20 Songs You Didn’t Realize Were About Real-Life Feuds

Hip-hop has always run on competition. But some rivalries go so far beyond the stage that they reshape careers, rewrite industry power structures, and occasionally end up in court. Diss tracks are the genre’s sharpest weapons, proof that in rap, words can be more dangerous than almost anything else.

From the East Coast-West Coast war of the nineties to the streaming-era battles of 2024, these songs carry the weight of very real grievances. Some of those grievances were about ego. Others were about money, betrayal, and territory. Let’s go through them one by one.

1. “Hit ‘Em Up” – 2Pac (1996)

The feud began after Tupac was shot in New York in 1994, an incident he blamed on Biggie and Puff Daddy’s inner circle. Tupac struck first with “Hit ‘Em Up,” a shockingly aggressive diss track attacking Biggie on personal and family fronts, breaking every unspoken MC code. “Hit ‘Em Up” had a large role in exacerbating the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry, and following its release, the East Coast rappers insulted in the song responded through tracks of their own. The climax was fatal: Tupac was murdered in Las Vegas in 1996, and Biggie was killed months later.

2. “Who Shot Ya?” – The Notorious B.I.G. (1995)

In 1995, The Notorious B.I.G. released a B-side called “Who Shot Ya?” and hip-hop changed. Two months earlier, friend-turned-rival Tupac had been shot five times in a robbery in Manhattan, and despite claims from Biggie that the song had been recorded before the incident, there was no escaping the implications in the song’s lyrics. Biggie, more restrained but no less strategic, countered with the cryptic “Who Shot Ya?”, widely seen as a veiled jab. This beef fueled tensions between East Coast and West Coast rap scenes, spiraling into media-amplified hostility and industry manipulation.

3. “No Vaseline” – Ice Cube (1991)

N.W.A dissed Ice Cube after he left the group. Ice Cube was the best lyricist in N.W.A., and when the group turned on him, he went nuclear. As documented, Cube didn’t believe he was being adequately compensated, leading to him leaving N.W.A. “No Vaseline” is pure fire – he tears apart Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella in one track. “No Vaseline” helped to solidify Ice Cube’s legacy as an iconic MC.

4. “Takeover” – Jay-Z (2001)

Nas and Jay-Z’s beef is one of hip-hop’s most documented disputes. It started in New York in the mid-1990s, when a quiet tension rumbled along due to Nas’ suspicions that up-and-comer Jay-Z had borrowed from his style. Things finally erupted in 2001, when Jay dropped his sixth album The Blueprint, featuring a track titled “Takeover” packed to the brim with attacks on both Nas and his New York affiliate Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Jay-Z started his war with Nas by calling him washed up, uninspired, and irrelevant in “Takeover,” mocking Nas’s declining record sales and questioning his credibility as a rap legend.

5. “Ether” – Nas (2001)

Named after a chemical used to erase things, “Ether” is so legendary that it became a verb – to “ether” someone means to obliterate them completely. Nas flipped the script on Jay-Z, attacking his ego, career, and personal life with scathing lyrics. As well as crucifying Jay-Z, the track also helped reignite Nas’ career after a series of albums that flopped commercially and critically. “Ether” was featured on Nas’ fifth studio album Stillmatic, which rekindled many hip-hop fans’ respect for the Queensbridge rapper and helped cement the foundations for a long and illustrious career. Jabs continued over the years, with Jay-Z’s mother even publicly scolding her son at one point, but in 2005 things thankfully got squashed between the two artists when Nas joined Jay-Z on stage at his “I Declare War” tour.

6. “Back Down” – 50 Cent (2003)

The two Queens-born artists began beefing in the late ’90s when Ja Rule was reportedly robbed at gunpoint by a group of men affiliated with 50 Cent. Believing that 50 was behind the robbery, he began to dish out insults in a slew of diss tracks. 50 Cent, backed by Eminem and Dr. Dre, retaliated relentlessly with “Back Down” and numerous public jabs. The beef became a case study in strategic image destruction: 50 Cent’s marketing might led to Ja Rule’s rapid commercial decline.

7. “Back to Back” – Drake (2015)

After Meek tweeted an accusation that Drake doesn’t write his own raps, a claim that has dogged Drake with call-outs by everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Pusha T, Drake released his diss track “Charged Up” in the summer of 2015. While music fans anxiously awaited Meek’s response, Drake hit him again with “Back to Back,” landing a knockout blow so hard that Meek’s late response “Wanna Know” hardly gauged a reaction. The track was so iconic it got a Grammy nomination, something no other diss track has achieved.

