Old Beef, New Beef

Big news this week in the hip-hop world put an end to months of speculation. On Monday, it became official: Nas has been signed to once-rival Jay-Z’s record label, Def Jam.

It has been common knowledge for months that the long-running feud was dead in the water, bus Nas’ move to Def Jam takes the truce to an almost inconceivable new height. Last October, Nas joined Jay-Z on stage at the now-legendary “I Declare War” concert at New Jersey’s Continental Airlines Arena, hosted by Jay and New York City’s Power 105. The message was clear: the five-year beef between the two New York rappers was dead.

The deal is a little complicated. It includes several concessions to Nas’ current label, Sony Records, suggesting that Jay was awfully eager to get Nas signed. Under the terms of the acquisition, Def Jam will get four albums from Nas. The first two, however, will be produced and marketed by Def Jam, but the profits (after costs are recovered) will be split with Sony. Sony will also have the right to market the albums, and will retain the right to release a greatest hits CD from Nas.

The beef between Nas and Jay-Z was unique—almost classy—and was not marred by violence. Unlike the war between Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., the two MC’s kept it on vinyl, and almost seemed to hold one another in high esteem. In the battle to determine who was best, there was an inherent acknowledgement of each other’s talent. It was more than just the battle for New York; it was a battle to be the king of rap.

But as the final nail is being hammered into the coffin of the Jay-Z/Nas beef, Jay has another burner on his heels. While the “I Declare War” concert officially squashed the beef with Nas, it acted as an accelerant to the blaze between Jay and Diplomat rapper Cam’Ron. Cam’Ron has set his sights on Jay, and last week released a dis track called “Gotta Love It.” On the track, which is as personal as it gets, Cam insinuates that he slept with Jay-Z’s fiancé, singer Beyonce Knowles. Cam’Ron was shot last October while attending Howard University’s homecoming ceremonies, and on the track alleges that the shooters were supporters of Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records.

While many are waiting for Jay’s response to the Cam’Ron track, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Since taking control of Def Jam from Russell Simmons as CEO last year, Jay has morphed into the consummate record chief. Some were skeptical as to whether the once-small-time-hustler could head hip-hop’s legendary label, but their cynicism has been met with some disappointment. Shawn Carter (real name) the record mogul and entrepreneur carries himself with more class and style than Jay-Z, the hustler-turned-rapper. So if you are among those waiting for the Jay/Cam’Ron clash to become more than a one-sided tomato-toss from the bottom of the mountain, get comfortable because it could be a long wait.

Tom Breihan, writing for New York’s “Village Voice,” summed it up best. “Even though Cam is probably Jay's equal as an artist/craftsman/wordsmith, his sneering fight-dirty bluster feels crass next to Jay's aristocratic grace.”

-From Pulse
January 26, 2006

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Beef, Part II

  “I would be willing to bet money that we are headed toward another hip-hop assassination.  If this beef continues, one of its key figures will be killed.  And that, I suppose, will sell CDs too.”  Those were the last words I typed on this contraption.  That was last Sunday evening.

  Fortunately, this week’s column isn’t about 50 Cent or The Game being shot and killed by the other.  No, I don’t see that happening any time soon.  That’s because last Wednesday (before my column came out last Thursday), the two called a truce—making me look absolutely foolish.  Sure, it was a pretty press conference.  Lots of hugging and hand-shaking.  Both of the key players opened their checkbooks and handed a fat check over to the Harlem Boys’ Choir.  Between them, they donated more than a quarter of a million dollars.  It was just peachy.  And now the beef between 50 and The Game seems like nothing more than a distant nightmare.  The details are becoming hazy with time, a phantom memory.  Did it ever even happen?  And if so, did we really get caught up in it?

  Of course the truce wasn’t called until 50 had sold 1.4 million copies of his new CD, “The Massacre.”  (The Game’s latest CD, “The Documentary,” sold about 800,000 more copies that week, coming in fourth on the bestseller charts.)  And the beef was dropped so suddenly and amicably—50 Cent with his brotherly arm around The Game—could it have been a publicity stunt?  Did their record label, Interscope Records, put them up to it?  Or, conversely, did it pressure them into this truce?  And if it was all hype, what about the poor guy from The Game’s camp that got shot outside the Hot 97 studios as a result? 

