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Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Biggie and Tupac. Jay-Z and Nas. Hip-hop ‘beef’ is a trusted and proven marketing tool. But what happens when it goes beyond business?

If you know anything at all about hip-hop, or even popular culture, you already know the answer. The proof is in the pudding. What eventually happened to both Tupac and Biggie? Exactly.

To understand ‘beef’ in the rap world, we must start at the beginning:

The Roxanne Wars

It was 1984. U.T.F.O, a hip-hop trio hailing from Brooklyn released a single, ‘Hanging Out’. It flopped. However, the B-side would have a historical impact no one could have predicted. Titled ‘Roxanne, Roxanne’, it garnered much attention and airplay. So much so that they were booked to appear on all sorts of shows.

But that clearly didn’t matter all that much to the rap trio. After cancelling an appearence on a radio show promoted by DJ ‘Mr. Magic’ and record producer ‘Marley Marl’, all hell broke loose.

A 14 year-old girl named ‘Lolita Shante Gooden’ offered to star on a track produced by Mr Marl, hitting back at U.T.F.O for their disrespect. Taking the moniker, ‘Roxanne Shante’, they produced a track titled ‘Roxanne’s Revenge’. Taking beats from the instrumental version of U.T.F.O’s ‘Roxanne, Roxanne’, it was pretty obvious who the track was aimed at.

‘Roxanne’s Revenge’ went on to quickly sell over 250,000 copies in the New York area alone. “Oh shit, this really gets people’s attention doesn’t it” was the reaction of the Hip-hop community… I guess.

It was predicted that anywhere between 30 – well over 100 records were produced over the next year. All about this famous Roxanne (she’s not even a real person, just to clear that up.)

40 years on, and the same old tactic is still being used, and to an even greater success.

Hip-Hop’s Greatest Marketing Tool

Whether future artists looked specifically at the ‘Roxanne Wars’ or not, it certainly had an impact. Over the next 40 years there were countless ‘beefs’ looking to replicate the success and attention of the wars.

One thing is for sure, it ALWAYS ends up with the participants making lots of money.

But, is it just for the money, or is it actually real? We’ll discuss that in a minute. But first let’s take a look at just how great it is for business.

All you need to do to find proof is go on social media right now. It’ll be dominated by Kendrick fans going at Drake fans and Drake fans going at Kendrick fans. ‘Not Like Us’ is probably the single biggest song in the world right now. Drake is informing the local news via instagram stories to stop with the helicopters flying over his house so that he can sleep. It is undoubtably dominating all of media.

We probably wouldn’t have heard any new Kendrick material for a couple of years if it wasn’t for this. We probably wouldn’t have heard any new Drake material for… well, maybe a week? He’s always spewing out some generic shit isn’t he.

But the fact remains. Kendrick is making money, Drake is making money, and the fans are being treated to constant new tunes. Everyone wins, right? Not always.

How real is it?

Legendary music producer, Rick Rubin, who produced countless ‘Def Jam’ records in the 80s and 90s, can describe it better than me. Stick with me here.

I once heard him say something along the lines of “Professional Wrestling is closer to real life than real life itself.” You’re probably thinking what the hell does that have to do with anything. Well, let me reveal this to you, rap beef is basically professional wrestling.

Obviously without the men in leotards and the fake fighting. But I implore you to research the term ‘Kayfabe’. There’s all sorts of academic studies linking the idea of Kayfabe to modern day politics, in particular populism and Donald Trump. Basically, it’s the idea of you playing a character, everyone knows you’re playing a character, but for some reason it feels so so real. Which leads to everyone involved forgetting it’s a character at all. And in some instances it is much more real than you think.

And this is where hip-hop beef comes in. They are blurring the lines of Kayfabe. I’m sure Tupac and Biggie, or Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, or Kendrick and Drake do have a genuine dislike towards each other. But they know that they can manipulate this dislike, and make some $$.

I’m not saying that they’re sitting in some room, laughing at all you fools on social media, whilst writing these diss tracks together in some weird ploy to take over the world (but what if they are :o). The tracks are real, the dislike is real, but they are playing up to it and they’ve got you all right where they want you.

I could regret writing this. It could come out tomorrow, headline news: “DRAKE SHOT DEAD AFTER TOTALLY LEGIT BEEF” That’d show me. There’s certainly proof that could happen.

But could it go too far?

Perhaps the most famous rap ‘beef’ ever was between the genre’s two biggest stars of the 90s. You know who. Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.

Former friends turned foes. I’m sure neither of them would have predicted how their feud would end. It would’ve started just like this whole Kendrick and Drake thing. A few shots at each other (not literal shots… yet), making some money, defending their crew. It’s not that serious, right? Wrong.

You already know how it ended. 1996, Tupac Shakur shot and killed. One year later, 1997, Biggie Smalls, shot, and killed.

That’s just one of countless examples of murders in the hip-hop world. Even in the modern day where ‘all these kids are just pretending to be gangsters’. Just look at XXXtentacion, Nipsey Hussle and Takeoff in recent years.

It’s just entertainment for us, and rightly so. We shouldn’t have to spend a second worrying about whether x or y will be killed for releasing a song. But the reality for x or y is very different.

Sometimes what starts as just a bit of fun goes too far. Almost feels like that’s what’s happened to this article, apologies for the dark, somber end. Your role in hip-hop beef is just to enjoy it, remember that.