THE HISTORY OF DISS TRACKS
An excursion in the history of the infamous culture of diss tracks in rap music prompted by the article “Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake: A New Rap Beef for the Streaming Era” by Neil Shah.
Welcome back to this deep dive into diss tracks! Last week we analyzed the history of rap music to get to today’s entry which is all about dissing.
As I was researching the history of diss tracks in music, I found out that dissing is not inherently a characteristic of rap music. The earliest type of dissing was recorded in Medieval England, and it was known as flyting! Since we’re going to cover some centuries and different countries, I will do my best to succinctly summarize my findings by also dividing them into chapters. Let’s get started!
The first form of dissing: Flyting
Although we don’t yet know if flyting was the official precursor of rap diss songs, it is still interesting to analyze the clear similarities of the two.
Flyting was a “battle of insults and wits” most popular and practiced in the 5th and 16th centuries England and Scotland. Flyting – which comes from the Old English and Old Norse for “quarrel” and “provocation” – was poetry which introduced the usage of bathroom humor in vocabulary for insults.
In fact, the most known court flyting, The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie performed by William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy at the court of James IV in the early 16th century, used for the first time in recorded history words such as “shit” and “fuck” as an insult.
«A monster made by the god Mercury,
You were conceived in the great eclipse;
False and furious, bent only for burglary,
No hold for honor, a halter at your hips;
Scarcely shriven, stunted, of cleanliness stripped,
A midget, made for flyting and mocking alike,
A crabbed, scabbed, lap-dog for men to strike;
A shit without wit, only cheap tawdry tricks.»
In literature, there are plenty of examples of “dissing” of this kind. For instance, the Old English epic poem “Beowulf” (c. 700–1000 AD), the Norwegian “The Poetic Edda” (a collection of Norse myths), or even Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear” (c. 1603 and 1606).
«I say to you truly, son of Ecglaf, that Grendel, the terrible adversary, would never have done such horrors to your lord, such humiliation in Heorot, if your mind, your spirit were as cunningly fierce as you yourself say»
Unfortunately, as the senior lecturer in English literature at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) Dr. Elizabeth Elliot pointed out, due to the Protestant Reformation in Scotland and England in the 16th century, the artform of flyting fell out of favor, especially in courts.
However, all over the world there are numerous forms of flyting like the Japanese Haikai, Sanankuya, Ikocha Nkocha, and naqa’id in Mande, Nigerian and Arabic cultures respectively.
Brazil in the 1930s: A polêmica do samba
Even in the most peaceful and relaxed Brazil we find diss songs as early as 1933 during the highest of Samba.
In 1933 Wilson Batista, one of the most highly regarded samba musicians, published this third single Lenço no pescoço, an apology to crime known in Portuguese as malandragem.
«Meu chapéu do lado
Tamanco arrastando
Lenço no pescoço
Navalha no bolso
Eu passo gingando
Provoco e desafio
Eu tenho orgulho
Em ser tão vadio.»
As a Brazilian Portuguese native speaker, I would translate it in English as follows: my hat on the side/ dragging wooden shoes/ cravat on my neck / cutthroat razor in my pocket / I waddle / I provoke and I defy / I am proud / of being such a moocher.
Noel Rosa, who at that time was more well known than the novel Batista in the Samba scene, took offence to such lyrics and decided to reprehend Batista for his apologetics for malandragem with Rapaz Folgado. Although the song was only recorded by Aracy de Almeida and published in 1938, it already circulated among the musician groups of the time.
«Deixa de arrastar o teu tamanco…
Pois tamanco nunca foi sandália
E tira do pescoço o lenço branco,
Compra sapato e gravata,
Joga fora essa navalha
Que te atrapalha.
Com chapéu do lado deste rata…
Da polícia quero que escapes
Fazendo samba-canção,
(Eu) Já te dei papel e lápis
Arranja um amor e um violão.»
Here’s another unofficial translation: Stop dragging your wooden shoes… / as wooden shoes were never sandals (in the sense of proper shoes) / and take off the white cravat from your neck / buy some dress shoes and a tie / throw away this cutthroat razor / that gets in your way // with the hat on the side you slipped up… / I want you to be free from the police / by making Samba music / I have already given you pencil (lápis) and paper (papel) / find love and a guitar.
This diatribe between Batista and Rosa went on until 1937 when Rosa passed away. In that time a big back and forth between the two Samba artists produced numerous songs, such as Mocinho da vila (1934) by Batista, Feitiço da vila (1934) by Rosa, Coversa fiada (1935) by Batista, Papilte infeliz (1935) by Rosa, Frankenstein da vila (1936) and Terra de cego (1936) by Batista, until the dissing culminated in a collaboration between Rosa and Batista in Deixa de ser convencida (1936).
Dissing in the UK: The Beatles & Queen – no, they did not diss each other
Even though flyting was no longer popular in the UK, The Beatles did not miss a beat to diss others and each other back in the 1960s and 1970s.
In fact, in 1968 the Beatles released Sexy Sadie (written by John Lennon) dissing Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and considered by Lennon as a let-down.
In 1971, Linda and Paul McCartney’s Too Many People was a direct dig at Lennon – as other songs on the album Ram (1971) were, such as 3 Legs. Lennon at that time had already left The Beatles.
