Image via Complex Original
Beef has always been a part of hip-hop culture. However, as the Internet has completely revolutionized everything from how artists build buzz to how they promote and distribute their albums, social media in particular has changed how our favorite rappers argue with one another. In 2014, you are hard pressed to find a nice piece of rap beef that didn’t play out at least partly over Twitter, Instagram, or Vine. There’s the blatant Twitter call-outs that lead to in-song and online back-and-forths, the sub-tweets and sneak disses that take a conflict from 0-100 real quick, the confusing fight Vines, the ominous unfollows, the passive aggressive Instagram likes, and much, much more.
On the positive side, arguments taking place largely over the Internet means the disputes are kept mostly on the e-streets and out of the real streets, avoiding the violence that has tragically plagued hip-hop in the past. On the other hand, the general ease and lack of accountability of social media mean these arguments are becoming incredibly common and extremely repetitive.
If Biggie were alive today and had to write a 2014 version of “What’s Beef,” it would sound extremely different. So, in 2014, what’s beef? Beef is airing out your label frustration through your sub-tweets. Beef is dissing on Instragram. Beef is when I see you…and immediately post it on Vine. As the year comes to an end, we compiled the best social media beefs of 2014 for you and ranked them on a scale of Rare to Well Done. How do you like your beef?
Tyga & Game vs. Lil Durk
Rating: Well done
Date: April 26
It’s hard to pin the blame for the Lil Durk, Tyga, and Game beef on just one of the rappers because all three are so historically beef prone. The problems all started back in April when Lil Durk Instagrammed a snippet of his remix to Nicki and Lil Herb’s menacing “Chiraq,” which featured a line aimed at Tyga. While dissing Tyga seemed like a random move at the time, apparently Tyga owed Durk a verse and never held up his end of the deal. With the initial gauntlet thrown, Tyga fired back with his own Instagram snippet featuring the line “Who the fuck is Lil Durk,” and recruited Game, a man who’s never turned down a potential beef in his life, for a lengthy verse. In response to the song, Durk tweeted out a few bars that seemingly promised future violence.
In his verse, Game name checked a host of Chicago artists who he claims supported him, which only made the entire situation worse. Two of the name-dropped rappers got involved on social media, with Chief Keef, Instagramming his support of Tyga and Game and G-Count of LEP Bogus Boys siding with Durk and firing back with his own Game diss track. Because Game has made it his life’s mission to get involved in as many random beefs as possible he released “Bigger Than Me” and dissed Durk and G-Count again.
Ultimately, the two sides reconciled at the BET Awards, which has apparently become hip-hop’s peace summit. All in all, this beef can probably just be blamed on the fact that “Chiraq” is such a hard song that it just makes everyone really, really angry.
Ab-Soul vs. TDE
Rating: Rare
Date: May 1
In early May, Ab-Soul took to Twitter to voice his frustration over his album's delayed release, saying, “I’m this close to leaking my shit like its a mixtape.” His threat was quickly dismissed by Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, CEO of TDE, in one tweet—"I DARE A NIGGA ON MY TEAM LEAK HIS ALBUM…#TDE.” On June 24, Soul’s debut album, These Days… hit the shelves.
50 Cent vs. Slowbucks
Rating: Well done
Date: June 1
50 Cent has made a career off beef. His feuds are so substantial they have their own Wikipedia page. So, as he made a musical resurgence in 2014, it only makes sense that he would keep on beefing.
This year, 50 had beef with Slowbucks. After 50 and his son, Marquise, had a well-publicized fight, Slowbucks posted a photo of him with Marquise on Instragram. 50’s response? He had Slowbucks get his chain snatched on stage. Rather than taking the L graciously, Slowbucks decided to hold the most ridiculous press conference ever, in which he and someone who appears to be a lawyer announce an investigation of the incident. Just days later, Mikey Fingers, a supposed 50 affiliate, was actually arrested for the crime. Yes, a real person got in real trouble over stupid Internet beef.
