2024 has been one wild year in hip-hop, and it’s not even done yet. Rap has had its resurgence on the charts following a major lull in 2023, but 2024 will surely be remembered as the year beef.
In almost fitting fashion, Eminem and Benzino were two of the first rappers to get it poppin’ in 2024, in the newest iteration of a throwback beef from the early 2000s. Em threw the first lyrical punch on the track “Doomsday Pt. 2.” He would go on to ignore Benzino’s follow-up diss tracks “Vulturius” and “Rap Elvis.” What year is this again?
Next up was Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion. Their underlying beef breached the surface when Hot Girl Meg took shots at the head Barb-in-charge on the No. 1 single “Hiss.” Nicki clapped back on the vitriolic “Big Foot” and went on a multi-day binge-tweeting session taunting Megan. And this was all still in January.
Two months later, Drake turned into public enemy No. 1 for several rappers in the industry including Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd and, most notably, Kendrick Lamar. The rifts led to an epic rap battle that some people are calling the most entertaining feud hip-hop has seen in decades.
Things haven’t been just been playing out on wax. Soulja Boy has been in multiple headline-making online spats with with Metro Boomin, 21 Savage and Blueface. Halfway into the year, there were already dozens of diss songs released and several more verses of rappers taking shots at one another.
Can’t we all just get along? Apparently not. Nobody had hip-hop engaging in a Royal Rumble on their 2024 bingo card. Yet, here we are. See all the rap beef that has popped off in 2024 below.