Thug Life Army

Rap beef and diss tracks are all the talk it seems these last few months. Some rap artists feel that they can go at almost anyone on wax and then think they did something really impressive.

Most of the older, more mature rap artists have not got involved in the recent flurry but maybe we need them to get involved as a boost for the hip-hop culture.

When the late west coast rap icon Tupac Shakur released ‘Hit Em Up’ there was no come back to that. Everyone just stepped back and said ‘Wow’. It was an unbelievable straight out verbal attack that just stunned almost everyone.

Tupac had taken diss tracks to the next level, he made it personal. The emotion in that track was real, you could feel it.

That is what is missing in the so called diss tracks of today, emotion, feeling and the ‘realness’ of the words. That is how most of us know that these are not real diss tracks they are subliminal commercials that people are falling for.

Thanks to Death Row Records CEO,rap legend Marion ‘Suge’ Knight; Tupac had the freedom to hit the studio when ever he wanted. He felt something, he hit the studio. The tracks dropped and that was that.

Today they have to book studio time. Then after they drop it, they play with it. Remix and ‘polish’ it for a few weeks or months or in some cases hold it to ‘blend it’ into their next album. By then the emotion is so watered down that it is a lack luster attempt at a diss track; if that.

With ‘Hit Em Up’ you did not have to listen hard to hear the diss. There was no ‘did he mean this dude or that dude’? The track was a diss; from start to finish. You knew all the players who were in Tupac’s sights; he called everyone of them all out.

Maybe we as a culture need a real rap artist who is loved by all the hip-hop culture to ‘nail’ this diss thing up. To take hip-hop to the next level and let it be ALL it can be – to ALL people.

As a culture just imagine how much more accepted and received the culture would be without all the ‘lil boyz’ acting hard and playing these money making games with our culture. And of course there are some artists who can’t differ ‘wax battles’ for real world battles and then there is ‘beef’; a reality in hip-hop that is hurting hip-hop’s ability to be a world wide power house. Not just rap music but a world wide movement of thoughts, beliefs and action.

It seems anymore, the only people who enjoy these so called diss tracks of today are the much younger listener.

A hip-hop classic artist like Nas could ‘nail’ this up and make a diss track that, in the line of attack of ‘Hit Em Up’; would have no come back to.

Nas, and there are others who are capable; is a lyricist. And there is the extra added benefit; you could actually understand what he is saying.

The diss thing is getting old to a lot of the artists to. Although some of them enjoy riding the ‘wave’ when they are called out on wax, it seems that even some of the artists are tired of it all to or have just ignored it from the start of the recent flurry of things.

Not in sighting ‘beef’, but a street battle type diss is what hip-hop needs but it needs to come from a quality icon status artist who can just end it; once and for all.

Tupac had said “When we drop records, they felt’ and that is what we need. Something we all can feel to put this all in check and move on.

So Nas, hip-hop needs you. The culture you helped build is becoming infested with rap roaches and those who are trying to ‘pimp’ hip-hop for their own gain and not the high-quality and standards of the culture. If not Nas there are a few others but someone, some living legend can step up and understand what needs to be down and ‘polish’ this all off; once and for all. And when and if it happens hip-hop can get back on the path and really start getting things accomplished.