Funkmaster Flex vs. Dame Dash
Rating: Well done
Date: June 5
Dame Dash had a busy summer. A large part of his action came in early June, when Dame consistently called out label execs like Joie Manda and Lyor Cohen for being “culture vultures” and profiting off of hip-hop while giving nothing back. While criticizing hip-hop’s general business structure Dame called out legendary Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex for not having his own platform, something Dame feels is necessary.
In classic Flex fashion, the DJ took to his radio show to rant about Dame. While paying respect to Dash’s success, Flex loudly and angrily defended himself. He called Dame out for some suspect business deals, explicitly mentioning situations with Curren$y and Beanie Sigel where Flex felt Dash had schemed.
Dash later squashed the beef with a series of backhanded apologies, in which he called Flex “slave broke” and continued to diss Hot 97 program director Ebro. Ultimately, Dame Dash and Funk Flex have a lot of similarities. They are both legends of hip-hop who have done an incredible amount for the genre, they both love to talk, and they both get really pissed off sometimes.
Azealia Banks vs. T.I.
Rating: Medium rare
Date: June 17
You probably know Azealia Banks isn’t the biggest fan of T.I. or Grand Hustle’s princess Iggy Azalea. This round of beef begins with Azealia and T.I. backstage together at a Kanye concert. After being allegedly ignored by T.I. for the entirety of the concert, Azealia turned to Twitter to voice her frustration at what she deemed as a disrespectful confrontation.
However, Banks’ Twitter tirade got ugly when she brought up Tip’s wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle saying, “You want no mediocre…but have you seen your wife?” in a tweet that was later deleted. Banks went even further saying, “But your wife has meth face.” T.I. provided a full summary of his thoughts on the matter in a heated Instagram post:
“Umusty-mouthed-thot-bot-bad-body-syphilis-lipped-rectum-vomit-unimportant-ugggggly-monstrosity-of-a-maggot-ass BIIIIIIIITCCHHHH!!!!!! If u speak ill of my family again….. I WILL END YOU!!!!!! #OnPHIL #OnDOE #NoBuuulllshit people fall down stairs daily…. U better watch yo step,u ungly-ass Gremlin-baby #nerveofdisCretin #fuckouttahea.”
Obviously, things got out of hand for no real reason at all.
Meek Mill vs. Wale
Rating: Medium rare
Date: July 8
As anyone who follows any member of the Maybach Music Group on any form of social media knows, they’re on a level of shameless promo only DJ Khaled can match. That’s why it’s fitting that the intra-MMG beef between Meek Mill and our cover boy Wale all started with the lack of tweets. In July, as the MMG team prepared to hype up the Sept. 9 release date of Meek’s next album, the Philly MC took offense to the fact that Wale had yet to tweet about the news, saying “Wale just ain’t gone tweet a thing about my album…. He’s been hating on me long time now …don’t even text me cornball!” The explicit shot at Wale came out of nowhere, but the two seemingly had some tensions in the past.
Wale responded posting an odd and lengthy caption on his Instrgram of Meek’s album cover, where he talked about how he knows he didn’t quite fit the MMG stereotype, mentioning his love of Nike SBs, WWE, and the NBA draft. Even though those are things that all 13-year-old boys love, Wale was trying to make the point that he was different and broadened the crew’s audience. Ross quickly squashed the beef, claiming that he spoke to both and that the two are like brothers. On top of the Boss’ peace-keeping, any remaining feelings have been all but forgotten since Meek has had much more serious legal issues to deal with in the ensuing months.
Louie V Gutta vs. Meek Mill
Rating: Medium rare
Date: July 8
Friends turning into enemies always make for the most entertaining feuds, right? That’s exactly what happened this year as Louie V Gutta, a Philly rapper formerly associated with Meek Mill, made the majority of his 2014 headlines by constantly harassing his old boss on Twitter. It all started in the wake of the Slowbucks chain jacking, when Meek called out Gutta for taunting Slowbucks even though he had his own chain jacked in the past. The two butted heads again when Gutta took Wale and Meek's own Twitter beef as an opportunity to whip out the hip-hop diss handbook and call Meek a bitch, a pussy, and a hoe. Since it’s pretty hard to diss somebody in jail, the tensions have simmered, but now that Meek’s out maybe the two will go back at it.