8. “The Story of Adidon” – Pusha T (2018)

In “The Story of Adidon,” Pusha revealed to the world that Drake was keeping his son Adonis a secret out of shame, discussing Drake’s family life, such as the fact that he and his dad were both allegedly absent fathers. “The Story of Adidon” was not only a ruthless diss track in its own right, but it also revealed cover art featuring a long-forgotten photo of Drake in blackface. Drake later addressed the diss on LeBron James’ HBO show The Shop, stating, “I knew something was gonna come up about my kid. They had to add the deadbeat dad thing to make it more appealing.” It was so brutal that Drake never responded with a track – he only addressed it in interviews.

9. “Killshot” – Eminem (2018)

Back in 2012, after MGK indirectly flirted with Em’s daughter Hailie Mathers when she was a minor, Eminem banned MGK from making appearances on his famed Shade45 radio show, which frequently spotlighted many of hip-hop’s most talented artists. Eminem would then return the favor, dissing MGK on his surprise 2018 album Kamikaze. This led the two to trade diss tracks, starting with MGK’s “Rap Devil” and ending with Eminem’s “Killshot.” This beef had a clear winner, as MGK later admitted that his loss in the rap battle directed him away from hip-hop for good.

10. “Like That” – Kendrick Lamar (feat. Future & Metro Boomin) (2024)

In October 2023, Drake collaborated with fellow rapper J. Cole on a track called “First Person Shooter.” J. Cole bragged about his rapping prowess on the track, referring to himself, Drake, and Lamar as the “Big Three,” singling himself out as Muhammad Ali, or in other words, the greatest of all. In March 2024, Lamar responded to “First Person Shooter” by blasting Drake and J. Cole in guest verses on Metro Boomin and Future’s collaborative track “Like That,” which rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Lamar laughed off the idea of a “Big 3,” insisting there was only a “Big Me,” and then ridiculed Drake for likening himself to Michael Jackson by insisting he would be Prince in the scenario.

11. “Push Ups” – Drake (2024)

On April 13, Drake released “Push Ups,” a diss about Kendrick in which he calls him a “pipsqueak,” and says he wears a size seven men’s shoe. He also says Kendrick isn’t in the “Big Three,” listing other artists who are better than Kendrick, and referencing Kendrick’s collaborations with Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift. While the song generated online acclaim when an unfinished version leaked on April 13, the release was a botched one, with an unfinished version leaking online days before Drake unloaded the official version on digital service providers. The memes directed at Metro Boomin that followed were elite, but as far as diss tracks go, “Push Ups” cast a wide net and hit its targets with glancing blows rather than knockout punches.

12. “Euphoria” – Kendrick Lamar (2024)

On April 30, 2024, Lamar reentered the chat with a song titled “Euphoria” – also the name of the HBO series Drake produces – that attacks Drake on all fronts, blasting his parenting and rap abilities. He also took jabs at Drake’s crew, OVO (October’s Very Own), and criticized Drake, who is half white, for appropriating Black culture. Lamar’s scalding diss blazed the internet and charts, as “Euphoria” climbed to No. 3 on the Hot 100 during its second week on the all-genre tally, securing Lamar’s chart dominance during the battle.

13. “6:16 in LA” – Kendrick Lamar (2024)

On May 3, Kendrick released “6:16 in LA” on social media. In the song, he alleges people who work for Drake’s OVO record label and apparel company dislike Drake and may be secretly working for Kendrick. Drake famously has several songs with times in the title, including “9AM in Dallas,” “4pm in Calabasas,” and “6PM in New York.” The song’s title is a direct reference to these Drake tracks, and the inclusion of producer Jack Antonoff appears to be a direct response to Drake’s “Taylor Made” song.

14. “Taylor Made Freestyle” – Drake (2024)

On April 19, Drake hit back with another diss track while waiting for Lamar to respond. On “Taylor Made Freestyle,” the former Degrassi: The Next Generation actor used AI-generated voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg – Lamar’s idols – to insult him. The song, however, was deleted after Shakur’s estate sent Drake a cease and desist letter. The song received direct criticism from Shakur’s estate, which stated disapproval of the AI-generated verse and threatened to sue Drake to pull the song from social media, citing the violation of Shakur’s personality rights.

