I'm not going into the history of beef because I'm quite sure you know it, but the problem with starting beef in a world where we know what you are doing before you do is that cats are beefing for no apparent reason other than to:
A: Put themselves on
B: To promote their stalled album
Back in the day you attacked because you either felt disrespected or because you wanted to call someone on your level out for their overall wackness. Your attack method was BARS, and it made Hip-Hop better especially from a fan's perspective. Of course we love it! I may have a different reason than a majority of other fans.
Beef causes you to step your game up. It cause you to make your rhymes better. It causes you to make your beats better. When that pressure is applied you have to show and prove or fold. And who wins in the end:
We Do!!
The Takeover, Ether, The Bridge Is Over, No Vaseline, The Bitch In You, Drag 'Em N Tha River, Hit Em' Up. The list could go on & on but admit it, some the game's best tracks have come from some sort of beef. I don't care what started it (it has to be legit) but the second you step into that booth and prepare to exhale those bars you better damn well be ready to execute your attack flawlessly or we will turn on you.
Quickly I will say this about the 50 vs. Ross beef. Its called Promotional Beef. Ross attacked 50 for no other reason than to promote his album which would have been Dead on Arrival in stores. Ask yourself: How many cats do you know outside of Miami were checking for that album before he attacked 50? And I'm not defending 50 because he does the same thing with EVERY album he's released since his first one. I mean really Kanye dawg? This is the kind of beef that is strongly frowned upon by true hip-hop heads because it doesn't improve the quality of the music.
New York's infected, niggaz beefin' on the mix-tape
Got Nickelbag niggaz thinkin' they can fuck with big weight
-Talib Kweli "Rush"
We understand that the goal is attract the casual fan, that 16 -year old kid from Grand Island, Nebraska that works at Domino's Pizza who has disposable income and runs down to his local Best Buy after seeing 50 & Kanye mean mugging on the cover of Rolling Stone and has no clue that Universal is setting the whole thing up. It's disappointing to us who live, breathe, eat, sleep and shit hip hop because we expect so much more. It also causes these nobodies to come out the wood works and diss whoever they see just to get a rep. Rightfully so their intended targets usually ignore them, and so do we.
I'm not calling for more peace & love, not by any means, I'm asking on behalf of those of us who are totally in tune with this culture that if you plan on taking the path of lyrical warfare, have your dictionary, thesaurus and producers on point before you invade. If you don't prepare yourself to face the climate that we as a country sit in now.
You start off with our full support but you lied to get it. You bought us in unprepared to complete the mission and now we want nothing to do with you or your beef.
Sounds familiar?
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