California rap beef: What is the history of it?

Rap beefs have been around for decades and although they are nothing new, the ongoing feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake has sparked renewed interest in musical altercations. 

What is a rap beef?

A rap beef can be defined as a feud between rappers who create songs with the primary purpose of verbally attacking each other. The songs are known as diss tracks and can be a display of lyrical superiority for artists — and entertainment heaven for fans.  

What are some popular rap beefs in California?

While multiple reports credit New York as being the home state to rap beef, California rappers have chimed into their fair share of popular wars of words. 

Ice Cube vs. N.W.A

The late 1980s feud beef between Ice Cube and his former group, NWA, was a legendary rap beef with roots in California. N.W.A originated in 1987 with some hip-hop icons such as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince. Most of the members grew up together in Compton. 

Tensions rose when Ice Cube left the group because of disagreements about money, according to americansongwriter.com. In an interview with Thrasher Magazine, Ice Cube said he would “rather be broke than be in a major group and not be getting paid right.” 

His departure from N.W.A led to a rivalry between him and his former group mates and the 1991 release of what is still considered to be one of the greatest diss records of all time, “No Vaseline.” 

2pac vs. Biggie

Tupac Shakur (2pac) vs. Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G or Biggie) is remembered by many to be the greatest, and most tragic, rap beef of all time. Tupac, 24, was signed to a California-based label, and Biggie, 25, was from New York. The two went back and forth through their music from 1994-1996. 

They started off as collaborators, but a beef was sparked after 2pac was ambushed and wounded at a New York City recording studio in 1994. He alleged that Biggie and P. Diddy were responsible for it, according to the Associated Press. Several legendary diss tracks stemmed from their feud such as “Who Shot Ya,” by Biggie and “Hit em Up,” by 2pac. 

The West Coast vs. East Coast rivalry ended in September of 1996 when 2pac was gunned down in Las Vegas. Six months later, Biggy would suffer the same fate when he was fatally shot in Los Angeles. Their deaths were a blow to the hip-hop world, and although it has been almost 30 years, many fans of the genre agree there’s a void in the rap industry that still resonates today.  

The Game vs. 50 Cent

The war of words between Jayceon Taylor (The Game) and Curtis Jackson (50 Cent) is one of the longest and most notorious hip-hop beefs in history. This was another West Side vs. East Side battle with The Game being from Compton and 50 Cent from New York. According to BET.com, their beef officially started in 2005 when 50 Cent went on the Hot 97 radio show and announced that The Game, who was signed to his label, was getting kicked off.  

In response, The Game showed up to the radio building to confront 50 Cent but was blocked by security from going inside, according to complex.com. The outdoor altercation led to a shootout between the two sides and one person from The Game’s camp was injured.  

Following the incident, 50 Cent did several interviews where he took jabs at The Game. He accused The Game of being an exotic dancer with no street credit and a host of other things. In response, The Game launched a campaign called G-Unot, a mockery of 50 Cent’s label and brand, G-Unit. It also birthed a nearly 15-minute iconic diss track by The Game, 300 Bars and Running.  

The beef lasted for several years, until The Game publicly apologized in 2016 during a show in Los Angeles, according to XXL.com. However, it was seemingly reignited in 2022 when The Game called 50 Cent a profane name on stage.  

Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake

2024 is the current host of one of the wildest rap beefs in recent years – Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake. Their animosity toward each other goes back to 2013 when Kendrick Lamar included a line in a song that said he wanted to murder Drake and other popular rappers when it came to music, according to KTLA.  

At the time, Lamar claimed the bar was figurative and friendly competition, but fast forward over a decade later and things between the two are far from friendly. Over the last several weeks nearly 10 diss tracks have been dropped between the two rappers. From allegations of domestic violence and child abuse to plastic surgery and more – the limits of disrespect toward each other have been endless. On May 3 alone, four songs were released within 24 hours which has had fans on the edge of their seats to see what will happen next.  

Do rappers start beef for publicity or monetary gain?

Although there has not been any hard evidence of staged rap beefs recorded, it cannot be denied that music labels benefit from the extra sales and streams garnered from music feuds.  

For example, Drake is signed to Universal Music Group. Kendrick Lamar is signed to his own label called pgLang. pgLang is a partner of Interscope Records which is owned by Universal Music Group. Essentially, the two are label brothers under Universal – and most of their recently released diss tracks are available for consumption on YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify and SoundCloud.

With all the extra focus on their ongoing beef, Universal Music Group is most likely swimming in a pool of new revenue from the unprecedented number of diss tracks dropped and streamed from their artist’s rap beef. 

In fact, the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef has been so successful that several of their new releases are in the top 20 of Billboard’s top 100 songs, and Kendrick Lamar recently broke Drake’s 2021 Spotify record for most streams in one day – over 6 million streams.