(April 5, 2006) — As I was listening to the radio last week, spinning the dial to fi nd a good station to get my groove fl owing, my unassuming ears caught a few words that sparked unmatched interest and fresh disappointment in what is the current hip-hop scene. If I can remember completely, it was something like: “Bow Wow beefi n’ with Lil’ Romeo over the track ‘Freshazimiz.’” Quite frankly, I think most people would quickly dismiss this feud between the Jermaine Dupri protege and Master P’s son as petty rivalry, but taken in a deconstructive perspective of rap, I couldn’t help but frown and tune to KCRW to take my mind off it. Beef, the struggle between two mc’s or clicks/crews over an issue, for respect or scene dominance, has been as much a necessity to the development of hip hop as the very rappers themselves.

In the infant years of rap in Queens and other New York ‘hoods, beef would be settled on the dance fl oor or over the microphone, the victor determined by overall respect and popularity. This became the way to keep out of gang involvement, stay off drugs and the street. This became a new culture, a new method of expression and the birth of breakbeat electronic music. Rap music started a new groove.

The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” took rap to the clubs, recycling a sample of Chic’s “Goodtimes” with the fast poetry which originated in Jamaican dub and ska music. At a certain point, beef only existed at microlevels in the streets, but this musical movement became a cultural statement and club favorite. The only beef that existed now was the African American against the system. KRS-one, Public Enemy, and their West Coast equivalent, NWA stormed the hip-hop scene with militant and subversive poetry in varying degrees. But with the growth of movement, the figureheads’ ego is expected to grow as well. Fast forward a little bit and rap is now the new rock and roll. They are the Davids and Goliaths.

It’s a fight in each hood for who is going to represent, a hierarchy that would turn friends against each other, even though they play the same game. The saddest chapter in rap’s history would come in 1997 with the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. The reasons for the murders have been argued to be associated with Los Angeles street gangs and affiliations with questionable rap mogul Suge Knight, the police, but most importantly, the ongoing beef between the two former friends.

Tupac representing West coast based Death Row Records and the Notorious B.I.G. representing East coast Bad Boys. The beef was apparently started by an attempted studio shooting directed towards Shakur, who then believed that Biggie had arranged it. The end result was the loss of two of the most charismatic figures in hip-hop, East vs. West, and stupid alliances. The very essence of hip-hop had been undermined.

The very people who wished to escape the streets had returned to it. Beef has remained a fascinating element of rap and still exists today, the biggest example being 50 cent and G-unit vs. The Game, Jadakiss and Fat Joe. It’s argued that beef only exists nowadays to promote and sell records and to make a gripping drama out of mainstream pop culture, but the one thing that’s still happening is violence in rap. So now, with Lil Romeo and Bow wow posting up beef, I’m curious who’s going to pull the gun first. But before any of them do, I suggest they take notes from Mos Def, and learn from Biggie and Pac.