If you have been on the internet for the past six weeks, you might have seen the back-and-forth between rap fanatics and stans over the recent lyrical war happening in the US hip-hop scene involving two modern rap giants, Drake and Kendrick Lamar. What came as a surprise guest verse on Metro Boomin and Future’s joint album We Don’t Trust You saw Kendrick throw shots at Drake and J. Cole in response to a song the two had dropped months ago. The verse went viral as Kendrick declared himself the King of Rap with no equal. The line “Motherf**k the big three, Ni**a, it’s just big me” took over social media as listeners could not hold their excitement. Eventually, both Drake and Cole would respond, but the latter would issue a public apology and remove the song from streaming platforms. Surprisingly, he was the first to respond to Kendrick’s. Drake, on the other hand, has stood his ground since his first response, Push Ups, and since then, both he and Kendrick have been going at each other with diss songs in what many have described as the best rap beef in recent history with Kendrick Lamar capping it with his smash hit Not Like Us.
Beefs have always been part of human nature. In an environment where competition is ever-present, there will be moments when people clash, egos bruised and toes stepped on. The music industry, like many other industries, is a very competitive space, with people battling each other to please consumers, labels, and investors. In the heat of the moment, some people settle things by going at each other with their songs or, in some cases, social media posts and comments. Some of these beef and clashes end after a few exchanges of words or diss songs. Others drag on for years and decades, and in some cases, they have moved from being lyrical to getting physical and dangerous. While the world of rap is excited about the ongoing beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, which has driven massive attention to hip-hop, it must be noted that there have been some interesting feuds in other genres and parts of the world of music. John Lennon vs. Paul McCartney, Prince and Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey vs. Whitney Houston, and Kanye West vs. Taylor to clashes in the African music space between the late AKA vs. Cassper Nyovest, Prince Kaybee vs. DJ Maphorisa, Burna Boy vs. Davido, and Shatta Wale vs. Stonebwoy. Beefs have been and will continue to be part of the music industry. However, the question is: how does it benefit not only the artist but also the culture?
In 2013, when the Reggae-Dancehall revolution started in Ghana off the back of diss songs between Shatta Wale and High-Grade Family’s Samini, the former came after Kaakie, the then affiliate of High-Grade Family, who won the award for “Best Reggae-Dancehall Song of the Year” at the Ghana Music Awards, which Shatta Wale believed was his to win. The feud between the Shatta Movement and the HighGrade Family would take a turn when other dancehall acts caught in the crossfire joined the beef by pitching their tents with one side against the other.
The revolution started with those two camps, putting dancehall music on par with the then-popular hip-hop/azonto genre in airplay and popularity. In the space of five years, acts like Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy (the major players of the feud), Epixode, Rudebwoy Ranking, Rashid Metal, and a host of others would catapult reggae/dancehall, making it the leading genre in the country. The dominance of reggae and dancehall music was so enormous that rappers like Sarkodie, E.L., Edem, and Music Group 4×4 would drop dancehall songs at different times.
While the dancehall acts had their moments, rappers in the country were not left out. Sarkodie was caught in heated feuds with E.L., Asem, Quata, and others. However, the beef that took center stage was with M.anifest. In 2016, when both rappers went at it on their songs GodMc and Kanta, they took over the trends on social media and panel discussions on TV and radio. The beef went on for a while, drawing attention to the Ghanaian hip-hop scene at a time when hiplife and other singing genres were the go-to genres for listeners.
One could argue that the music produced during the feud between Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy was of great quality. Mahama Paper, Ayoo, Baafira, Run Go, Pull Up, Bhim Nation, Korle Gono, and Dancehall King are some of the songs both artists released. The level of competition raised the standards for everyone involved and within the industry. Ultimately, both artists managed to win the coveted Artiste of the Year award during the five years they championed the Dancehall Revolution.
In another part of the region, Nigeria was also having its share of music clashes. With one of the biggest being Wizkid and Davido. Despite being friends in the early days of their careers, there has been a rift between the two over the years. They have been seen in very friendly and brotherly environments, with the most recent being at an event in Lagos where both acts were seen hugging and laughing together. That did not last long, as last week saw a very heated 48-hour social media exchange between the two.
While these two have been going at it silently over the years, things became more heated when Burna Boy became an active member of the clash as the third force. Burna Boy and Davido have traded words through their music and comments during interviews. In a very recent interview, Davido referred to Burna Boy as a “new cat,” alluding to the fact that Burna was on the same level as him. Burna has equally replied to Davido’s comments through tweets, which have now been deleted. However, in 2020, Davido and Burna were allegedly involved in a rumble in Accra when they met in a nightclub. Surprisingly, Wizkid was present at the event but kept to himself as his brothers went at each other. In a not-so-shocking twist of events, Wizkid and Burna seem to be close friends, as both have released Ginger and Balon Dor. Amidst their differences, all three artists continue to raise the bar for African artists. The quality of music between the three has significantly grown over the years as each has been influenced by the other.
One interesting thing worth mentioning was how the long-standing beef between rap giants M.I Abaga and Vector ended up with both rappers doing a song together after going after each other in different songs. The song “Crown of Clay” marked the end to their beef and a renewed friendship between both parties.
It is worth mentioning that there have been some cross-country beefs within Africa. From Shatta Wale’s clashes with Nigerian acts Burna Boy (who was once a close friend) to Wizkid and Lyrical Joe’s rap beef with other rappers on the continent as well as Blaqbonez & Khaligraph Jones, which started when the former took shots at Khaligraph, who had won the Best Hip-hop Act award at the 2020 edition of the Soundcity MVP Awards ahead of him. Interestingly, disputes over awards are but one of the many catalysts for beef in the music industry. There have been times where fans have instigated beefs by taunting one artist in favor of another. In the recent Wizkid and Davido clash, fans were heavily involved in trolling Davido, as Wizkid played along by posting videos of Davido. In Ghana, the same can be said as fanatics of Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, and Sarkodie go at each other and have sometimes resulted in responses from the artists themselves throwing shots at their colleagues off the back of tweets from an opposing fanbase.
Many have questioned the relevance of beef to the music industry as they have witnessed some clashes become breeding grounds for hate, disrespect, and, in some cases, violence, as seen around the world. However, some disagree with the earlier assertion. Some believe it allows people to express their creativity in ways they ordinarily would not. In South Africa, Cassper Nyovest initiated boxing matches to settle his feuds. Whenever there is beef, individuals put their best foot forward to come out victorious. We have also seen others get billed for shows together to increase ticket sales, which means more money for the artists involved.
Although beefs can be entertaining if kept lyrical, it must be pointed out that beefs can get violent and bloody, as seen in the case of Stonebwoy vs. Shatta Wale, in which the former pulled out a gun when the latter joined him on stage at the 2019 Ghana Music Awards, leading to the end of the event. Another instance was the beef between dancehall artists Mavado and Vybz Kartel. As such, artists must be careful when putting out statements whenever they feud. The presence of stans in today’s industry has seen people take things to heart and get violent on behalf of their favourite artists. People on social media have disrespected and threatened others over simple disagreements or for expressing something against someone’s favourite artist. Rather, artists and industry must seize the moment to promote lyrical competition, which will drive all parties involved to put their best forward while creating avenues for the industry to gain money through events, merchandise, or content creation.
Written By Nana Kojo Mula
