The Blood of Hiphop

Over the last 20 years since the gangsta raps of Ice T and N.W.A. filled radio waves with vivid depictions of death and despair in American inner cities, violence has been imbedded in the back of peoples minds whenever they hear the word "rap". At the same time in history KRS-One's Boogie Down Productions in the South Bronx and Marly Marl's Juice Crew From Queensbridge NY were beefing. They released several striking diss songs toward each other beginning with, MC Shan and Marley Marl's "The Bridge" in 1985.

Taking offense to juice crew's statements about the birthplace of hiphop, Krs-One released the classic "South Bronx". This battle went strong for 2 years until BDP's member Scott LaRock was gunned down after trying to dissolve a domestic dispute with fellow rapper D-Nice.

Throughout hiphop history there have been numerous beefs and altercations but for the most part they were nonviolent. Fast forward to November 30^th 1994 and legendary rapper Tupac Shakur gets robbed and shot at a Times Squares Quad Recording Studio. Soon after he is convicted of sexual assault, which he vehemently denied. While serving his sentence while having a #1 album Me Against The World released, he starts to think that his friend, fellow rapper The Notorious B.I.G., who was at the studios at the same, knew about the robbery beforehand and did not tell him. After 8 long months in jail, Tupac is bailed out by Suge Knight, The CEO of Deathrow Records, for $1.4 million. Later that summer in 1995 2pac released "Hit Em Up", a scathing diss song that started out with "First off F@#@ed your bitch in that click you claim, Westside when we ride come equipped with game, you claim to be a player but I f#@ed your wife, we bust on badboys, n#@#@s f#@#@d for life", Referring to his alleged tryst with B.I.G.'s wife Faith Evans. The rest of the track gets more hateful as it goes on and at the end he speaks to Biggie Smalls and Bad Boy records, yelling and with intense emotion. He truly hated this man for what he did, or didn't do.