Must be the time of the year, but blood pressure seems to be rising in hip-hop and we're enjoying every conceivable combination of beef: old heads vs. new, hipster vs. backpack, and everyone's favorite, 50 vs. the world.
Don't blame Soulja Boy for missing the boat on why Ice-T said he should eat a dick. He's 17, and he's made boatloads of cash on ringtones and a summer pop song. Soulja speaks within the terms of hip hop pop music, where rules are written purely by units sold. That's nothing new, but maybe what's being buried is that old distinction that some heads try to draw between rappers and MC's… those in it for self-expression and those in it to cash in and step out. Naturally, a new generation of consumers don't want their daddy's hip hop, and Soulja Boy's one answer.
Soulja Boy, at Ice T:
When it's like the year 2058 and I'm old as hell and there's this young n*gga and I'm still trying to rap, which I probably wont be… you're rich as fuck, you can't tell me you don't have no money… Quit! Why you still rapping dog? No one wanna hear that shit no more, the reality of it is that the game has changed, there's new n*ggas out… and no one wanna hear that old shit anymore.
A brighter hope in the new generational landscape are getting plenty of fire too, though more from the media that takes its hip hop seriously: Kidz in the Hall blame the “hipster rap” name-calling attacks on their shift towards a few radio-friendly alterations to their music:
But the cake goes to 50 Cent, for stirring up more shit in the past week then all the other beefs piled up in one $200 burger.
There was relative calm on the Fif front after his unceremonious shelving at the hands of Kanye (the godfather of hipster rap?), but now that he's gearing up for G-Unit's July 1 Terminate on Site (so metal), to no one's surprise, he's slamming his head against a whole bunch of other heads. While the ongoing feud with Young Buck has probably taken up the most media-energy, given the original phone conversation he taped:
[Download]
The response diss track Young Buck stirred up:
[Download]
The much more uncomfortable second half of the Young Buck/50 conversation Mr. Curtis Jackson recorded (the J. Edgar Hoover of gangsta rap?). Sobs included:
[Download]
This all happened in a week when Jackson's also suing his baby's mama for claiming her burned-down house in Long Island was somehow his doing, as his lawyer explains:
There comes a point where you can no longer sit on your hands and listen to her spread these falsehoods. Besides hurting his reputation, they have a damaging impact on their son.
And threatening to sue Taco Bell for offering to give $10,000 to charity if 50 Cent changes his name to that of another cent-based denomination for a day and shows up at a Taco Bell. Apparently they didn't ask Jackson for permission. Says 50:
“When my legal team is finished with them, Taco Bell is going to have a new corporate slogan: 'We messed with the bull and got the horns'.
