Are Rappers The Biggest Bullies?

Today is Anti-Bullying Day in British Columbia, and almost on cue with this day, rapper Lil Wayne has released a diss track about rapper 50 Cent. Shortly after hip hop and rap were created, rap beefs started. Biggie & Tupac, East Coast & West Coast, Jay-Z & Nas, and now Lil Wayne & 50 Cent. The verbal warfare has lead to some big feuds in the past. The verbal attacks have even turned into physical attacks.

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On the track Louisanimal from the new mixtape The Weezy Effect II Lil Wayne says: "I'm all about the dollar, what the ____ is two quarters? _____ I'll pour some syrup in that Vitamin Water"

Two quarters are fifty cents and 50 Cent had his own flavor of Vitamin Water.

This is rather tame compared to some of the lyrical exchanges that occurred between Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur in the 1990s:

On the track Who Shot Ya? Notorious B.I.G. said: "Who shot ya? Separate the weak from the ob-solete. Hard to creep them Brooklyn streets. Its on _____, ____ all that bickering beef. I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek."

Now we all know how that beef ended. Tupac was gunned down on September 7, 1996 in Las Vegas and died six days later in hospital. On March 9, 1997 in Los Angles Notorious B.I.G. suffered fatal gun wounds and passed away shortly after.

The Jay-Z & Nas beef was one that played out on the airwaves and thankfully featured no bloodshed.

In the song Takeover Jay-Z attacked Nas by saying: "Went from, Nasty Nas to Esco's trash. Had a spark when you started but now you're just garbage. Fell from top ten to not mentioned at all"

The beef ended when Nas joined Jay-Z on stage during an I Declare War concert in October 2005. The two have since worked together on tracks for their own albums as well as with other artists.

With today being Anti-Bullying Day here in British Columbia, I am going to take some time to think how my words and actions can affect another person. Spoken word is a powerfull weapon that we all posess. It can be used to lift someone's spirits or to let them know how much you care for them, but in some cases it is used to hurt people emotionally. Only time will tell if 50 Cent responds to Lil Wayne's track and it becomes a verbal battle between the two stars. Let's hope that it ends like Jay-Z & Nas with some nice collaborations and no bloodshed.