Diss-Tracks

'Diss-tracks' are songs that are made by one artist taking 'shots' at another artists, ultimately starting/exacerbating their 'beef'. There has always been conflict between rappers, especially with rap being heavily dominated by African-American and gang culture, it is no surprise multiple conflicts arise. The most recently famous beef in rap is between Drake and Meek Mill, with both MC's creating multiple tracks in an attempt to diss each other, despite the pair making multiple collaborations in the past.

Disses within songs may not be easy to notice if no actual names are mentioned or referenced, for example J-Cole's recent single 'False Prophets' is a subtle dig at Kanye West, with J-Cole accusing him of changing, selling out and ultimately forgetting where he came from. Another example would be Kendrick Lamar, one of the best and most prolific lyricists of this generation, taking aim at multiple rappers at once, by essentially shaming and mocking those who use 'Ghost-Writers'.


Some artists use diss-tracks as an attempt to gain more publicity and attention. Artists either create 'fake beef' with other artists who don't tend to know anything about it, or in essence join with another artist to create fake conflict for several weeks or month. In this time, several diss-tracks will be released, gaining more attention than usual due to the circumstances, and once both parties are happy their publicity has increased, the conflict will be resolved.