S. Samuel
Rap veteran Nas recently offered his take on the negative look of hip-hop beefs in mainstream media and admitted some of them can get out of hand.
Speaking to rock veteran Dave Grohl, Nasty Nas explained what typically fuels hip-hop feuds.
“No,” Nas laughingly said when asked if hip-hop artists apologize to rap foes if they meet up face-to-face at the Grammy Awards ceremonies. “Once you say it, you’ve got to ride with it. You know? You gotta be true. You know, hip-hop is really standoff, it’s really competitive, it’s really about who’s number one all the time and sometimes it gets out of hand. Definitely. Yeah.” (“Chelsea Lately”)
A couple weeks ago, Dipset’s Vado stood behind the popularity of hip-hop battles.
“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)
Last fall, Bad Boy Records rapper French Montana cited G-Unit’s 50 Cent and his knack for beefing at the start of his career for ultimately leading to his decline.
“You should avoid beef if you trying to make money. People get scared when you try to beef with people. In general, [even in street shit] nobody want to stand next to you if somebody about to shoot you, unless you have a a big lick [Ed. Note–A “lick” means a hustle.] They [used to] do that with 50 because 50 was the bank. They knew he was going to win. People ain’t doing that [anymore] … [The rap game’s not built like that anymore]. No, it’s over for that. It’s gone, big time. They’ll get you out so fast.” (Complex)
A couple years ago, Brooklyn rapper Maino spoke on the media taking hip-hop beefs and battles too seriously.
“I think people put too much emphasis on hip-hop beefs” Maino told Sway referencing the Lil Kim/Nicki Minaj flap. “Like, hip-hop beefs and hip-hop battles always had that. It’s a part of the culture it’s always gonna be artists that don’t agree. Ya understand. And you might have to take it to the mic or whatever. As long as it just doesn’t get out of hand, you know what I mean. As long as it doesn’t end up like ‘Pac and [Notorious] B.I.G. […] I don’t think people give us the credit for being as responsible as we are, because I don’t think people want it to go that far.” (RapFix)
Check out Nas’ interview:
