Kendrick Lamar’s recent release of a music video for his track “Not Like Us” has gained immediate acclaim, amassing over 13 million views on its debut. Known for his award-winning progressive rap albums, the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist has made waves yet again. This time, it’s for throwing a multitude of diss tracks toward Canadian rapper Drake.

Diss tracks are songs that often come as a result from heated rivalries between two artists. Rivalries resulting in music aren’t new, listen to Paul McCartney’s “Too Many People” and John Lennon’s “How Do You Sleep?” during their post-Beatles careers. Hip-hop has managed to elevate it to the next level with tracks that tend to deepcutting and personal.

In hip-hop’s 51 years of existence, the first known diss record was attributed to Roxanne Shante in 1984, with the release of her “Roxanne’s Revenge.” In the track, Roxanne responds to hip-hop trio U.T.F.O.'s "Roxanne, Roxanne," wherein the group went into detail about a woman who kept ignoring their advances.. As a response, U.T.F.O. released another track to respond to Shante’s song. Fearless as ever, Shante fought back with more tracks aimed at the group. Eventually, other artists started to make their own tracks centering around the feud, leading to the beef to be referred to as the “Roxanne Wars.” These events were enough to inspire a musical drama film, 2017’s Roxanne, Roxanne, where we followed Shante’s rise to fame after her feud.

Perhaps one of the more notable beefs in hip-hop history would be the strong rivalry between the East Coast and West Coast hip-hop industries in the US. As each side of the US churned out different styles and sounds, many started to clamor for the throne of hip-hop. The fire of the feud was fanned even more as record label companies started to become more aggressive toward the other. This era gave rise to the likes of 2pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy, and many more. Unfortunately, this beef era came to a bloody end after the brutal death of each coast’s biggest artists, 2pac and The Notorious B.I.G. Later, the coasts unanimously agreed to unify rather than continue beefing toward the other.

In our local hip-hop scene, rap battles are a constant test of one’s hip-hop prowess. This is best seen through the FlipTop Rap Battle League, the country’s largest professional rap battle contest. It was started by Anygma in 2010. To this day, FlipTop videos continue to have a large following online and provides a platform for many Filipino rappers to flourish and improve on their word craft. Notable FlipTop veterans include the likes of Abra, Batas, BLKD, Dello, Loonie, Sinio, Skarm, Smugglaz, and Zaito, to name a few. Many dub FlipTop as the modern-day equivalent of Balagtasan, a form of debate done through verse inspired by Filipino poet Francisco Balagtas.

Outside of FlipTop, perhaps one of the strongest diss tracks released by a local artist is by Syke in his track, “Dear Kuya.” In it, the artist lists down a flurry of attacks against industry giant Andrew E. using an instrumental of Eminem’s “Stan,” mentioning alleged inappropriate actions by the rapper. It has even inspired another diss track (Acepipes’ “Dear Salbakuta”), referencing lines from Syke’s lyrics and using the same Eminem instrumental.

Regardless of how verbally ferocious and aggressive diss tracks and the hip-hop beef culture may seem, there’s no arguing how it has helped spark a flame in the musical genre. Through this heated exchange, hip-hop artists are pushed to go creative lengths to ensure they come up on top. In the end, it gives the fans of the music plenty to listen to and appreciate. Though it may seem vitriolic at times, Ice Cube describes beef best, “You always have to be careful that a beef doesn’t turn into a murder.” It would do us well to remember that hip-hop continues to be a powerful tool for inspiring many.