5 Most Surreal Hip Hop Drama Episodes Of The Last 20 Years
Just like in any other profession, there are people in the hip-hop industry that simply don’t get along. Sometimes, there are completely valid reasons for two people to not like each other, while some beefs between two people are completely off-the-wall and leave fans and other rappers thinking “come on, now.”
As a result, we’ve seen plenty of rap beefs that have been downright funny and surreal over the past 20 years. From getting involved with the White House to not attending a party, some of the drama is almos too goofy to take seriously. Here are five instance of surreal hip-hop drama episodes in the past 20 years.
1. The Game vs. Jay-Z
Jayceon Taylor, also known as The Game, has a lot of problems with legendary rapper Jay-Z, and he wants everyone to know about it. On the other side of the coin, it doesn’t seem like Jay-Z thinks about The Game at all. The Game has taken shots at Jay-Z in the media and directly mentioned him in several songs, but Jay-Z has not responded in the slightest. So what’s the deal with The Game?
“I met Jay-Z a long time ago in the 40/40 Club and he seemed like a cool dude,” The Game said. “I asked him something, ‘How do you stay relevant?’ And I ain’t really like his answer. So ever since then I just kinda take shots here and shots there.” Eventually, The Game revealed that Jay-Z told him that “most of you new rappers won’t last long anyway” and that The Game should have a backup plan.
2. Kanye West vs. George W. Bush
Since the start of the hip-hop genre, rappers have gotten heavily involved with politics, so it’s no surprise when a rapper sounds off about the President of the United States. One rapper did it in such a surreal way, though, that it left even one of the best improvisational comedians completely speechless.
Of course, we’re talking about Kanye West, who appeared alongside “Wayne’s World” and “Austin Powers” star Mike Myers at the Concert for Hurricane Relief in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. West told Myers that was going to ad-lib “a little bit.” Myers talked about the tragedy of the hurricane, while West went into a tirade about racial relations in the country, explicitly calling out President George W. Bush by saying “George Bush does not care aboutblack people.”
3. Eminem vs. Insane Clown Posse
You can’t talk about the Detroit rap scene without mentioning Eminem and the Insane Clown Posse, who have made their mark on the Motor City over the past quarter-century. During the early days of Eminem’s career when he wasn’t well-known, he was having a release party for his debut album. On the flier for the party, Eminem mentioned that ICP might be there, putting (maybe) next to their name.
The fact that ICP was even mentioned on the flier didn’t set well with the duo, and they began a historic beef with Eminem that made Detroiters scratch their heads. There was even assault with a deadly weapon involved at one point during the beef, but things have cooled off tremendously. “I’d invite Eminem to come have dinner at my house,” ICP rapper Violent J said. “We’d love to do a song with him. That’d be dope.”
4. Soulja Boy vs. Almost Everyone
When you think about songs that have a lot of depth and meaning, you probably won’t find Soulja Boy near that list. With songs like “Pretty Boy Swag”, “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” and, of course, “Crank That”, Soulja Boy seemed mostly like a novelty rapper that was a testament to the mid 2000s.
During his career, Soulja Boy has had a beef with just about everybody, many of which were seemingly for no reason in particular. He didn’t like how Ice-T said that he was ruining hip-hop, he didn’t like when Lil’ Yachty got people to chant “F*** Soulja Boy”, and he even got into it with actor Shia Labeouf for…reasons.
5. Chris Brown vs. CM Punk
CM Punk is known for being one of the best pro wrestlers in the world and was a part-time MMA fighter, but he’s not really known for having a rap background. That didn’t stop him from tweeting that he would like to fight Chris Brown, calling him a “turd” and asking for a match at WrestleMania.
Instead of acknowledging that this was a pro wrestler talking to him, Brown took the bait and got personal with Punk. The two continued to trade barbs with Brown not making any WWE appearances, letting everyone know that Brown got worked into a shoot, as Hulk Hogan would say.