  There are so many questions that remain unanswered.  But I suppose that is to be expected from this volcanic, three-week ordeal that flared like a brushfire then skidded to a halt as quickly as it had begun.  We don’t yet know if The Game is back in G-Unit.  There’s a lot we don’t yet know.  And there’s a lot we probably never will.

  But my wager still stands.  Both 50 and The Game still have their own beefs.  50 Cent is out to get Jadakiss, Ja Rule, Fat Joe, and Nas.  The Game has ongoing beef with Yukmouth from The Luniz.  And if these beefs aren’t called off in similar fashion, there will be blood shed. 

  50 Cent recently released a track called “Piggy Bank” in which he attacks the four rappers named above.  Just last week, Jadakiss responded with a song called “Checkmate,” and it was brutal.  It was reminiscent of 2Pac’s “Hit ‘Em Up,” a vicious attack on The Notorious B.I.G.  Luckily, these attacks have only been lyrical.  So Far.

  But I guess the way I ended last week’s column is still fitting, whether the beef between Fiddy and The Game is alive or dead.  “I would be willing to bet money that we are headed toward another hip-hop assassination.  If this beef continues, one of its key figures will be killed.  And that, I suppose, will sell CDs too.”  

-From Pulse
  March 17, 2005

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Beef

  We’re headed down a familiar road.

  Hip-hop and beef seem to go hand in hand.  And for the last couple of weeks, Hip-Hop fans have been caught up in the ongoing feud between The Game and 50 Cent.  Once friends and labelmates, their falling out has been in the works for several weeks.  According to the most reliable sources, their beef stems from disagreements over 50’s problems with other rappers, and The Game’s refusal to participate in it.

  And 50’s got beef with everyone.  Most recently, he has set his sights on Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Nas and Jadakiss.  In the last two months, he has taken shots at nearly all of hip-hop’s heavies, and his G-Unit crew—including The Game, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck—have been dragged along for the ride.  When The Game decided he wanted no part of it, he was deemed disloyal and was “excommunicated.”  

  All of it culminated a couple of weekends ago when 50 Cent was doing a radio interview at New York City’s Hot 97.  50 told the interviewer that The Game was out of G-Unit, and that he was on his own.  He continued lambasting The Game on the air, and moments later The Game showed up at the Hot 97 studios.  As he was being refused entrance to the studios, a dark-colored sedan pulled up and began shooting.  One member of The Game’s entourage was wounded, though not fatally.  Later that evening, shots were fired at the offices of Violator Management, the high-profile management firm that represents 50 Cent.

  Is this a dangerous trip down memory lane, to the highly publicized beefs that resulted in the deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.?  Or is it nothing more than hype, manufactured in an effort to sell more copies of 50 Cent’s latest CD, “The Massacre,” which hit stores last Thursday?  Skeptics believe that the latter is more likely.

  After all, G-Unit is no stranger to such hype.  The crew’s success relies on its “hard” image.  It is cloaked in legend.  50 Cent was shot nine times and lived to rap about it.  The Game was a drug-dealer who was shot.  While hospitalized he had an epiphany, decided to clean up his life and learn to rap.  Months later he was signed by Dr. Dre, hip-hop’s legendary uberproducer.  At the Vibe Awards, Young Buck stabbed the man who punched Dr. Dre in the face.  Weeks after The Game’s first solo CD hit stores, and as it was the bestselling CD in the country, the Compton headquarters of his label was shot up.

  There is no question that this image, this lifestyle, and this hype sells CDs.  But at what cost?  I would be willing to bet money that we are headed toward another hip-hop assassination.  If this beef continues, one of its key figures will be killed.  And that, I suppose, will sell CDs too.

 -From Pulse
  March 10, 2005

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