Diss (music)

A diss track or diss song (also spelled dis) is a song primarily intended to disparage or disrespect another person or group. While musical parodies and attacks have always existed, the trend became increasingly common in the hip hop genre as part of the hip hop rivalry phenomenon. However, diss tracks have also occurred in other genres; for instance, the Megadeth song "Liar" is a diss track directed at former Megadeth member Chris Poland.

Background information

Almost exclusively in the rap genre are songs that make condescending remarks towards other people. The first ever recorded diss track was 14 year old Roxanne Shante's diss track to UTFO. Most of the older feuds can be traced back to geographical affiliations. In various cities around the U.S. are territorial patriotism that leads to violence. When this violence cannot be solved, many local artists use their music as an outlet. One of the most well known territorial feud was between the East and West Coast Rappers. However this is now settled and most 'beefs' now occur when a group or artist attacks another artist or group rather than a geographic area, a good example of this is Ja Rule and 50 Cent who started a feud with one another (both artists lived in the same neighborhood of Queens, New York).

A good diss track will get the listener to believe what the rapper suggests about their opponent. Many rappers use punchlines to draw the crowd in. These punchlines are metaphors and similes that deface their opponent. A good diss track will have background information about the opponent in order to make true references about them. A lot of artists spend time gathering information about their opponent through what they hear on the street as well as listening to their music.

Violence

Violence occasionally ensues from long-standing confrontation as a result of things said on record, most notably the shootings of 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. Often, diss tracks are thought to be serious threats against rappers, but with increasing media coverage, it is seen that sometimes diss tracks are meant solely for the promotion of the artists. Notable areas of territorial violence in California include L.A., Compton and Oakland.

Other notable areas with a history of rap feuds include the "Dirty South", Chicago, Sacramento, Memphis, Detroit, Kansas City, and Houston.

Promotion

In September 2007 rapper 50 Cent proclaimed that if fellow rapper Kanye West sold more records than him in the first week, he would retire from making CDs. Kanye accepted the challenge and it appeared that this was an attempt to get more people interested in the respective artists and buy their CDs. At the end of the first week, however, Kanye outsold 50 Cent with 957,000 copies to 50's 691,000. 50 Cent was recently quoted on the Howard Stern Show as saying that he only said he would retire to "hype the situation."

Often rappers go on radio shows to broadcast their dislike for other rappers. They usually make back-handed comments as to not directly say whom they are referring to, rather leaving it to the listeners to decide for themselves. Often people take lyrics of some rappers and claim that they are saying something bad about another, and rumors start. This creates controversy for both parties, but usually the pseudo-dispute is settled by one of the parties responding to the allegations in attempt to clear the air.

Diss songs are usually the by-product of heated rivalries between two or more rap artists:

• 2pac vs. The Notorious B.I.G
• East Coast vs. West Coast feud
• Boogie Down Productions vs. Juice Crew (The Bridge Wars)
• Jay-Z vs. Nas
• Eminem & D12 vs. The Source (magazine) & Ja Rule
• 50 Cent vs. Ja Rule
• Eazy-E vs. Death Row Records
• N.W.A vs. Ice Cube
• LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee feud
• G-Unit vs. The Game feud
• LL Cool J vs. Ice-T
• Ice-T vs. Soulja Boy Tell'Em
• Ice Cube vs. Cypress Hill
• MC Hammer vs. Jay-Z
• Cash Money Records vs. No Limit Records
• Nicki Minaj vs. Lil' Kim
• Professor Elemental vs. Mr._B_The_Gentleman_Rhymer

One of the earliest examples of this particular type of song is "The Bridge is Over" by Boogie Down Productions.

Rapper Lil Wayne released his third album, 500 Degreez, in the summer of 2002. It directly references fellow former Hot Boys member Juvenile's 400 Degreez, released November 3, 1998. Juvenile had left Lil Wayne's Cash Money earlier in the same year.

In some cases, the diss song may be a parody of another song. One example of this is "No Pigeons" by Sporty Thievz, which parodied the TLC hit, "No Scrubs". In the original "No Scrubs" the women talk about not wanting men with bad credentials. The parody talks about not wanting women with no means of their own, as well. As well, rapper Too Short parodied the song "My Neck, My Back" by Khia in the form of the 'male' rebuttal "My dick My sack".