Deep understanding of "rap beef" culture

In recent days, the social media community has been stirred up by a beef between two rappers from two famous rap reality TV shows in 2020, ICD - the champion of King of Rap and Tage - a member of Rap Viet. For those who are familiar with this music genre, it is not difficult to understand what is going on and what it means. But for those who rarely listen, are new to rap or are just curious about the things that young people are discussing enthusiastically, thenrap beefmay be a new concept. This article will help you understand more about the indispensable "battle" in the rap music industry.

What is rap beef?

Rap beef appeared in English in the mid-1990s. As a slang word, "beef" means "to complain", so rap beef can be understood as rap songs written to criticize and attack the bad points of another person (usually a rapper).

Of course, rap has been around since the 1980s, with the first recorded beef being between UTFO, an American rap group, who were publicly criticized in a rap by a DJ, a music producer, a rapper, and a 14-year-old boy, after they refused to appear at a show the trio was promoting. Going back even further, beef in music dates back to 1962, with the song You Keep Her written and performed by Joe Tex, "dedicated" to James Brown, who was married to his ex-wife.

Nowadays, most audiences call rap beef rap battle or rap diss, because this unique form of rap now only exists in rap competitions, where rappers compete with each other to find the winner through rhyme and flow.

How does rap beef work?

It usually starts when a rapper feels like someone is attacking or criticizing them through their music or statements. A diss track is released in response to this provocation. If the rapper is the one who initiated the fight, they will most likely (and almost certainly) release a diss track in response. The two sides will then go back and forth until the beef is over.

Unless it's a competition, there are usually no set rules in a rap beef, other than the unspoken conventions agreed upon by the rap community, depending on the cultural, geographical, or other relevant factors.

The rap beef between RichChoi and B-Ray in 2018 is an example, after 6 diss songs, RichChoi and B-Ray had a famous reconciliation meeting that caught the attention of the rap music fan community. It seemed that everything would pass like that, but RichChoi continued to criticize B-Ray through the 7th rap song and B-Ray has not responded since then, except to focus on personal products.

In general, a rap beef can end at any time when one side declares that they will no longer participate. This does not mean that the other side will be "lost", because the progress of the beef and the overview of the rap songs are the factors that are evaluated by the audience in general and "veteran" rap players in particular, as well as the insiders.

What is the purpose of making diss music?

Beefs have become an integral part of rap music in particular and hip-hop in general, because they help rappers improve their skills. Having to rap in a state of frustration, sometimes anger, will cause many inexperienced rappers to lose their composure and fall below the general standards of rap music.

Therefore, to have a good diss song, the skill factors must still be ensured, at the same time the content of the rap must be on point, making the opponent convinced. If the time comes, that rap song can even be added to the list of rap songs of a lifetime, making someone's career (as well as, possibly ending another person's career).

In some cases, rap beef can help two rappers understand each other better, from enemies to friends, but of course this case is not much. When rap music is in the period of exploitation, commercialization, and integration into the Vietnamese music market, many rappers have joined hands and erased previous opposing thoughts to share the same ideals, producing quality products to serve rap music lovers.

Rap and hip-hop are music genres that are not popular and have not been officially recognized for many years. Rap ​​beef becomes even more difficult to listen to and understand when the rapper's personal details are included in the song, and the use of language is sometimes quite rough and vulgar. However, rap music has now begun to gain a foothold and become more civilized when rappers compete with music through moderate, non-offensive words, making the rap community as well as audiences who do not know much about rap beef have a more sympathetic view of the indispensable characteristics of this music genre.

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