Diss Tracks

About

Diss Tracks are songs directly intended to insult another musician or person. After examples were seen in rock and pop in the mid-late 20th century, they grew popular in hip-hop in the 90s and 2000s, to the point where the "diss track" is commonly associated with the genre.

Origin

Wikipedia^[1] cites "You Keep Her" by Joe Tex as an early example of a diss track. The song is dedicated to soul singer James Brown, who dated Tex's ex then wrote Tex to say he could have her back.

Spread

Other famous early examples of diss tracks include John Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?", a thinly veiled diss against Paul McCartney (shown below, left) and Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," which has been interpreted as singer Lindsey Buckingham writing to girlfriend fellow Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks^[2] (shown below, right).

In the 90s, diss tracks and the concept of "rap beefs" became prominent in hip-hop. One of the most famous of these beefs, that between the crews of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G., spawned Tupac's "Hit Em Up," one of the most famous diss tracks and one of Tupac's most famous tracks. Other rappers with notable diss tracks include 50 Cent, The Game, T.I., Drake and Eminem, whose Mariah Carey/Nick Cannon-diss track "The Warning" has over 17 million views on YouTube (shown below, right).

Online and Meme Culture

Online, less serious and successful diss tracks have become a point of mockery. For example, rapper B.o.B., a noted flat earth conspiracy truther, released a diss track against scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson for claiming the earth was round called "Flatline" (shown below, top). Vulture^[3] wrote the title "is both a reference to the horizon of the Earth and also a fitting description of B.o.B’s career." Tyson's nephew, a rapper under the name "THE INTELLECT," released a response called "Flat to Fact" (shown below, bottom).

Look What You Made Me Do

"Look What You Made Me Do" is a song by Taylor Swift and has been considered a diss track against Kanye West, Katy Perry, and Swift's critics. The reference to a "tilted stage" has been interpreted as a direct reference to West, who performed on a suspended, tilted stage during his tour for The Life of Pablo. On August 27th, 2017, Swift premiered the music video at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. In less than 24 hours, the video accumulated over 21 million views (shown below).

The video is very self-referential. It features Swift emerging from a grave, signifying the death of "Taylor Swift's Reputation." Swift also acknowledges the meme that she is a snake and parodies popular music videos by Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Beyoncé. She also references characters she's played in previous music videos in a final scene where all the characters talk to each other and echo criticisms lobbed at Swift at various points in her career. Jokes about the video spread online following its premiere.

Jake Paul

Several viral diss tracks in 2017 have come as a result of Jake Paul.
On May 30th, 2017, Paul uploaded a music video for a song called "It's Everyday Bro" to YouTube, where it gained over 26 million views (shown below). In the video, he brags about his followers and stated that he would soon pass Pewdiepie. Furthermore he made reference to his ex-girlfriend Alissa Violet, another YouTube star, who had undergone a very public breakup a few months prior amid rumors of mutual cheating and that Violet had begun to date Jake's brother, Logan.

The video soon generated drama between all the involved parties. Following the release of the video, Logan responded by essentially laughing it off in a video (shown below, left). Then Jake uploaded a diss track directed to his brother (shown below, right).