What’s the Greatest Diss Song of All-Time? Posted by Nathan S. on 07/25/13 | Filed under Debates, RH Nation Answers

Today was a sad day in hip-hop diss track history. First, the blogs were abuzzing about Gillie Da Kid's new diss track against Meek Mill, which I might care about if I gave even a fraction of a fuck about Gillie Da Kid (I don't). Apparently Lana Del Rey also disses Lana Del Ray - again, don't give a fuck - and the best diss might have come from a Frank Ocean "Versace Remix)" that's from Frank Ocean and IS ONLY LYRICS.

It's enough to make a diss track lover despair. Which is exactly why for this week's Question of the Week I thought we'd take a look back and try to figure out the "Greatest Diss Track in Hip-Hop History".

First and foremost, I have to acknowledge that we can't talk about diss tracks without talking about Jay-Z vs. Nas/"Takeover" vs. "Ether". That's easily the most famous beef in rap history, and by extension some of the most famous diss tracks. But the last thing I want is to turn this into the same "who won, Jay or Nas?" debate people have been having for over a decade now. Instead, let's focus on the songs themselves.

If you want to tell me that either "Takeover" or "Ether" is still inherently the greatest, then fine, those are valid nominees. Just make sure you really think it over; at the very least, obviously neither track ended the other's career.

Moving on, any rap nerds needs to mention Ice Cube's "No Vaseline", which today would be just be titled "Pause", KRS-One's "The Bridge is Over", Common's "The Bitch In You" and a whole gang more.

All of them are in the discussion, but ultimately I have to go with Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up". There's no ignoring the real life affects of Pac and Biggie's beef, but even if I didn't have the weight of knowing how serious this song would end up being, "Hit Em Up" in and of itself is just vicious. The "get money/take money" in the beat is great, Pac names as many names as he can possibly name, works in a ton of Biggie references, and sounds absolutely vicious:



Ah, sweet baby jesus it's good to hear that again and remember what a real diss track sounds like. These young guys could learn a thing or two - or even better, stop making wack diss tracks entirely.

Anyway, have at it RefinedHype Nation. As always, these comment sections turn into some of the most entertaining things on the interwebs.