Soulja Boy vs. Gillie da Kid
Rating: Rare
Date: July 31
While the general details of the Soulja Boy vs. Gillie da Kid beef are pretty standard for hip-hop spats the conclusion is anything but. The entire ordeal got kicked off on Twitter, where Soulja Boy and Philadelphia rapper Gillie da Kid traded shots about each other’s net worth and fake jewelry and Soulja gained the upper hand by hilariously mocking Gillie’s lack of a Wikipedia. The battle quickly turned into who could talk tougher and be the bigger Internet troll, which, if Gillie da Kid had ever seen Soulja Boy’s videos to Ice-T, he should’ve known he had no shot at winning.
So, what was the unique conclusion? Gillie da Kid eventually challenged Soulja Boy to a celebrity boxing match, a.k.a. the quickest way to kill any integrity you might still have. Because this is the weirdest beef of all time, Soulja Boy initially accepted and then had George Weisgerber fill his place. Who the fuck is George Weisgerber, you might ask? George Weisgerber is Tailormade, who you might know as the dude who won VH1’s “I Love New York.” In preparation for the fight, Tailormade got in the final diss, saying “I am bigger than Gilie in the Hip Hop community anyway since I won the VH1 show.” You could not make this up if you tried.
50 Cent vs. Floyd Mayweather
Rating: Well done
Date: August 21
In the middle of the ALS Ice Bucket craze (remember that?), when most of social media’s users were drenching themselves in frigid water, 50 Cent decided to heat things up. In what he dubbed a “special ASL/ESL challenge,” 50 dared Floyd Mayweather to read a full page of Harry Potter. Initially Mayweather kept mum on the challenge, but 50 continued to instigate via Instagram.
Mayweather’s response was both clever and multifaceted. First, he Instagrammed a photo of his latest paychecks captioned with the collective sum of his winnings: “Read this $72,276,000.00. God bless.” After critically reminding 50 how much richer he is, Mayweather took it a step further in a preceding interview giving 50 some sound moral advice, “The best thing for 50 Cent to do, and there are no hard feelings, is to give that $750,000 to Mike Brown's family.”
Dame Dash vs. Jim Jones
Rating: Medium
Date: Aug. 26
Dame Dash is a divisive dude. Throughout his career, whether he’s sonning Bill O’Reily or sonning Kevin Liles, his arguments have often spilled over into the headlines. This summer saw a particularly large amount of action from Dame, as he was all over the place calling out people he felt had wronged him or hip-hop culture. Somewhere in the midst of his talking he must’ve said something that really pissed off former business partner Jim Jones.
About four months ago, Jones Instagrammed a picture of Dame and called him a thief, culture vulture, and something else that’s slightly less printable. Dame responded on his IG in typically long-winded fashion, calling for the two to get together and talk it out.
It obviously wasn’t all love though, as Dame later posted a Jim Jones-less picture of the “only living diplomats” and Jimmy fired back again, calling out Dame’s suspect finances and apparently unfair business dealings. Nothing has happened between the two in the last two months, but their ongoing animosity combined with the fact that Dame and Cam’ron are still close makes all our hopes for a Diplomats reunion seem foolish.
A$AP Rocky vs. Been Trill & HBA
Rating: Rare
Date: Oct. 3
After dropping his debut album early last year, A$AP Rocky returned this year with “Multiply” to take shots at his old fashion compatriots Been Trill and Hood by Air. Rocky had been applauding the work of Been Trill and HBA for years in his music, but apparently the love's gone stale as he rhymed, “Ain’t really fuckin’ with that Been Trill/Swear them niggas booty like Tip Drill.” Taking to Instagram, Been Trill's Heron Preston released a contemplative reflection on the evolution of rap beef as well as a T-shirt to commemorate the event properly titled, “Tip Drill.”
