Why is hip-hop so awesome? I'm asking because I want to know what the eyes of the people who listen to the music see. But it doesn't just come down to the music. Hip hop really is a culture as a whole. People who live it come in all different types of shapes and sizes. Not even a specific city or state can define how you will see people act, or define what they listen to. In hip hop it is argued that your area does define who you're listening to to a point. Sometimes, in the minds of the people psychologically, where you're from is what you listen to. Anyone who showed respect to these other areas are cool with them because they paid homage. But to those who didn't.....well something needed to happen. This is how it was. But how is it now? Has hip hop lost some of its attitude because the people aren't real enough anymore? Let's examine this point, because I believe the people (myself included) have it screwed up to where someone's life being put in danger makes headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Now what is beef really? No not the meat smart asses, the rap kind. How does it start out and where does it stem from? If you asked 20 different rappers, you'd probably get 20 different answers. Ultimately when it comes down to it, beef is problems that other rappers have with each other. But beef has evolved since the days of before. If you really think about beef on a grand scale, you probably think Tupac vs. Biggie. Not one other hip hop beef has shook the media, along with the east and west coasts both as much as this beef did. The publicity was unheard of, something that rap hadn't gotten much of up to that point, but for the wrong reasons. Both of these men died because of rumors circulating about each one of them. Merely rumors and pride is all that this beef came down to, in layman's terms. Today beef is much different of course, not as much bloodshed (unless you're 40 Glocc), but ultimately it is better because lives aren't put at risk. At least, we'd like to think so.
Now there's a lot of different types of beef in hip hop today, if we started from about the year 2000 and came all the way up to 2014, you would definitely notice the differences with beef in the past. Social media sites like twitter make things a little more clear, but also complicates things at the same time. When you talk about something as little as the Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj "beef," (and that may be putting it heavily even describing it as that) social media sites and blogs and web sites of all kinds blew this out of proportion about 5 times more than what it actually was. The headlines were hilarious: "Nicki Minaj throws shade at Iggy Azalea with her acceptance speech?" People and their imaginations are wild. But the blogs and the web sites have it correct in this sense: PEOPLE LOVE BEEF.
As bad as this may sound, any publicity is good publicity, especially to a rapper or singer. Standing up for yourself sometimes is all you can do. But it's the opinions of the people that get the stories incorrect. I grew up in an era of Eminem and 50 Cent dominating the webs and album sales (yeah, so I'm young, what of it?), so even in my opinion, it's just like Drake says; nothing was the same. Even with 50 Cent vs. Ja Rule, Shady Records vs. Murda Inc. in the early to mid 2000s it was different. Without social media how do we all last? (The sad part is some people wouldn't have an answer for you, but I don't know if I have a right to talk, trying to make a living on the internet and all.)
An interesting aspect of beef itself is that only hip hop really deals with it, no matter how big or how small the problem may be (word to Meek Mill and Wale, grow up you two before we get Rozay on you). I believe a lot of this stems from rappers not being afraid to voice their opinions about others. Some may call it being thirsty for attention, which you wouldn't be wrong some of the time, but rappers certainly like to "keep it 100" with people when it comes to talking about being cool or having a problem with someone else. But the fact of the matter is, no one really knows what happens in beef between 2 people except for those 2 people!
I believe there are certain types of beef, 2 in particular. The first beef is having a problem with somebody outside of the music itself. If a rapper gets disrespected, most of the time, they will let not only that person, but sometimes will even let the entire country know about this problem (which can lead back to social media). That is the first type, and not too many people care about these issues too much. They usually resolve themselves, and are forgotten in a couple months (less if something bigger happens). But the second type of beef is musically. Verse-wise, when you get disrespected in a song, it isn't uncommon for this rapper to go back at the person throwing shots with some shots of their own. In rap, clearly how your rap is perceived is something that people buy, something that you can sell to willing customers. If your abilities get disrespected, you go back at this person questioning their abilities as well, sort of like a more main stream form of battle rapping. In my opinion this is what I love to see, this is what makes hip hop entertaining, and this is what adds to the competitive nature of hip hop. It has sort of been this way since Kendrick dropped "Control." Now I know, I know, "Control" doesn't deserve any more attention than its already gotten, but there is a point to it. Let me ask you some questions; since "Control" dropped, have you not been more entertained with rappers at each others throats going bar for bar and showing some of the best rap capabilities we've seen in a decade or more? Hasn't rap finally gotten back to a competitive state where each rapper is rapping their tail off to prove they're the best? I'll let you mull these questions over yourselves (get back to me on Twitter @SuperNovaRover, or Google+ Geoffrey Guy with your opinion).
So how would you define beef? I can truly say it's nowhere near where it used to be on the entertainment side of things. But as a whole, this could be better for the publicity it gets. Rappers have to be cocky and confident to keep up appearances and make themselves look like they're the best, but the violence is lowering. The day when people focus more on the competitive aspect of rapping and not the killing part of it is the day they can say "we made it." Isn't it more entertaining to hear rappers go bar for bar instead of them going bullet for bullet? If people understood the fun in hearing a fire verse as opposed to hearing a hollow point, then they would understand. If you get disrespected, do what you do best to prove it wrong: rap about it. Take it to the booth.
