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Matthew Snyder
Tara Kelley
March 1st, 2016

Back to Back
By definition, a diss track is a rap song with a sole
purpose of dissing another rapper. Another version of these
songs, called answer songs, has been made throughout the
world of music ranging from all genres. However, these
certain tracks in hip-hop have a certain way of presenting a
true threat to the targeted individual or group due to its
violent history of crime. The provocative language, the
disregard of feelings, and the image put on both sides of the
diss give it, its edge. Depending on the significance of the
diss track, it can have the potential to end a career. The
tracks made in the 80s and 90s when Tupac and Biggie
split, had a lot more intensity than the ones we see today
between performers such as Drake and Meek. Regardless of
the magnitude of the lyrics and the events that are being

responded to, the meanings behind them are authentic and

plenty.

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The 80s and 90s brought us names like Tupac, The
notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and many others
that molded a revelation. This was only the beginning of an
era, an era that would ignite the fire of a long lasting love
and hatred between the rappers, the fans, and their
geographical regions of our country. This impression of
rappers staying true to their self and where they come from
was imprinted on the genre and has set a true precedent of
character. A character that has no remorse in responding to
any and all threats presented. Defining moments, to this
day, are still very frequent and showing no signs of slowing
up. Although the moments are seemingly endless, two have
stood out to the late 20th, and early 21st centuries. One being
the song hit em up released on June 4th 1996 by Tupac
Shakur which targeted a hit on The notorious B.I.G., and the
other being the Back to Back diss track made by Drake in

response to Meek Mill indirectly tweeting a remark about

him.

The two lyrical geniuses had a great deal of history

before this song had been released. Shakur established his
ground in the game long before the up and coming biggie
came through. B.I.G. learned from Pac
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and created a friendship through the art. With the two greats
both in their prime, it wasnt going to take much for tensions
to rise. Pac was invited by biggie to record in a studio down
in New York City on November 30th 1994, where three men
had jumped and shot him five times. Naturally, the injured
artist jumped to conclusions and blamed biggie for the
attack, which in turn, began the rivalry between the two.
Biggie released a track named Who Shot Ya? in just a few
short months after the incident. This enraged Tupac and
resulted in him releasing what is known to the hip-hop/rap
community as one of the greatest diss tracks of all time hit
em up with his label DeathRow Studios. It included lines

such as That's why I f****d yo' b****h, you fat motherf****r

and You claim to be a player but I f****d your wife. These
were only 2 lines of a 5 minute and 22 second song. This one
song was said to have been the shot that began the most
famous rivalry in the game between the East and the West.
In an extremely less violent situation, Robert Rihmeek
Williams (Meek Mill), attacked Aubrey Drake Graham (Drake)
through social media. The tweet was sent out late on July
21st 2015 and stated, Stop comparing drake to me too.... He
don't write his own raps! That's why he
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ain't tweet my album because we found out!. For whatever
reason, he decided to attack the hottest artist of 2015 who
held the number one in spot in most song and artist views.
Unlike Tupac and biggie, Drake and Meek have had little to
no history other than a common woman, Nicki Minaj. Meek
decided to join Nicki, his girlfriend at the time, on stage at
her concert and continued to insult Drake publically. Drake
stayed patient with little response to Meeks actions and
outcries. He then dropped the diss track charged up which

took a shot to Meeks tweets. Of course, instead of replying

with a song, Meek continues to tweet back at Drake
indirectly. Drake continued to drop a diss track that has
made people from all over the world question Meek Mill and
his career. It is currently sitting at 122 million listens. The
track was named back to back with a cover photo of Joe
Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays, Drakes hometown team,
after he had sealed the 1993 World Series with a homerun
against the Philadelphia Phillies, Meek Mills hometown
team. This gave the Toronto Blue Jays back-to-back
championships from 92 to 93. The song was released on
July 29th, 2015, the same night the Blue Jays faced off
against the Phillies. In poetic fashion, the Blue Jays took
home an 8-2 win sealing the significance of the diss. The
track went unPage 5
responded to, leaving Meek Mill and his city embarrassed.
The diss was nominated as the The Best Rap Performance
category at the 2016 Grammy Awards, landing as the first
diss track to ever do so.

Answer songs have the same truth behind the lyrics as

these did tracks have, but for whatever reason, the hip hop
and rap game provide a richer history. The gang violence,
the true hatred between both the rappers and the fans, and
how entire regions can be separated in a sense of war, its all
so powerful and real. Defining moments have been made
through these diss tracks and have no intention of stopping.
Weve seen them displayed since 1962, continued through
the 1980s and 1990s, glorified in the 2000s, and lastly but
not finally, have been put to an all time high through the use
of the internet and social media. The beef between Tupac
Shakur and Biggie Smalls had much more violence due to
the rise of hip and hop and having two legends going back
and forth, than the beef we see today through Drake and
Meek Mill on twitter. Social media has done one thing to diss
tracks, and thats glorify them and extend its popularity,
which could rise to the end of someones career. Will this be
the case of Meek Mill, will his career be forever shadowed by
the Drake Diss of 2015? Or will he answer like
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the late Notorious B.I.G. and stand up for himself, defending

his city rather than sitting back putting it to shame.