In his post Preston seemed to offer diplomatic support to Rocky’s diss: “Today, power in music is style. power is fashion. Let's keep this shit shocking and competitive! this is how you push things forward. and the song/video is good. let's continue to shake shit up! our culture needs it.” Later on, in an interview with New York, Rocky claimed there’s “no real beef.”
Tyga vs. Cash Money
Rating: Medium
Date: Oct. 10
For decades, YMCMB has been comfortably atop the genre. However, as 2014 wound down some cracks in the label’s foundation started to show. The trouble began with, of all people, Tyga. On Oct. 10, Tyga took to Twitter to blast the label he’s called home for the last six years. He started by claiming that YMCMB had been “holding him hostage” by keeping him from releasing his upcoming album. Then, when a fan asked him if he was still signed to Cash Money, Tyga told him “Not for long.” All this talking drew the attention of YMCMB President Mack Maine, who fired back mocking Tyga’s career beginnings and his goofy first hit, “Coconut Juice.” As of two weeks ago, Tyga claims he is putting his album out independently. Unfortunately for YMCMB, the problems with Tyga are the least of their worries.
Iggy Azalea vs. Snoop Dogg
Rating: Well done
Date: Oct. 14
Remember when Snoop’s beefs involved things like guns, gangs, and first-degree murder cases? Well, 20 some years later and the annual inhalation of enough marijuana to keep a small nation perpetually stoned, Snoop has toned down his adversity. 2014’s breakout star Iggy Azalea found herself in the crossfire of Snoop’s new weapon of choice: Instagram. Snoop, who posts almost hourly, found his ammo in a tabloid picture of Azalea with no makeup on prompting him to, of course, make a rather insulting meme.
Azalea utilized the social media of her choice (Twitter) to parade her disgust—in tweets that were later deleted—by posting a meme of Snoop herself and pointing out how he was nice to her in person. Her reaction only made Snoop Dogg go in more with vicious taunting and ridiculing memes. He even got a White Chicks reference in there.
Nick “Swaggy P” Young, Azalea’s NBA boyfriend, took to Twitter attempting to take a shot at Uncle Snoop in defense of his girlfriend, but was miserably shut down. Finally, three days after the original post, T.I. called Snoop to put an end to the nonsense. Snoop subsequently posted an apology video on Instagram. Iggy chose to forgive and tweeted, “I appreciate the apology @snoopdogg.” Still, Iggy came out on top, Snoop looked like a mean old uncle, and Iggy had the last laugh when she dressed up as a character from White Chicks on Halloween.
Bobby Shmurda vs. Promoters
Rating: Rare
Date: Oct. 15
It seems like Bobby Shmurda may have needed a reminder that the rap game really isn’t exactly like the crack game. Taking to Instagram, Shmurda reported that he has yet to receive money from various performances and that he intends on suing every promoter who has a contract without his signature.
Upon realizing her son’s misguided understanding of the music business, Shmurda’s mother/manager quickly responded in an interview with Billboard saying, “I guess he's thinking all the money should go from the front man to his hands—it doesn't work like that. Of course they hold onto it so he actually does the show. Then it goes to his business manager, then to the touring accountant, and then to him.”
Tyga vs. Drake
Rating: Medium
Date: Nov. 1
Tyga has had a year filled with personal and professional frustrations, but what spurred him to flex on fellow Cash Money affiliate Drake? Nothing, besides his utter disgust with Drake’s existence. After airing his feelings about Cash Money via Twitter, he went in on Drake in an interview with VIBE saying, “I don’t like Drake as a person. He’s just fake to me.” (He also took issue with Nicki Minaj, but Nicki quickly dealt Tyga the death blow of the Twitter unfollow.)
Drake’s OVO sidekick Chubbs was the first to fire shots back. He hopped on his Instagram and posted a video freestyling about an “anonymous” rapper who experienced a privileged upbringing, which most took as a subliminal toward Tyga. Next, Drake also took the subliminal route and liked a handful Instagram posts from Tyga’s ex-girlfriend and baby mama, Blac Chyna. Drake posted an image of him and Tyga’s rumored current girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, captioned “@kyliejenner in the cut.” Meanwhile, Blac Chyna got in the mix posting pics where she mentioned Drake.
