The Greatest Diss Tracks in Hip-Hop History

Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. met in May 1993 during the latter’s first trip to Los Angeles with Bad Boy Records. That summer and fall, the two maintained a friendly relationship, even performing together in Manhattan. In 1994, however, Tupac was shot during a robbery at Quad Recording Studios in New York where Sean “Diddy” Combs and Biggie were also present. Tupac believed he had been set up and publicly accused Bad Boy of involvement in the incident. Months later, Biggie released “Who Shot Ya?,” a subliminal diss seen by Tupac as a mockery of the shooting. In response, Tupac released “Hit ‘Em Up,” an anti-East Coast anthem that sent targeted barbs at Biggie, Diddy, Junior M.A.F.I.A., and the rest of the Bad Boy family.

Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown initially maintained a close friendship despite being members of rival hip-hop groups Junior M.A.F.I.A. and the Firm. The two even posed together for the covers of The Source and Vibe magazines in 1996. Their relationship began to sour when their debut albums were released a week apart and the constant critical comparisons — plus, accusations that Brown stole her bars and style from Kim — fueled the pair’s feud. Their beef peaked in 2000 with the release of Kim’s second album, The Notorious K.I.M. The record’s title track was a diss aimed at Brown, which claimed she used ghostwriters. Brown responded in a verse on Capone-N-Noreaga’s “Bang Bang” where she mocked Kim’s relationship with The Notorious B.I.G. and her grief over his death.

Drake’s 2016 beef with Meek Mill — in which Meek claimed Drake had used a ghostwriter for his verse on their collaboration “RICO” — would inform Drake’s beef with Pusha T two years later. Pusha T added new fuel to the fire when he made the same accusations on 2018’s Daytona. Drake promptly responded with “Duppy Freestyle,” in which he claimed that Pusha T rhymed about experiences that weren’t his own and that he actively held back the creative output of other artists on the G.O.O.D. Music roster. Pusha T replied with “The Story of Adidon,” which — along with disparaging bars about Drake’s father and his producer Noah “40” Shebib — disclosed that Drake had a son named Adonis previously unknown to the public.

Despite never mentioning him in the song’s lyrics, Lauryn Hill’s “Lost Ones” is widely presumed to be about former Fugees bandmate Wyclef Jean. Following the Fugees split in 1997, Jean blamed the disbandment on Hill’s pregnancy and their on-again, off-again relationship. The animosity between Hill and Jean came to a head when she rejected his help on her debut album on the grounds that Jean had urged her against launching a solo career in spite of her contributions and support for his solo projects.

When Ice Cube left N.W.A. in 1989 over royalty issues, a firestorm of controversy engulfed one of the biggest groups in West Coast rap. N.W.A. released several diss tracks against Ice Cube on 100 Miles and Runnin’ and N*ggaz4Life, calling him a traitor and an Ice-T wannabe. Ice Cube responded with “No Vaseline,” the final track on his second studio album Death Certificate. The song features pointedly vicious lyrics toward the remaining N.W.A. members and their manager Jerry Heller. The group never responded, but Dr. Dre released “F*ck wit Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)” on his solo debut, which alluded to the beef with Ice Cube. Ultimately, the pair settled their differences and Ice Cube appeared in Dre’s music video for “Let Me Ride.”