The 15 Biggest Old School vs. New School Rap Beefs

Check out the list of Old School Vs. New School rap beefs. Now some old school rappers sound like they are bitter and old, but some make good points and have good reason for sending shots. Some new school acts are just defending themselves. Either way check out the list below.
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MC Hammer vs. Jay-Z

Year: 2010

No one wants to be that guy who makes a few hit records, blows all his money, and then become a hip-hop punchline. But that’s basically what happened to MC Hammer. So when Jay-Z rapped “I lost 30 mil, so I spent another 30/Cause unlike Hammer, 30 million can’t hurt me,” on Kanye West’s “So Appalled,” Hammer got pissed. So pissed, in fact, that he decided to release the hilariously awful diss track, “Better Run Run” in November 2010. Soon after, the Oakland hitmaker claimed he deaded the beef because he believed he’d made his point—whatever that may have been. Jay-Z, on the other hand, thought he took it the wrong way. The funny part about all this? Neither of these guys is that young—Jay-Z is now 42 and Hammer is 50. But pathetic stunts like these make Hammer look closer to 86.

Canibus vs. J Cole

Year: 2011

Canibus vs J.Cole was one of the most confusing, embarrassing, and dumbest rap beefs ever. In fact, we’re hesitant to even call this a beef—something like “random failed shots” might be more appropriate. Last year, ‘Bus released the diss track “J.Clone,” a record that came complete with an explanatory open letter that criticized Cole for stating that he liked Canibus’ old music but not supporting his newer stuff. The strange part is that J. Cole has consistently named Canibus as one of his favorite artists. Since when did that become a diss? Just two days later, without Cole ever retaliating, Canibus released a video that opened with him staring at the camera and burping (seriously) but eventually got around to apologizing and calling the whole thing “tacky and unsophisticated.” At least Bus was man enough to admit he fucked up, but ultimately this one goes down as yet another bizarre chapter in Canibus’ career.

Rhymefest vs. Chief Keef

Year: 2012

Chief Keef is just 16 years of age, yet he’s already made one of the hottest songs of 2012 with “I Don’t Like.” He also happens to hail from the great city of Chicago, a place that boasts a plethora of talented artists. Yet not everyone is welcoming Keef with open arms. Chitown’s own Rhymefest took issue with the content of Keef’s lyrics, and released his thoughts in an editorial for Windy City blogger Donnie Nicole where he wrote Keef “represents the senseless savagery that white people see when the news speaks of Chicago violence.” Ouch. Can’t a young rapper get money anymore?

David Banner vs. Swag Rappers

Year: 2012

Fed up with young rappers using the word “swag” to dress up weak rhymes and justify what he felt were ignorant actions, David Banner dropped a vicious track where he subliminally took aim at Lil’ B, among others: “Let a white cop shoot a black kid/You’ll see a few tweets, that’s it/He’ll march for a minute, that’s it/Get a new outfit and dance like this/Cook! Swag! Woo! Cook! Swag! Woo!”

Lil’ B fired back by dropping “I Own Swag,” a record on which The Based God claimed to be more famous than Banner. The two would eventually squash their beef after speaking on the phone. Still, it appears as if Banner still has a strong hatred for so-called “swag rappers,” which is pretty unfair to Lil B—who loves all people and the animals and the trees as well.

Pete Rock vs. Lupe Fiasco

Year: 2012

When Lupe Fiasco recently sampled Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth’s “T.R.O.Y.” for his song “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free),” Pete Rock started catching feelings. The legendary producer felt a personal connection to the beat that he carefully crafted, and he took to Twitter to let Lupe know no one should be able to mess with a classic, adding that Lupe’s version was “wack,” and a complete “bite” of the original song. Lupe came back and said that Pete had given him his blessing to use the sample and that he had known about the record for months. The two would eventually squash their differences after having a heart to heart—and even made plans for some sort of old-school-meets-new-school collabo.

