Well if you peeked your head into Hip-Hop one of the things you may have noticed is the tension of rappers/mc's at each others throats these days. Two of the most noticable beefs of course is Nelly Vs KRS-One (record sales against lyrical substance) and Jay-Z and the ROC versus Nas (slick and clever lyricist who has his gang of lyrical thugs against one of the more gifted and conscience mc's in the game). And with the latter match up you have even more beefs with Nas and his tension against his former Queens Bridge homies Cormega and Nature. While Jigga and the R.O.C. is facing off against the likes of the slightly unknown but lyrically agressive Jaz-O who ironically is the mentor of Jay-Z. Who started it you may ask? Well with the KRS and Nelly drama, Nelly was the first to shed blood as he called out Kris's name in the remix of "Roc The Mic" which featured Beanie Siegal and Freeway (the two members of The Roc who don't want anything to do with KRS's battle history). This despite KRS stating that his previous song "Clear Em Out" was not a diss towards Nelly (after Nelly's diss KRS came back with "Over Here"). And of course is Nas and Jigga with the ROC. Now I don't wanna make this article too long so I'll just say that while tensions started to build over the years it all seemed to erupt in the spring of last year (2001) from some of the things that Jay and his crew said on Hot 97 (New York Hip Hop radio station) from freestyling which also involved Mobb Deep's Prodigy and his picture of him in a ballerina outfit as a young kid shown to a bunch of fans as Jay-Z performed what would become some of the words to "The Takeover".

And as for my personal rants on the whole beef thing I just think that it's cool as long as it stays lyrically interesting. Some of the matchups is sort of even with Nas against Jay-Z. But other matchups is pretty mismatched such as Nelly with his seemingly simple rhymes going up against KRS whose known for lyrically destroying capable mc's in the past (just ask MC Shan). Beefing and battling on wax is not new at all as it's an extension of mc's freestyling on street corners & parties and facing off against each other face to face. From Salt and Pepper gaining fame from dissing Slick Rick back in the 80's to the tragic deaths of Big and Pac in the 90's I just hope that this just stays lyrical and not come down to ammo. As for the other tensions in rap here's a short list:

Eminem Vs. Canibus - Not sure exactly who started these war of words. Seems to be a good matchup since both of these guys have a history of being devistating battle mc's. Based on what Em said on Tim Westwood show Canibus started it. Never heard Can's side of the story yet though.
Predicted Winner: Not too sure. Maybe I'll just flip a coin and say that Canibus may finally come back to life from disappointing albums and win this one.

Wu-Tang Clan Vs. The Roc - Ok, this one may or may not happen. Basically Nas has aired out his anger with the before mentioned Hot 97 station on another NYC hip-hop station and members of the Wu seemingly agreed with everything that Nas said which included verbal arrows at The ROC. The agreement came since Wu Tang also have their issues with Hot 97 (Funk Flex if I'm not mistaken).
Predicted Winner: Wu Tang by a landslide if and when this were to ever happen.

Nore Vs. Nas - Nas did songs with Nore when he (Nore) was part of CNN with his partner in rhyme Capone. But as Nas ranted on the other NYC Hip-Hop station (105.1) about Hot 97's Angie Martinez and Funk Master Flex he also talked about how Nore should step up his rap game, Nore of course ranted back at Nas.
Prediction: If I were to seriously say Nore please shoot me now because it'll be a sign that I lost all sense of reasoning & common sense. Hopefully the two will make their peace before recording anything. For Nore's sake that is.

Ehhh, too many beefs to comment on. On my next article I'll just have a top 10 of diss tracks instead. As for me I'm going to enjoy my freetime sleeping and dream that I'm driving a Cadallac Escalade full of bikini G-string ladies.

Peace Out & One Luv (>'.')^

Ehh, if I had waited 24 more hours I would've seen 106th & Park on BET and elaborate a little bit more on Nas and Cam'rom going at it since "Killa Cam" called out Nas on the show saying somethin about "You're not built for this". Lyrically he's no match for the man and well... ehh some people just don't know their limits, I'm gonna give up on editorials on this subject really if people keep going at it every 3-5 days

Never understood why artists have got to go for each other's throats. If that's what the public wants, however, then it's good for the sales but little else. Eminem spends as much time fighting lawsuits as he does rapping but then if he wasn't so outspoken would he be doing as well?

all of them are the same anyway....

Good to see my peeps in Shao-lin (Staten Island where I live) in Wu-Tang are going to destroy their enemies should it come to that.

I don't follow hip-hop, but you gonna represent the neighborhood.

well ya sources wrong bout jay-z and nas ......... nas himself stated on 97.1 that jigga and nas were coo until they were both at a party and jay-z specifaccaly stated the he was better than bigge

Heh, well being in Philly I guess being a regular listener to Hot 97 will be damn near difficult . I peeped out the 60 minute tape of last years freestyling session of Jigga and his crew on Hot 97 and while what you said about Nas may be true I just assumed some of what was said in that freestyle tape to be held accountable in gettin Nas and/or Prodigy rowdy up. Either that and/or of course the infamous show that had Jay goin at the QB rappers. At least thats what I believe(d) so thanks for pointing that out for me fivestar

I heard Jay-Z wanted the beef for publicity, and that Nas didn't really want to have the beef (not that he couldn't take it). Thats only the rumer I heard. Though I don't get Hot '97 where I live, so I am behind on the info.

Same here, I just go by hip hop sites that follows the drama of radio stations such as Hot 97 since I'm in Philly and unable to pick the station up. Oh well