A Musical Explanation: What's Beef?

By Ellie Drabnis on April 6, 2017

I have had too many friends ask me ‘Who is Remy Ma?’ and ‘What’s beef?’ in the last few weeks. So, I now offer:

A Musical Explanation: What’s Beef?

(https://pixabay.com)

Well, according to The Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smallz, “beef is when your moms ain’t safe up in the street.”

Ahem, musical reference and jokes aside, plainly, ‘having beef’ means that you are having issues with someone and are even perhaps holding a grudge against them which is mutual. Point is, if two people are ‘beefing,’ put simply, they are not getting along. But, there must be a way to resolve that … right?

The answer to that question is sort of. You see, Biggie and Tupac ‘had beef’ and many believe that because it escalated so much that their beef was the cause of their deaths. But there’s plenty of speculation over all of that.

Even Lil Kim had beef with Foxy Brown back in the ’90s, and Kim addressed the beef more directly on her track, Notorious K.I.M., which was released once she left prison.

Even Eminem knows something about beef; Ja Rule was already insulting 50 Cent, Em’s close friend and label mate, when Rule insulted Eminem’s daughter, Hailie Jade, on a song which Eminem did not take lightly. Though, Em did go on to apologize for this in his song, Like Toy Soldiers.

Nas and Jay-Z were no strangers to beefing either, though Nas has explained that he and Jay-Z are friendly in present-day. Still, that doesn’t mean that Nas and Jay-Z fans won’t still sit up and debate the lyricism that went into H.O.V. and Nasty Nas’ rap beef and even who really won.

Lyricism, what? Yes, as in music. Rap beefs typically play out in diss tracks which are then responded to as seen fit by the artist that they are aimed toward.

It should also be noted that ‘rap beef’ is nothing new within the hip hop music scene. Now for the second explanation:

Who is Remy Ma?

Sure, a lot of people are saying, “well, Nicki Minaj is worth more money, therefore, she’s the better MC.” That statement is very wrong.

Money does not equal skill at all. Sure, Remy Ma was in prison for a time, but she was long established in the rap game having been part of Big Pun’s Terror Squad. And, she’s had quite a few hits to her name and recently she appeared on Fat Joe’s latest single, All The Way Up. Not to mention Remy Ma writes all of her verses and does not use ghostwriters.

Remy Ma did, indeed, do some time in prison but her talent remains firm and her verses remain raw and real as ever!
(screenshot from my iTunes library of Fat Joe’s song ‘All The Way Up’ which features Remy Ma and French Montana)

Nicki Minaj is no stranger to high listings on the Billboard charts either, but she is a sell-out. What I mean is, in order to stay ‘mainstream’ Nicki has put lyricism behind her and has more or less ‘gone pop.’ Yes, I’ve heard her music and she’s got plenty of ‘sexy lines’ out there, but Lil Kim did that first.

Remy Ma and Nicki Minaj’s Beef

It was a bit unclear what started the beef between Remy Ma and Nicki Minaj but XXL Magazine offers a rather detailed and easy to understand timeline that, this beef like all the rap beefs before it, was already brewing.

But, all that happened when Remy Ma put out a diss track against Nicki Minaj called ‘Shether’ stylized as ShETHER which is a shout out and sample of Nas’ diss track against Jay-Z, Ether.

Minaj did not respond and instead, since she is friendly with Nas, called him for help in having ShETHER removed from streaming services, but keeping it on iTunes for purchase so that Nas would get royalties from it.

In my opinion, I would say Nicki Minaj lost because she did not even attempt to respond to Remy and instead ‘called and told the teacher’ (Nas), as a child who tattles on the schoolyard would do. Though, Nas explained that he ‘had no beef’ with Remy using his song as a sample and thinks that the music companies involved had more to do with Shether’s removal from streaming sites.

Regardless, I hope this ‘musical explanation’ of what’s beef helped clear up some confusion for you non-hip hop heads out there.

(https://pixabay.com)

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