What Makes A Good Diss Track?
One of my favorite parts of Hip-Hop is its imperfect, yet powerful, competitive nature. A ticking time bomb of emotions that, when it does explode, sends a chilling amount of shrapnel towards its victim. It's the diss track: the record filled with bars, barbs and stories. Frankly put, the best ones have become staples of the culture and the community. From the darkest times in Hip-Hop, the best things have seemingly come out of them. They push artists to be creative and release pent-up energy. What makes a good diss track though?
The first thing most people think about when they hear a diss track are the bars: powerful one-liners that get a point across. Some of the best diss tracks have iconic lines. The best bars can be word play in most rap songs, but the brutality and viciousness of these bars surpass that - simple is better. Two examples stand out from some of the cream of the crop of Hip-Hop: Remy Ma's "Shether" and MGK's "Rap Devil". The previous is a direct attack at Nicki Minaj's money, saying "You f***** the whole Empire - who you tryin' to be, Cookie?". A clear reference to the show FX Show Empire and the YMCMB Album, Rise of an Empire, all while claiming that she's had relations with everyone in the label. The latter, "Rap Devil" for Eminem, MGK finished a verse with "Dropped an album called Kamikaze, so that means he killed him/ Already f*cked one rapper's girl this week, don't make me call Kim" - a reference to his ex-wife, G-Eazy and Halsey. A great bar can change a mediocre diss track into an iconic one.
The second aspect that needs to be accounted for is the playability of the song. That entails that the song doesn't need to be a crazy sounding song, but playable. A song such as Drake's 'Back to Back Freestyle' and Obie Trice's 'Hits the Fan' are certified club bangers. People sing these songs because they have great bars, but they can dance to them. That concept is demoralizing for an artist, knowing that the crowd just loves the song that is attacking them. The Notorious B.I.G's 'Kick in the Door' should be the standing bar for the viability of the musical aspect of it all. What's better is to always have a simplistic beat, something that is easy to rap to so the listener can vibe to. Another way of going about it is to be completely bombastic and epic in nature, but the road has rarely ever been taken properly. The best example of this is Mase's "The Oracle", which samples Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 2" and does it beautifully. I truly do recommend listening to the instrumental version and then listening to Mase, partly for the musicality of it all and secondly to understand the importance of vocal control in an intricate affair such as a diss track.
The final aspect that comes to mind is how ferocious the song is. It's arguably the most important aspect of it all - the emotion behind it. In order to make a diss song, there is generally a story between the belligerents; how they use that story to further the song is important. To get seminole tracks such as Eazy-E's "Real Mutherfucking G's" or Ice Cube's "No Vaseline", they needed to tap into those emotions and release it onto the track. To add, the listener has to know the story as well and then catch that anger. Very few times does a diss track vary from the anger that is generally seen and it is a mixed bag. Many of the best rappers who do this tend to be established artists. This can be exemplified by Drake's "Duppy Freestyle", Eminem's "Killshot" or Nas's "Ether" - they all share a sense of disappointment in their opponent, leading to an almost more scathing reality for the artist in question and the fans: their opponent could've, and should've, done better.
Finally, there are great things about the diss track that could never be overstated; they give us bars, the beast beats and emotions in a cold game. While all of these things are important, I will continue to speak openly about my disdain for when these same tracks go too far. No attacking those who can't defend themselves: women, children, the dead and the sick. Those are the insults that touch the hearts of rappers, no matter the geographical location, and often leads to more blood on these weary streets. Let's get our act together: diss tracks are fun from the perspective of a fan, but only when lives aren't on the line.