Beefing in the rap world isn’t a foreign concept. It’s actually something that happens more often than it probably should and the root of the issues sometimes ends up forgotten. Either way, from the inception of hip-hop, rappers have bumped heads in song wars and out in the street. While some rhymers have extended olive branches to hash things out, others have proven that they have very little desire to rectify any issues they may have with their peers.
Typically, rap beefs don’t extend beyond disses on tracks and jabs via social media. This year, rap fans saw a reconciliation that they likely never imagined would happen. Gucci Mane and Jeezy had been rivals since the early 2000s, after things went south over their 2005 track “Icy.” After dishing out diss after diss, Gucci killed one of Jeezy’s affiliates, Pookie Loc, during a home invasion in 2005. Pookie, who was signed to Jeezy’s Corporate Thugs Entertainment record label, was shot and killed by Guwop in self-defense. Gucci did do time for the killing, but charges against him were dropped in 2006, after prosecutors determined the case had insufficient evidence. The smog was thick between Gucci Mane and Jeezy, but a Verzuz battle in November of 2020 formed an unexpected unity between the veteran Georgia rappers.
However, unlike the minted southern veteran rhymers, reconciliations between rappers like Pusha T and Drake, YG and 6ix9ine, and Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly doesn’t seem as promising.
Pusha and Drizzy have fired lyrical missiles at one another for years, but things came to a fiery head back in 2018. The two rhymers had a face-off that involved accusing Drake of wearing blackface and revealing to the world that he has a son. Although there hasn’t been much said from neither King Push nor the 6 God regarding the other rapper, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all is forgiven. In fact, it doesn’t seem like a white flag will be waved any time soon.
YG and 6ix9ine‘s beef stems from the Compton-bred rapper’s feelings about upholding the street’s code—which basically means no snitching. By now, it’s widely known that 6ix9ine testified in court while on trial for his federal racketeering and firearms case. Tekashi, who has boasted about singing like a canary, also got on YG’s bad side with his habitual social media trolling antics. Very heated words have been exchanged and it’s unlikely that either of the two men will extend an olive branch.
Then there’s Em and MGK, who have been going at each others’ necks ever since the Cleveland artist inappropriately mentioned Eminem’s daughter, Hailie, on Twitter. No one wins when the family feuds, but there’s also no win when you bring up a rapper’s daughter. From this, it has been diss records galore between Slim and Kelly. It’s safe to say that the likelihood of Eminem considering this beef water under the bridge is pretty farfetched at this point.
Unlike Jeezy and Gucci Mane, many rappers are completely fine with having bad blood with one another and XXL looks back at a number of rap beefs and the chances of a reconciliation. We’re using a scale of one to five—one being least likely this beef will be squashed and five being extremely possible.
Check out rap beefs that’ll probably never be resolved below.