Things got even more messy when Tyga apparently hacked Chyna’s Twitter account. In the end, Tyga kept it petty by casting Drake’s ex for his next music video. We hope things don’t get physical, but considering that it’s Drake and Tyga, we really don’t expect it to.
Migos vs. GBE
Rating: Well done
Date: Nov. 8
A year in rap beef really isn’t complete without an appearance from Chicago’s Glory Boyz, and in 2014 they turned their attention to the Migos. We can trace the animosity back to last December, when Sosa felt like the line “My diamonds looking like KK (white)/You broke and asking for favors” on Migos' song “Brokanese” was a shot at him and his daughter.
The beef escalated when Migos decided to venture to Chicago in November. Takeoff posted a now deleted Instragram video showing the aftermath of a brawl between his crew and GBE affiliate Capo, with the caption “Caught @elcappgguod slipping lastnight in his city.” And even though the video showed a whole lot more yelling and uncomfortable white people than it did actual fighting, the argument soon moved to Twitter. Capo called Migos soft and Migos chirped back, with both sides using emojis in an oddly threatening way. That’s when GBE affiliate Fredo Santana got involved. The Savage Boy rapper tossed out threats of going to jail for murdering anybody associated with Migos. Tempers blew back up about a week later in DC, when GBE affiliates apparently jumped the Migos and committed a good ol’ fashion chain snatching. Keef posted a pic of said chain to Instagram and various Vines of the scuffle made their way around the web.
Thankfully, it looks as if the beef has been squashed. A month after the DC incident, Keef, Takeoff, Quavo, and Offset posed for a picture together with the caption “Miglo,” a combination of Migos and Glo Gang. Considering GBE’s record of Twitter beef spilling over into actual violence, we’re thankful this one didn't get out of hand.
Azealia Banks vs. Iggy Azalea
Rating: Well done
Date: Dec. 3
Although the back and forth between Azealia Banks and Iggy Azalea didn’t intensify until the end of the year, their beef, and its underlying issues, will likely be one of the major headlines we remember about hip-hop in 2014. The two had problems in the past, but their beef this year came in the wake of something more serious: the Eric Garner grand jury decision. After the decision came out, Banks took to Twitter and began criticizing Iggy about her silence about the issue.
Banks criticized Iggy, and other white rappers, for profiting off of black culture but not supporting for black issues. She coined the incredible nickname “Igloo Australia,” talked about her desire to throw a jar of her own piss at Iggy, and finished by calling T.I. a “shoe-shining coon.” In response, Iggy refrained from explicitly retaliating against Banks and instead tweeted out some thoughts on championing causes on social media in general.
That wasn't the end of it, though. A couple weeks later, Banks sat down with Ebro on Hot 97 for an incredibly emotional 45 minute interview. During the conversation, Banks broke down, called out Iggy and T.I. over their role in appropriating and distorting black culture. Iggy responded to Banks on Twitter but rather than addressing the issue at hand or defending her use of black culture, she lashed out personally at Banks.
Lil Wayne vs. Cash Money
Rating: Well done
Date: Dec. 4
Artists beefing with their label is nothing new, but Lil Wayne has been with Cash Money for his entire recording career, so seeing him pull th curtain back on the going-ons at the New Orleans label was sad to see. Seemingly Out of the blue, Wayne took to Twitter and shocked the world by saying that Cash Money has held up his album’s release, and that he feels like a prisoner and wants out.
While most people just sat there stunned, one man saw an opportunity: G.O.O.D Music’s Pusha T hopped on Twitter and tried to recruit Weezy to the house that Kanye built. Despite Wayne once saying “Fuck Pusha T and anybody that love him” and the two MC’s extended beef, Pusha channeled his inner Suge Knight and referenced his song “Exodous 23:1,” a Wayne diss track that blasted his label situation and now seems prophetic.
