What's beef?
Well, whatever it is, it sure has changed over the years. Beef is what ultimately lead to the murders of two contenders for 'best rapper ever.' In 2015, beef consists mostly of Twitter smack-talk and occasionally a diss track or two.
It must say something when the hardest diss tracks of the year have come from the hands of Drake. Through out the petty, little beefs, we didn't hear a whole ton of #shotsfired, so to speak. Instead, we had Instagram videos and the occasional too-long hashtags to look at. It even inspired us to make a list of diss tracks that we want to hear.
All in all, we're happy that beef isn't taken too seriously these days. We don't want to see any rappers die, and if that means rap beef is just Twitter beef, then so be it. At any rate, here are the biggest tiffs of the year.
Meek Mill vs. Wale
Meek Mill vs. Wale
During an interview with the Breakfast Club, Wale said, "I honestly think he brought a pencil to a gun fight. He tried to paper cut him to death. You can’t compete with somebody who has those type of relationships. He could’ve wrote Ether 3.0, the opinions of the people would’ve been that of,the boy from Canada waxed him."
Of course, he was talking about Meek's beef with Drake, which we'll get to later. Meek took this comment a little personally, and took to Instagram to let us know his thoughts, including the below-the-belt words of "U not MMG NOMORE" [sic].
The feud never really boiled into anything at all though, and even boss-man Rick Ross downplayed it when he was interviewed on the Breakfast Club later on. However it does appear to be an on-again off-again thing with the two MMG rappers, as you might recall a similarly pointless beef was started last year when Wale wasn't supporting Meek's album enough.
Iggy Azalea vs. Hip Hop
Iggy Azalea vs. Hip Hop
You have to almost feel bad for Iggy Azalea in 2015. She literally took shade from everyone. From Erykah Badu to former cohort T.I., Azalea had to field negativity from so many people. Everyone would eventually come around to apologize to her, but it's definitely left a stigma when it comes to the hip-hop bubble's thoughts on the Australian rapper. Hopefully she has better luck next year.
Action Bronson vs. Ghostface Killah
Action Bronson vs. Ghostface Killah
You really wouldn't expect for Ghostface and Bronson to go at each other in 2015. They both had pretty awesome years with pretty great releases in Sour Soul and Mr. Wonderful, respectfully, but after Bronson made a comment on ESPN, the OG Ghost got pretty offended.
What happened was, Bronson got a little cocky when asked about the similarity between his and Ghost's voice. Bronson said that Ghost "isn’t rapping like this no more," which pissed Ghost off, prompting him to make the video below. There's also a video game you can play if you feel like playing the beef out yourself.
Birdman vs. Lil Wayne
Birdman vs. Lil Wayne
Perhaps the biggest, most serious beef of 2015 is between these two dudes, and it's because it's over more than pride and Twitter comments. The two long-time collaborators hit a serious low point this year when Lil Wayne sued Birdman for $51 million, stemming from Cash Money Records refusing to release Lil Wayne's new album, among other issues.
You can peep the full timeline of events here. The negativity from this situation spilled over into many other situations, creating beef between Young Thug and Wayne, Thugger and Game, and even Pusha T recently saying that he doesn't respect Birdman.
A resolution doesn't appear to be in sight.
Item #5
Rick Ross vs. 50 Cent
For our throwback beef of the year, Rick Ross and 50 Cent decided to go at it again. Because why not? Ross had a solid year for releases, and 50 Cent claimed bankruptcy, but that didn't stop 50 from goin' at Ross on Instagram. Who knew what started in 2009 would still be relevant this year?
Ross seems like the less-bitter of the two, even saying that he would be pals with 50 if it helped to end racism. "I’ma keep it 100. I’m going to stop racism," Ross said, "If I gotta take him to Wing Stop and have him eat some lemon pepper wings to stop racism, that’s what I’m gonna do."
Lil Wayne vs. Young Thug
Lil Wayne vs. Young Thug
Young Thug is a ridiculous character in the truest sense of the word. Love him or hate him, his cartoon-like presence is seriously polarizing, and when he decided to call his new mixtape Carter 6 amidst the bubbling of Birdman and Wayne's beef, it was a serious WTF moment. (Perhaps the WTF moment of the whole year.)
Wayne was understandably heated, and dissed Thugger on stage on more than one occasion. The feud got serious when Wayne's tour bus was shot up, and Young Thug and Birdman were mentioned on the indictment. Maybe 2015 beef can get serious after all...
The Game vs. Stitches
The Game vs. Stitches
The most recent beef of 2015 has been between The Game and Stitches. After stalking The Game outside of a Miami nightclub on his birthday weekend, Stitches ended up getting knocked out by Game's manager before heading to jail. As if things couldn't get worst, Stitches was jumped by his own friends a day or two afterwords, claiming Game paid them to do so. Stitches persevered on his mission to beat up the game, even calling upon Celebrity Boxing Match for assistance.
Stitches hasn't learned his lesson though, and continues to diss Game on social media. Maybe it's for the attention and headlines, which he's garnering plenty of, but he's making himself look terrible, which is a pretty tall order for someone with stitches tattooed on the side of his face.
Drake vs. Meek Mill
Finally we have the most publicized beef of the year, and the only one that yielded some great music. Although the musicality of the beef was extremely one-sided, "Charged Up" and "Back to Back" were some of the better diss tracks to be released in recent history.
The feud started when Meek Mill accused Drake of not writing his own rhymes. Rappers getting help on their tracks is something that is pretty much out in the open if you've ever perused liner notes, but Meek decided to make it a thing after Drake helped him with the successful collaboration "R.I.C.O." Apparently, Meek Mill didn't think the whole thing through very well, because he didn't have much more ammunition to throw Drake's way following that initial blast.
Drizzy was confused by the lack of ammunition himself, saying in an interview with Fader, "You’re gonna engage in a conversation about writing music, and delivering music, with me? And not have anything to put forth on the table?" It was a little puzzling for all of us watching, and Drake was the clear winner in the beef.