S. Samuel
Dipset's Vado recently weiged in on hip-hop beefs taking over music headlines as of late and why fans should appreciate rappers occasionally going at one another's necks.
In Vado’s perspective, a little tension amongst emcees is a positive thing for the overall state of hip-hop.
How important do you think it is to have a unity amongst the new school of rappers? You mean like, as far as beef? Pretty much. We’ve seen all these recent beefs between Azealia & Angel Haze, or Meek and Cassidy. You know, it’s like the NBA. Regardless of how good the players are, what’s the NBA without the dunking contests? When they have their battles, that’s good for the sport–great actually. Hip hop is not only songs, it’s art. Hip hop is rap battles, graffiti, break-dancing battles–it’s a whole thing. We got to give them a piece of that any chance we get. When we have our rap battles, we give them a piece of more hip hop. (VIBE)
Earlier this month, State Property’s Young Chris weighed in on seeing comrades Meek Mill and Cassidy exchange battle rap records these past few months.
“They’re both friends of mine, of course I don’t agree with it,” Chris said in an interview. “The battling thing is cool for hip-hop but when it gets serious, it’s a bad look, for us. For hip-hop, for Philadelphia, [it’s a bad look]. They’re both friends of mine. I just hope it stops. That’s all I can say. Y’all did what y’all did. Meek dropped one [diss record], Cass dropped one [diss record], people are gonna be people. They’re gonna talk. That’s what we gotta learn, not to let people get [into our heads].” (“Movie Star Management”)
Philadelphia’s Cassidy previously spoke to SOHH and crowned himself the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. of battle rapping.
“Even with my battle rapping, that whole little lane was created not just through me, but mainly through artists like me. Before most battle rappers got their success, that’s what I was doing and that was the direction that I was going in. I’m still undefeated. I’m like the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. with it. So I feel like I should get more credit than I do and I feel there’s a certain amount of people in the world that know what I do but I’m just talking about the masses. The majority of people don’t really know what I’m capable of.” (SOHH Underrated)
Recently, New York rapper 50 Cent addressed the retail impact beefing can have on artists’ careers.
“Beef doesn’t actually sell records,” Fif explained in an interview with television personality Carson Daly. “It creates that barbershop, beauty salon conversation. Hit records sell records. In the Ja Rule situation, I’m releasing ‘In Da Club,’ ‘P.I.M.P.,’ ’21 Questions,’ big hit records. Then on The Massacre, there’s ‘Candy Shop’ and ‘Just A Little Bit’, records that are working while ‘Piggy Bank’ is playing. I’m actually addressing my issues because I see what’s going on in the culture.” (Carson Daly)