In the weeks since the initial outburst, Wayne hasn’t said much else about Cash Money. However, the fact that he tweeted “YM! That's it. Nothing else” and Young Money President Mack Maine’s insistence that Tha Carter V will come out in early 2015 have people speculating that Young Money as an entire imprint might be on the move.
Chris Brown vs. Karrueche Tran
Rating: Medium
Date: Dec. 6
Chris Brown put ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran on blast during his set at this year’s Cali Christmas in Los Angeles. After asking the crowd if they were single Brown responded with an updated relationship status: “I’m single too! Fuck that Bitch.”
A few days later, he proceeded to post a lengthy Instagram caption detailing the many wrongs he felt Karrueche had committed. These include but are not limited to: Dates with drake, threesomes, and sparse prison visits. Karrueche’s response was equally insightful alleging Brown “mistreatment.” However, unlike his darker past this time it was all mental, no physical.
So is Breezy learning from his mistakes?
More so than anyone expected, actually! The Monday after his outburst at Cali Christmas, Brown took to Instagram to revise his previous sentiments. After acknowledging that social media is not “a place to air out or hash out personal problems,” he went on to post that he still loves Karrueche and that “the shit that makes [him] great is also [his] curse.”
Diddy vs. Drake
Rating: Medium rare
Date: Dec. 10
While the 28 year-old Drake may have forgotten that not all beef is dealt with on social media, the 45 year-old Puff Daddy certainly did not. Although details are scarce and mostly fueled by the rumor mill, we do know that at this years Art Basel in Miami, Diddy and Drake got into a brawl outside of LIV Nightclub. The fight is reportedly rooted in the beat for Drake’s Grammy-Nominated record, “0 to 100/The Catchup.” After the fight, old concert footage surfaced where Diddy laid claim to the track saying, “I’ma play this next beat, I gave this shit to this nigga, this nigga stole this shit from me.”
In typical 6 God fashion Drake responded to the whole incident with a cool Instagram of him doing just fine, captioned: “They're either talking shit about you or stealing the shit you're talking… either way the name been poppin'.”
Azealia Banks vs. Action Bronson
Rating: Rare
Date: Dec. 19
As entertaining as Azealia Banks’ call-out of Iggy Azaelia was, her Twitter argument with Action Bronson was the exact opposite. Everything kicked off when someone hollered at Banks on Twitter in the wake of her beef with Iggy, asking if she fucked with white artists like Action Bronson. She responded by showing respect for Bronson, while also mentioning she would “flame” him. This is where the train went off the tracks. Bronson quickly replied, and the conversation went from respectful to stupid faster than you can say “cultural appropriation.” Banks called Bronson a “bootleg ghostface,” Bronson told her she sucked, then the beef devolved into fat jokes and both artists making fun of the other’s body. The entire thing quickly became childish and inconsequential, which can be said about 99% of everything on the Internet.
Q-Tip vs. Iggy Azalea & T.I.
Rating: Medium well
Date: Dec. 20
The majority of Twitter arguments are usually quickly forgotten. But the hip-hop history lesson Q-Tip gave Iggy Azalea was truly memorable. After Azealia Banks’ emotional takedown of the Australia superstar and Iggy’s response, Q-Tip laid out why so many people have such a big problem with Iggy. Tip began by describing the genre’s roots in the oppressed ghettos of 1970s New York and explained how hip-hop was an ingenious musical response to the surrounding blight. He then related rap’s history to Iggy and, without insulting or criticizing her, reminded her that she should always be cognizant of the genre’s history and its socio-political responsibilities. All in all, it was one of the more constructive dialogues to happen on Twitter this year.
However, because there are no happy endings, T.I. felt the need to again defend Iggy. T.I. responded saying that it took him a while to realize that “not all white people [are] out to steal our culture” and that Iggy didn’t deserve all the hate she’s been receiving. While nothing he tweeted out was especially egregious or insulting, there was a resounding Twitter chorus of “get the fuck out of here.” Many used the hashtag #WhenTipTweets to voice their disapproval. Iggy eventually responded to Q-Tip on her own saying she found his tweets "patronizing."