Ghostface Killah vs. D4L

Year: 2006

Though D4L’s fame was short-lived, they did leave the hip-hop world with the undeniable hit, “Laffy Taffy.” The song had a sticky beat and a catchy hook, but Ghostface Killah was having none of it, and wasted no time ripping the “snap dance” phenomenon that was then taking the hip-hop world by storm. Ghost dissed them on “The Champ” off of 2006’s Fishscale: “Y’all stuck on Laffy Taffy/Wondering how’d y’all niggas get past me?” We can’t imagine Ghost busting a move—regardless of what dance it was—but hey, six years later Ghost is still around and D4L isn’t.

Jay-Z vs. The Game

Year: 2005 – 2009

The beef between Jay-Z and The Game can pretty much be summed up in one word: weird. It’s lasted for more than six years now, and has consisted mostly of Game firing random shots at Hov. According to Game, the whole thing started because Jay made some less-than-encouraging comments about the career prospects of rappers around the same age as Game. This initial slight led to Game doing everything from having his fans chant “Fuck Jay-Z” and “Old Ass Nigga” to his flat-out strange record “Uncle Otis” last year. Even more bizarre, Game has openly acknowledged that he knows he’ll never get a response, but he keeps on dissing Hov regardless and has even claimed that many of the disses are the result of the word Jay being easy to rhyme with—no Happy Gilmore.

Raekwon vs. Joe Budden

Year: 2009

Ranking MCs can cause a firestorm among hip-hop fans, but back in 2009—when Vibe dropped a tournament-style list of rappers and asked fans to vote on who was the best—one prominent artist decided to speak out. The ever-garrulous Joe Budden took offense to his low seeding and decided to single out Method Man (who had been ranked higher than Budden was) as an elder MC that Budden felt he could out-rhyme without breaking a sweat. “I’ll chill for the sake of your age,” young Budden rapped on his “D.O.A.” freestyle.

Of course, dissing a rapper who’s backed by eight other guys (you know, the Wu-Tang Clan—heard of em?) can lead to repercussions. Once wind of Budden’s comments reached them, the war of words was on. Budden eventually apologized to Meth, but apparently that wasn’t enough for Raekwon, who rolled up on Joe Budden in his dressing room during the San Bernardino, CA stop of 2009’s Rock the Bells tour (on which both the Wu and Slaughterhouse were performing) and things got ugly. Budden was in the middle of live-stream chat when he was approached by Rae and his boys and suddenly his feed went out. When the lights came back on, Budden was holding a pack of ice to his eye and claiming one of Raekwon’s goons punched him in the face. That’s that old-school rap beef right there.

Ludacris vs. Big Sean & Drake

Year: 2012

The “hashtag” flow in hip-hop is all the rage these days, a style of rapping that’s usually credited to Big Sean. Sean says that specific style of rhyming came to fruition on his song “Supa Dupa,” where he dropped lines like “Used to be bottom/Scuba” and “’Till I am the kind of my castle/Koopa.” In one interview Big Sean’s buddy Drake admitted that his flow on the song “Forever” was borrowed from the G.O.O.D. Music signee. In that same interview, Drake began complaining about other rappers using the “hashtag” flow incorrectly, referencing a line Ludacris spits in “My Chick Bad” where he says “Like a parade/Macy’s.” Luda shot back on his song “Bada Boom,” saying “Counterfeit rappers say I’m stealing their flows/But I can’t steal what you never made up bitch.” And while it’s true that Rakim was dropping hashtag raps way before Twitter was even invented, Luda came off looking like a cranky old man on this track.

LL Cool J vs. Canibus

Year: 1997

When LL Cool J took young Canibus under his wing—letting him hop on the 1997 song “4,3,2,1” alongside Method Man, DMX, and Redman—it appeared to be a friendly gesture. Canibus was so grateful for the opportunity that he name-checked the elder rapper in his verse, saying “L, is that mic on your arm?” (a reference to LL’s microphone tattoo) “Let me borrow that.” But the Queens legend took offense at the line, and clapped back at Canibus on the very same track. Before the song was released, LL asked Canibus to change his verse. Canibus agreed, with the understanding that LL would change his verse as well. But that’s not how it went down.