15. “Family Matters” – Drake (2024)

The same day Kendrick dropped “6:16 in LA,” Drake released “Family Matters,” a nearly eight-minute song in which he alleges one of Kendrick’s children with longtime girlfriend Whitney Alford was actually fathered by his manager, Dave Free. He also alleges Kendrick alerted Tupac’s estate about Drake’s usage of an AI-generated Tupac verse, and in another scathing line, he alleges Kendrick pays for sex. Everyone thought Drake was in the lead when he dropped “Family Matters” on that fateful Friday night. Then, about 30 minutes later, Kendrick replied with “Meet the Grahams” and immediately squashed it like it never existed.

16. “Meet the Grahams” – Kendrick Lamar (2024)

Personal shots were flying: Drake’s “Family Matters” questioned Lamar’s fatherhood, and Lamar fired back with “Meet the Grahams,” apologizing to Drake’s children for having him as their father. The artwork reveal of the items supposedly included in the Dennis Graham Dossier, along with Lamar having a conversation with each member of Drake’s family – including his alleged daughter – over those somber Alchemist keys is an absolute masterclass in maniacal behavior, as described by Billboard. The track arrived less than an hour after “Family Matters” dropped, instantly shifting public perception of who controlled the battlefield.

17. “Not Like Us” – Kendrick Lamar (2024)

“Not Like Us” debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 with the highest single-week stream mark of 2024, and most observers deemed the beef decided in Lamar’s favor – a win certainly backed up by his songs’ dominance on the charts. Kendrick Lamar brought his famous feud with Drake all the way to the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, where his February 9 performance at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans marked the first time a rapper headlined the NFL’s biggest musical stage alone. It was only fitting that he used the opportunity to drag his biggest foe, even bringing out Drake’s rumored ex Serena Williams in a surprise appearance to dance onstage while he rapped. Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group, for its distribution and promotion of “Not Like Us,” was dismissed. District Judge Jeannette Vargas dismissed the suit after concluding that Lamar’s allegedly defamatory statements in the track are nonactionable opinion.

18. “Hiss” – Megan Thee Stallion (2024)

It was looking like the start of a fruitful friendship when Nicki Minaj joined Megan Thee Stallion for her “Hot Girl Summer” anthem in 2019. More than four years later, things had gone awry as the pair of rap stars were entrenched in a scathing feud. Megan lit the fuse on January 26 with her “Hiss” single, which seemingly took aim at an array of targets including Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty. The lyric was picked apart by listeners who linked it as an apparent dig from Megan to Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, who is a registered sex offender. The scathing “Hiss” would go on to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – her third chart-topping smash – and Minaj returned fire, punching back at her “Hot Girl Summer” collaborator with “Big Foot” days later.

19. “Big Foot” – Nicki Minaj (2024)

Minaj’s song, titled “Big Foot,” got its official release on January 29, though Minaj had already previewed most of the song’s heavy-hitting lyrics on her Instagram Live and X over the weekend. Minaj snipped at Meg for her rapping ability during the same IG Live: “You have three Grammys and you have to learn how to rap on the beat and be comfortable in the music.” Megan never gave Minaj the satisfaction of a public reaction to the diss but shared a photo of herself hysterically laughing on her Instagram Story. As confirmed in a Billboard cover feature, Megan said: “I still to this day don’t know what the problem is. I don’t even know what could be reconciled because I, to this day, don’t know what the problem is.”

20. “Weakest Link” – Chris Brown (2024)

This feud originated when Quavo began dating Chris Brown’s ex, Karrruche, a few years ago. Despite her moving on and getting married, Chris felt deeply betrayed by his former collaborator. In the midst of the Kendrick and Drake rivalry, Chris vented his frustrations through the brutal track “Weakest Link.” In the beef between Quavo and Chris Brown, the Atlanta rapper had set things off first with his own track, rapping about Brown’s history of domestic violence and his break up with Karreuche Tran. Brown wasted no time responding with “Weakest Link,” and he specifically brought up how Quavo was seen on video fighting with his ex-girlfriend, Saweetie, in an elevator. Quavo fired back with “Over Hoes and Bitches,” and both tracks hurled accusations of abuse and sleeping with exes.