«That was your first mistake
You took your lucky break and broke it in two
Now what can be done for you?
You broke it in two»
-Too Many People (1971)
It seems that the original lyric was Yoko took your lucky break and broke it in two and it was later changed to You took your lucky break and broke it in two by the request of the producer.
Of course, Lennon retailed by writing How Do You Sleep? in the same year.
«You live with straights who tell you you was king
Jump when your momma tell you anything
The only thing you done was yesterday
And since you're gone you're just another day»
The legendary band Queen did not shy away from dissing either. Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...) is a hard rock example of a diss track dedicated to the band’s former manager.
«(Ah!) You suck my blood like a leech
You break the law and you breach
Screw my brain till it hurts
You've taken all my money and you want more
Misguided old mule
With your pigheaded rules
With your narrow-minded cronies
Who are fools of the first division»
Early Hip Hop Dissing: The first known beef
In 1984 American rapper Roxanne Shanté and American DJ and producer Marley Marl released Roxanne's Revenge, the track that started the modern concept of diss tracks between hip hop/rap artists. Roxanne's Revenge was a critique of the trio U.T.F.O.
«I met this dude with the name of a hat
I didn't even walk away, I didn't give him no rap
But then he got real mad, and he got a little tired
If he worked for me, you know he would be fired
He wears a Kangol, and that is true
But he ain't got money, and he ain't got the loot»
The commercial success of Roxanne's Revenge led to U.T.F.O.’s The Real Roxanne featuring Elease Jack and Adelaida Martinez (a.k.a. The Real Roxanne) the same year.
«Now Educated Rapper, I'ma give you a fit
'Cause when you tried to talk to me, you was full of shit
You see the truth and the fact is that I don't need you
Your I.Q. is really one point two
I don't like your rap 'cause your rap is dead
Educated Rapper no sense in your head
So when you met me I paid you no mind
Dictionary breath, you're one of a kind»
Roxanne Shanté didn’t let herself be intimidated and soon after responded with another track which led to another track by U.T.F.O., and another by Shanté, and another by U.T.F.O, etc. Needless to say, it was a long feud.
In 1985 The Bridge Wars started. It was a “war” over the rightful birthplace of Hip Hop. This dispute involved Marley Marl, MC Shan, KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions. In the 1985 track The Bridge, Marley Marl and MC Shan claimed that Hip Hop was born in Queensbridge (New York). The response by KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions was the 1986 track South Bronx, which is where KRS-One believed the genre was actually born.
In South Bronx KRS-One copies MC Shan’s style as mockery. He will later officially recognize on Genius that MC Shan was the start of his career; and therefore, give credit to MC Shan for helping him to create his own style.
A new dissing era: East Coast vs. West Coast
The popularity of dissing was increased by the East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry which involved various artists, but it started with Bronx rapper Tim Dog’s Fuck Compton (1991).
Tim Dog’s track had an array of responses, such as Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin') (1991) by Dr. Dre which was both a response to Fuck Compton and to the breakup of the group Niggas Wit Attitudes (N.W.A.) as Dr. Dre disses former group member Eazy-E. N.W.A. breakup provoked Ice Cube’s diss track No Vaseline (1991).
The East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry was exemplified by 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G., which started after 2Pac interpreted Who Shot Ya? (1995) by Notorious B.I.G. as a mockery of his 1994 robbery. Notorious B.I.G. denied all accusations. Yet, 2Pac proceeded to record a great number of diss tracks, the most famous of which was Hit ‘Em Up (1996).
Another important beef of this era was the feud between Jay-Z and Nas. In 2001 Jay-Z’s Takeover dissed Nas and Prodigy of Mobb Deep which led to Nas’s track Ether (2001). Ether became a classic so much so that now the term “ether” is used as slang to mean “to ruthlessly defeat someone in a rap battle”.
Contemporary Hip-Hop rivalries
And that’s our last stop: we have arrived to today.
From Eminem vs. Mariah Carey; the 2010s feuds (Pusha T vs. Lil Wayne, Remy Ma vs. Nicki Minaj, Eminem vs. Machine Gun Kelly) to the 2020s rivalries (Megan Thee Stallion vs. people in the industry), we have arrived to the beef that prompted this two-week dive into rap: the 2024 Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar feud.
It all started with Kendrick Lamar’s track Like That (2024), where he rebutted J. Cole’s claim in First Person Shooter (2023) that he, Drake and Lamar where the biggest rapper of their generation. In Like That, Lamar clearly states that his skills are superior to anyone else’s, included J. Cole’s and Drake’s. Drake defended himself with the tracks Push Ups (2024) and Taylor Made Style (2024).
The more animosity grew between the two rappers, the uglier the tracks became: in Family Matters Drake accuses Lamar of physical abuse, and in Meet the Grahams Lamar accuses Drake of having a second unacknowledged child and of sheltering sex offenders, and in Not Like Us of pedophilia.
Other musicians (the Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, and Rick Ross) took part in this feud by attacking Drake. Who won? Kendrick Lamar apparently.
I had great fun researching the history of diss tracks: it allowed me to take a deep dive in different cultures and genres (not only of music but in style of art). I hope you liked it as much as I did, reader. Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.
Did you know that even Brazil had diss tracks in Samba?
This is indeed interesting... the "Who Shot Ya" situation always makes me chuckle.