The Diss Tracks We Didn’t Need | Eminem v.s. Melle Mel
An iconic battle? A needless mistake? Is it time to retire the diss track?
Right on time for the 50th anniversary, we got our first epic diss, Battle Beef! Or not. The hip-hop multi-metaverse was aflame when Eminem devoted the latter half of his “The Realest” verse to directly name-check and throw bows at the venerable Melle Mel. The simple backdrop is Melle Mel had over a period of years talked greasy about several emcees, including Eminem, who he’s name-checked repeatedly in interviews and stories dissing him. I guess Marshall had enough and decided to let loose.
Sadly, the result was, as is customary in the culture, and by the code set forth, Mel responded. And, well, it was a response. I am actually not here to discuss a breakdown of who won, or whose verse was or wasn’t ill. The streets have already done that, and for me it doesn’t matter because everybody lost. Mel, Em, the culture, this was one of the most unnecessary “battles” in hip-hop. It might have topped Drake vs. Common as the most useless battle of all time.
There is a code — it is unwritten, but it is understood. If you come for me on record, or live, it’s on. Seemingly that is the only prerequisite necessary. I don’t like you; let me tell you about it on wax. Simple. Except, within the culture, the consequences and the results have always had a much more meaningful impact than simply getting someone back for disrespect.
The idea of the ‘diss’ in hip-hop is almost as old as the culture itself. I am not old enough to remember the classic New Year’s live battle between Busy Bee and Kool Moe Dee that effectively changed the trajectory of rappers. Busy Bee, the incumbent “greatest rapper alive” versus the new and young upstart.
Their clash, it can be said, set the course for the “New School” of rap to be born, with Moe Dee’s advanced flow, cadence and lyricism to Busy Bee’s call-and-response, crowd-rocking bravado. Moe Dee’s display upped the stakes for rappers to go beyond just hooks and singsong flows. The battle and subsequent disses were a watershed moment for the culture to be pushed forward.
I am, however, old enough to very much remember the impact of the diss tracks traded between KRS-One and MC Shan, which pitted two supernova crews versus one another, two seminal heavyweights vying for whose borough would claim supremacy. Even years later, learning that to a certain extent the battle was very much staged for publicity, the results effectively ended any relevance MC Shan would have as an artist (even if the Juice Crew would remain largely untarnished).
The idea of the diss record, or even a response record (think Roxanne Shante’s “Roxanne’s Revenge” versus “Roxanne Roxanne” by UTFO), usually had much more riding on it for the artist than simply trading barbs. This would be the arena where gladiators could feasibly settle a score once and for all. For respect, for territory or even simply to decide who would be the trend-setter, the north star for rap at any given time.
In the infamous and ultimately tragic East Coast/West Coast beef, the records traded by the heavyweights and (not-so heavyweights) in that battle were very much to determine who at the time had the more relevant, more superior sound and hold on hip-hop. It had parts that might be propaganda or even cosmetic, but it did, for the time appear to have real consequences in its outcome.
No one could have known how deadly they ultimately would be. When Jay-Z and NaS had their epic diss records at the start of the 21st century, it very much was meant to settle the debate (arguably one fabricated by Jay-Z himself, but that is another article for another time) of who was the King of NY and, by proxy, the GOAT for the entire culture.
Another battle that in some respects echoes Moe Dee vs. Busy Bee, Ja Rule and Fifty Cent, Murda Inc. vs. Aftermath very much was about who would control the narrative of rap in New York. The results were the nail in the coffin for Ja Rule as an artist, despite his popularity.
These are only a few examples of the battles and diss records that have been high-profile or notable in the culture, and while there are some that don’t fall strictly into this idea, largely the diss record has been meant to be a way to push the culture in a new direction, and consequently either usher out or usher in, if not establish, the dominant style or voice for the contemporary times. In this way, the Melle Mel vs. Eminem “battle” felt so unnecessary. Neither man, as King Crxxked commented on Twitter, can be “erased from hip-hop.”
In their own respective ways, they are fixed points in the rap universe that are responsible for too much and too many to ever be deemed irrelevant because of a mere battle. (And in that sense, it mirrors why Jay, despite losing the battle, “won the war” and, at the same time, why NaS still has stayed relevant and visible even as Jay surpassed him. Both emcees’ longevity and endurance are owing to their undoubtable and undeniable influence and contributions to the culture.)
Em and Mel don’t have any new music on the foreseeable horizon; an ulterior motive in the modern era of rap to generate “beef,” a WWE-style hero vs. heel match-up to get people talking about their names before the subsequent project hits the airwaves with greater effect.
So what this ultimately felt like were two jilted egos wanting to get theirs off on a larger stage. For me, it was certainly the battle nobody asked for or wanted, but emcees are gonna emcee and I’m reminded why, sometimes, there is a reason why we can’t have nice things.
