the artist is talking? More than that, what’s the real difference between a diss track and a battle record, if there is one to begin with?

I wanted to take this post and offer you, the readers the opportunity to ask yourself that question and next week, I want to give up my own theories. Until then, take in these tracks and see where you draw the line.

Young Buck, TI, The Game, & Ludacris - Stomp


Tupac - Hit Em Up


L.L.Cool J - Mama said knock you out


50 Cent I Smell Pu**y