When the song dropped, LL’s original verse remained intact. When the original version of the track began to leak out, questions were raised about what really went down in the studio. Canibus dropped a diss track entitled “Second Round K.O.,” while LL countered with “The Ripper Strikes Back” and “Back Where I Belong,” forcing Canibus to respond once more with “Rip the Jacker.” And all Bus ever wanted to do was pay homage to a legend.

Lil Kim vs. Nicki Minaj

Year: 2011

It would’ve been cool if the past and present H.B.I.C.s would join forces and rule hip-hop with estrogenic fury, but as the unwritten laws of hip-hop stipulate, there can be only one queen. Therefore ’90s femme fatale Lil Kim seemed destined to beef with Nicki Minaj. They appeared to start off as friends, with Nicki shouting Kim out in early interviews. But eventually Kim started calling out Nicki and Nicki ended up dissing Kim subliminally in songs and openly in the press. Kim responded by boasting that she didn’t need to record new songs because her old ones would kill Nicki. Hopefully Kim has a lot more old material in the stash because we haven’t heard much hot music from her in the last few years (no, not even on her Black Friday mixtape) while Nicki just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Ice-T vs. Soulja Boy

Year: 2008

Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” had a serious impact on American society. For starters, it educated a generation on what it meant to Superman a hoe. And it also gave uncoordinated white kids a new dance to try out. But while the rest of the world was having fun cranking it in 2008, Ice-T was sitting at home with his arms crossed. Admitting that Soulja Boy was young enough to be his son, Ice took a break from cracking cases on Law & Order to get on the young rapper’s case.

Ice-T called out “Crank That” for singlehandily killing hip-hop: “That shit is such garbage. You can’t do that. We came all the way from Rakim, we came all the way from Das EFX… and you come with that Superman shit,” Ice said. Soulja Boy didn’t take kindly to the OG’s comments, responding in a YouTube video where he railed on Ice-T’s age. “This ain’t no beef! I’ll let you fight my granddaddy, dog. That nigga will knock your ass out” and the rather bizarre diss “You were born before the Internet was created.” In the end, Ice went back to TV and Soulja Boy kept making radio hits. And somehow hip-hop survivied through it all.

Jay-Z vs. Lil Wayne

Year: 2006 – Present

It’s no secret that Lil Wayne and Jay-Z have always had a complicated relationship. The two MCs got along OK at first, but as more and more Wayne fans wanted to aware him the coveted Best Rapper Alive title, the relationship began to sour. Wayne’s critical acclaim encouraged him to fire some shots at Jay, in interviews like this one and on wax: “You old-ass rappers better stay on tour/You’re like 44, I got a 44, I’m 24/I could murk you and come home when I’m 44”). Of course the mere suggestion of any youngster taking Jay’s spot was enough to make Jay fire back—although they’ve both appeared on each other’s albums. This cycle of respect and dissing has been going on for years now, and like the ongoing battle between young and old MC’s, it may never end.

Common vs. Drake

Year: 2012

While Drake and Common’s back and forth earlier this year may have seemed like your standard rap beef, in reality, it was a battle of young versus old. Their 15-year age difference did not dominate the headlines, but it certainly seemed to be a big motivating factor—even if neither MC would admit it.

Common’s song “Sweet” had the tone of a respected elder checking the young’n who had gone astray even as Drake felt he’d outgrown the elder’s advice. Ironically, Drake’s response—on Rick Ross’s “Stay Schemin'”—found him longing for the good ol’ days when rappers were reaching for weapons and not record sales. Ultimately, both parties reconciled their differences and moved forward. And although it wasn’t perceived as a shot at Common, Drake perfectly summarized all old school/new school beefs best on French Montana’s “Pop That” when he said, “I shine different, I rhyme different/Only thing you got is some years on me/Man fuck you and your time difference.”