Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The 5 Greatest Diss Songs of the Last 25 Years

Diss records do more harm than good. They hurt feelings, ruin careers, and start feuds that sometimes last for years. That being said, you can't help but love these songs for their sheer entertainment value. Instigating on wax never goes out of style. Here are the top 5 of the last 20 years:

Honorable Mention: The Warning - Eminem. Mariah, it ever occur to you that I still have pictures? Something tells me Marshall Mathers doesn't make veiled threats. If this was a warning I shudder to think what a full on onslaught would sound like. Listening to this song is like watching Roy Jones Jr. transform into the "RJ" against Montell Griffin. To see the best at their best is a rare privelige.

5. Dollaz and Sense - DJ Quik. E-I-H-T, now shall I continue? Yeah you left out the G cause the G aint in you. Whatever career Eight had left before this song came to an abrupt end. I'm not sure what provoked Quik into this tirade, but for 4 minutes he gave Eiht a verbal ass whipping.

4. I see the bitch in yoo - Common. I'm filling out your death certificate slanging bean pies and St. Ides in the same sentence. I'm gonna call self defense on this one. Cube and Mack 10 couldn't have possibly anticipated a retaliation of this magnitude when they provoked him. It was clear after this song Wes' Side Connection had bitten off a little more than they could chew.

3. Come Clean - Jeru tha Damaja. Bought a tool and didn't learn how to use it. Got lost in Brooklyn so you had to lose it. Just for frontin you got that ass waxed. Taking on a whole sub category of hip-hop was unprecedented at the time. Calling out the entire gangsta rap community was risky at best. Kudos to DJ Premier for giving him that water dripping, head nodding beat.

2. 300 Bars - The Game. You ain't 50 Cent, he went out like a gangsta. You went out with Vivica 3 months after Wangsta. From a content standpoint this is the number one diss song of the last 20 years. The Game clearly had an out of body experience on this one. No one has ever maintained that level of lyrical wizardry for that long. How can you even think of something to say about someone for 15 minutes straight?

1. No Vaseline - Icecube. God damn I'm glad ya'll set it off. Used to be hard, now you're just wet and soft. Already in his prime and sitting atop the hip-hop world, Icecube took out his frustration individually and collectively on NWA. Not only did the song validate Cube's departure from the world's most dangerous group, it was a prophetic look into the future. Dr. Dre would leave months later to start Death Row and the rest is history.

2 comments:

  1. Cleavie,I think me and you have went back and forth for years on this very subject. Ice cube is the man.

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  2. I have to agree with you. Other than Jay-z, no one has had a better run. America's most to Kill at Will to Death Certificate is the greatest 3 album stretch in Hip-hop history.

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