Diss Track - Promotion

Promotion

In September 2007 rapper 50 Cent proclaimed that if fellow rapper Kanye West sold more records than him in the first week, he would retire from making CDs. Kanye accepted the challenge and it appeared that this was an attempt to get more people interested in the respective artists and buy their CDs. At the end of the first week, however, Kanye outsold 50 Cent with 957,000 copies to 50's 691,000. 50 Cent was recently quoted on The Howard Stern Show as saying that he only said he would retire to "hype the situation."

Often rappers go on radio shows to broadcast their dislike for other rappers. They usually make back-handed comments so as not to say directly whom they are referring to, rather leaving it to the listeners to decide for themselves. Often people take lyrics of some rappers and claim that they are saying something bad about another, and rumors start. This creates controversy for both parties, but usually the pseudo-dispute is settled by one of the parties responding to the allegations in attempt to clear the air.

Diss songs are usually the by-product of heated rivalries between two or more rap artists:

• N.W.A vs. Ice Cube
• 2Pac vs. The Notorious B.I.G (see East Coast vs. West Coast feud)
• Nicki Minaj vs. Lil' Kim
• Angel Haze vs. Azealia Banks
• Boogie Down Productions vs. Juice Crew (The Bridge Wars)
• Jay-Z vs. Nas
• Death Row Records vs Ruthless Records
• Eminem vs. Insane Clown Posse
• G-Unit vs. Murder Inc. feud
• LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee feud
• G-Unit vs. The Game feud
• Professor Elemental vs. Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer
• Eminem vs. Benzino feud

One of the earliest examples of this particular type of song is "The Bridge is Over" by Boogie Down Productions.

Rapper Lil Wayne released his third album, 500 Degreez, in the summer of 2002. It directly references fellow former Hot Boys member Juvenile's 400 Degreez, released November 3, 1998. Juvenile had left Lil Wayne's Cash Money earlier in the same year.

In some cases, the diss song may be a parody of another song. One example of this is "No Pigeons" by Sporty Thievz, which parodied the TLC hit, "No Scrubs". In the original "No Scrubs" the women talk about not wanting men with bad credentials. The parody talks about not wanting women with no means of their own, as well. In the same vein, rapper Too Short parodied the song "My Neck, My Back" by Khia in the form of the 'male' rebuttal "My dick My sack".

In some cases, disses involves rappers and singers of another music genre, such as Eminem and Mariah Carey. Throughout his career, Eminem claimed he once had a relationship with Carey, dating her for six months. Carey however, always denied the claim. As a result, Eminem recorded a number of songs in which he rapped about the singer in a negative light, angered by her not admitting to seeing him. On Charmbracelet, Carey included a song titled "Clown", which critics suggested was aimed at Eminem. "Clown"'s lyrics were described as "languidly sinister" by Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe, and read: "I should've left it at 'I like your music too'... / You should never have intimated we were lovers / When you know very well we never even touched each other". In 2005, during concerts on the rapper's Anger Management Tour, he began playing voice-mails and recordings that were reportedly left by Carey. One of the messages said: "I heard you were getting back with your ex-wife. Why won't you see me? Why won't you call me?". After playing the excerpt, Eminem would pretend to be sick before launching into his song "Puke". In his sixth studio effort Relapse, Eminem released a song entitled "Bagpipes from Baghdad", the lyrics of which suggest that Eminem is still in love with Carey, and feature insulting comments about the singer and her husband Nick Cannon. After Cannon made a post on his website, defending Carey and expressing his disgust at the rapper's comments. Eminem responded to his comment sarcastically, saying he meant well and that the song is actually "wishing the couple the best", and later noted that he respected Cannon for his comment, expecting him to defend his wife. After the release of Carey's "Obsessed", a song about an obsessed man who claims to be having a relationship with her, suspicions were raised with many, including Eminem himself, that it was directed at Eminem, despite claims on the contrary by Cannon. As a response, Eminem released "The Warning", in which he claims he still has proof of the couple. Cannon responded to the song with his "I'm a Slick Rick", and even challenged Eminem to a boxing match for charity which never took place.