What's going on people?! Unless you've been completely under a rock for the last few days, we officially have lyrical beef that's newsworthy. At the end of last week, hip-hop's reigning 'IT" girl, Grammy Award winning emcee Nicki Minaj let some shots fly towards rival Remy Ma (another Grammy Award winner) via her sixteen bars on the tracks "Swolla" and with Gucci Mane on "Make Love". BAD decision. What happened afterwards was something that shook the music world and made people get their virtual popcorn and enjoy this lyrical action movie. The Bronx-bred emcee retaliated with the cut "ShEther", a playoff of the legendary Nas cut "Ether", which was the dis cut that subsequently ended the beef between he and Jay-Z with Jay coming out the big time loser out of it all. The cut has her rhyming over the "Ether" instrumental and it's basically seven minutes of blood-drawing. Remy went after Nicki in practically every way possible. She mentioned everything from her fake "assets" to trysts with people ranging from Gucci to Hot 97's Ebro to R&B sex symbol Trey Songz (with whom there were already rumors about since their hit together in '10, "Bottoms Up"). It was unquestionably in the same spirit as "Ether" and within minutes had the entire hip-hop world in a completely and utter frenzy. Most fans felt that this was something Nicki just couldn't (or shouldn't) respond to. It was way to venomous of a dis to take with Remy taking the crown of hip-hop's leading woman. While it's speculated that this rivalry extended back to 2007, what is known is that Remy had been telling the world she was coming back for her crown ever since she got released from prison back in 2014. With "ShEther", she may have done it, as Nicki has yet to deliver a scathing response. There was supposedly a response cut in the works as of twenty-four hours later, but nothing sufficient enough to cause any waves. Furthermore, she reportedly reached out to Trey, who had responded via Twitter to having his name thrown into the mix during the dis track for not having her back. She also reached out to Ebro, who vehemently denied that they did anything. However, as of earlier this evening, Remy officially dropped another dis called "Another One", which doesn't even come close to the razor blade sharp execution of "ShEther". With people such as Vivica A. Fox chiming in, stating that "Females shouldn't be tearing each other down" and fans of each going after each other, the question is, is this good for the culture or is this promoting division, primarily among women in hip-hop?
The answer is simple, yet has a few layers to it. In a word, yes it is healthy. Rap has been known for competition since the days of Busy Bee against Kool Moe Dee in the very early 80s, as well as Grandmaster Flash against the Cold Crush Brothers. Since then, we've seen some very historic beefs that primarily stayed on wax to show who was the better emcee. Feuds such as LL vs. Kool Moe Dee, EPMD vs. Eric B & Rakim, MC Shan vs. KRS-One and many others were some of the most known rivalries to ever exist. One glaring distinction among rap beefs were that women weren't involved in any. While longtime historians remember "The mother of Queensbridge" Roxanne Shante in a heated battle against The Real Roxanne based upon the UTFO hit "Roxanne Roxanne", we didn't have hardly any beefs among the ladies until it came to Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown in the mid-nineties. In such a competitive hip-hop world where everyone wants to be considered the best, why should this rivalry be any different? This feud screams of a classic ol' school, you-have-the-crown-and-I-want-it beef, and truly it's not even really a "beef" (Biggie broke down what real beef was in '97 so let's not forget about that). What these two women have is a rivalry, something that revels in one-upsmanship if you will.
While we all hope and pray that this just stays on wax and not get taken out in the streets and escalate into anything anywhere close to the levels of 2Pac and Biggie, this is already an entertaining rivalry that is keeping us on our toes to see who will come out with what next. The truth is, Nicki hasn't had any true competition since Remy went up in '08. For years, females were primarily spitting in the underground, but not on a big scale as opposed to earlier years. Beyonce referred to her as the "Queen Of Hip-Hop" basically because there was no one else there with her. With the exception of NC's Rapsody, Drezzy, Snow Tha Product, and a few others, there were no real active females making a bunch of noise. Every so often we would hear from women like Eve or Kim (let's not forget the beef her and Nicki had that resulted in verbal barbs between those two either), but the scene was very underwhelming and boring. Now, since Remy has been out, the new contender to the championship belt is here, and it's about time.
Here are the facts: Remy's cut "ShEther" was so vicious, it will be hard for Nicki to recover from it. Remy unleashed quite a few stabs at her that could easily damage her credibility and authenticity. So far the most Nicki has responded with has been how much money she makes and her Grammy wins. In a word: WEAK. There was once a time where Nicki was among the hungriest young female emcees out and this was evidenced by her Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape, as this was the tape that got her signed to Young Money. While we yearned for more females to take their place, we were glad there was this promising young upstart that screamed "star". Now, after three platinum plus releases, she got comfortable, and here comes someone that arguably had the crown before her and it's officially on! The only responses form her have been related to who she knows and how much money she's worth. Very much a yawn. This is about BARS, not status. We much keep in mind that Remy comes from the battle arena. She was a known battler in the underground fight club circuits. Nicki is not. The yearn to battle is so deep in Remy that she can't resist when it calls for her to do so.
The best thing for Nicki to do, at this point, is to let this die down. Seriously. Remy shot herself in the foot with "Another One", as it was nowhere near the caliber "ShEther" was. This alone could be grounds for Nicki to officially come back with her response record, but it would just serve her well to let the flames die down. The reason is because, if she doesn't match the ferocity that "ShEther" presented, the streets will clown her. More than they already have. Granted, this is all about competition, but part of competition is playing smart. If there's a situation out of your league, don't take the bait. Let the hype die down. By KRS' own admission, if MC SHan had just ignored him when it came to "SOuth Bronx", there wouldve been no KRS-One. This seems like the same type of scenario. Nicki wouldn't survive lyrically against Remy, and if you THINK having someone ghost write a dis response is in the cards, she better not even try it. Now is when we need to see SKILLS. If not, then three words: DON'T DO IT.
In some breaking news: Foxy has now come for Remy in a dis track of her own. Where in the hell has she been these last several years? Likely because of the rumors that Kim was siding with Remy in the rivalry. So out of the woodwork comes someone that hasn't been truthfully relevant in years in a rivalry that doesn't even call for her. Thuimbs up, Foxy!
This situation between Remy and Nicki isn't anything to be overly concerned about, as chances are both know the risks involved. This should just stick to wax, and let's see who the best woman is on the mic. Will it stay this way? Let's obviously hope so. March 9 will mark the twentieth anniversary of the death of Biggie resulting in his beyond personal beef with 2Pac that had Pac dying six months earlier. I don't think anyone wants to repeat those same blues and tears. Regardless, this has become newsworthy hip-hop and this should be celebrated as a healthy chess game between two very talented emcees regardless of gender. Who will officially be crowned queen? Only time, and bars, will tell.
Man you broke this down big time! Great article!
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