Continuing my 90s themed threads. In this one we looking at underrated/lesser known beefs of the 90s. Everybody knows Pac vs Big, Eazy vs Dre, Cube vs NWA etc... here are some others that don't get as much love in hindsight. 90s Rap heads will know about all of these, but I have a feeling a lot of KTT hasn't heard about all of em...

Ice Cube/Westside Connection vs Cypress Hill

B-Real and Cube were tight from the start. Both from the South Central area, they were real close. B-Real was at his wedding and for a while was Cube's bodyguard and everything. In 1995 s*** went south when Cube wanted Cypress Hill to make an appearance in the "Friday" movie. CH's manager made a scheduling mistake and they couldn't take part. To make up for it, they offered Cube some music for the movie's sound track. Which Cube appreciated and accepted. So CH recorded a song called "Roll Em Up, Light Em Up" and invited Cube to to the studio to listen to it before they turned it in. Just to make sure he liked it. During that studio session, CH decided to play Cube some cuts from their upcoming album that they had been working on, called "Temples of Doom". They played 4 songs, including the song they had planned as a single; "Throw Your Set In The Air". Cube liked this song so much he asked for it to be on the movie soundtrack, instead of the song they had recorded for the movie. But CH's label had already hand picked that song for the lead single of the album and they couldn't give it to him. Cube said it was cool, but he did ask that they play the record one more time before he left. A few months later, to the groups surprise, Ice Cube released the single for the Friday movie..and it sounded very similar to "Throw Your Set In The Air". Using basically the same hook. CH's people went on the radio to accuse Cube of being a biter and stealing their s***. Cube called B-Real and invited him over to the studio to smooth things over. Cube also wanted B-Real to say some words on a Cube record called "Caution", so he didnt have to pay extra for a sample. During the recording session, B-Real heard some terms and phrases Cube was saying that were straight out of "Throw Your Set In The Air". In his words; "There was words from 'Throw Your Set In The Air' that we created, nobody had used them yet on any records," B-Real continued; "When I heard those words, I was like, 'Man, he f** straight lied to my face. If he hadn't bit us why were these words in there?" After that it was on between Cypress Hill and The Westside Connection, and it was on wax. These are the songs in the order they came out:

Beef escalated to the point one of CH's boys knocked out Cube and stole his chain and watch and that same night B-Real was holding up his chain on stage at the House of Blues. Beef ended when the Mexican Cartel was about to get involved lol They became cool again a few years later. Here's a more detailed video on the beef:

Ice Cube vs Common

Another Cube beef, this one with the usually conscious and mild mannered Common. Common dropped his classic song "I Used To Love H.E.R" in 1994. A metaphoric love letter to hip hop, it featured some lines touching on how the genre expanded to the West coast and changed from African-centric themes and positive messages to gangsta rap and talking about shooting glocks and smoking blunts. While it wasn't necessarily a diss for anybody, Ice Cube and his Westside Connection Crew took it as a jab and fired back on Mack 10's song "Westside Slaughterhouse". The song featured Cube directly dissing Common with the lines:

"All you suckas want to diss the Pacific
But you busta niggas never get specific
Used to love her, mad cause we f***ed her
P**** whipped b**** with no common sense
Hip hop started in the west
Ice cube bailing through the east without a vest"

Initially Common was not going to respond. But once the people around him started putting some pressure on him, he decided to retaliate with "The B**** In Yoo", a track that shocked the rap community, as nobody knew Common had this in him. He surgically took Cube's career apart. Some say its the only L Cube took when it came to beefs. There was no response after that. For his part, Cube has said he was in a very dark place during this time in his life. Here are the songs:

Ice-T vs LL Cool J

This beef began in the late 80s, with Ice taking offense to LL calling himself the greatest rapper ever and sent him some subliminals on several songs off his 1988 LP "Power". On the song "The Syndicate" Ice raps "Thats weak s*** from a weak mind and a weak mind creates weak rhymes, you aint never kicked knowledge one time, just living on your own d***, thats a crime". 2 years later LL responded on several songs. Most famously, "To Da Break of Dawn" and "Momma Said Knock You Out". L rapped about cutting off Ice's pony tail and makes fun of his perm, his record sales, how Ice was a petty thief that worked at a parking lot before rapping, and at one point calls him "little hip hop raccoon." lmao Africa Bambaataa eventually squashed the beef in 96, but not before LL got one more jab in in 1995. On a remix to "I Shot Ya", LL proclaims "WTF, I thought I conquered the world, crushed Moe Dee, Hammer and Ice T's curl". A cool side note of the songs LL dissed Ice on is that he's also dissing MC Hammer and Kool Moe Dee on these songs, too. Songs here:

Tim Dog vs The Dogg Pound/West Coast

In 1991 NY MC Tim Dog released a track, with video, called "Fuck Compton". The track basically took aim at the NWA and the massive success the West Coast was having at the time, basically taking over the game. The video made fun of their trademark style. On the song he disses Eazy E, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube by name and makes fun of the entire LA gang culture; with lines like "fighting over colors? All that s*** is for dumb mother f***ers!" Though none of the NWA members ever responded, Snoop Dogg and the Dogg Pound took it upon themselves to take care of Tim Dog.. along with a whole lot of other West Coast cats. Compton's Most Wanted responded with several tracks on their album "Music To Driveby", DJ Quik responded with a few tracks, and more. But Snoop had the most famous response, on the classic "Dre Day". While most of the song is aimed at Eazy E, Snoop dedicates most of his verse to Tim Dog. "play with ya bone, would ya Timmy?", "fuck yo momma, I'm talking about you and me toe to toe, Tim M-U-T", "Tim Dog can eat a big fat d***". This song was so popular that it basically ended the beef in the public eye. Though Tim Dog did respond to Snoop with the song "Dog Baby", on his 1994 EP "Bitch With A Perm". Songs:

Tupac vs Mobb Deep

While everybody knows about Biggie vs Pac, and everybody knows Pac dissed Mobb Deep on the classic "Hit Em Up"; the response from Mobb Deep isn't that well known, despite the fact that its a damn good response to what a lot of people consider the greatest diss track ever. The beef started while Pac was in jail in 95. The NY group released their second studio album that year, "The Infamous", and on the song "Survival of the Fittest" they shouted "thug live, we still living it!" Thats all it took for Pac to get mad and want to destroy Mobb Deep. Pac dissed the group all over his Makaveli album. "Bomb First", "Hit Em Up" and "Against All Odds" all take aim at the group. Mobb Deep responded with "Drop A Gem On Em"..The reason this track isn't as famous as it maybe could've been? It was released two months after Pac's death. It shocked the rap community when it came out, as the song is full of subliminal clues relating to Pac's NYC robbery and shooting and even states Pac got raped at Rikers island. Prodigy really went in, my favorite line of the song is "who shot ya?probably screamed louder than an opera" referencing the Biggie and Pac beef. Track was not met with a good response, as many thought it was "too soon" or "tasteless." Still, not many went at Pac with this level of animosity.

Some lesser known feuds that never really popped off like that:

Dr. Dre vs Tupac

These two were never really that cool. Pac first got mad at Dre when Dre didnt show up to Snoop's muder trial in 1993 to testify. That apparently infuriated Pac. Some books written at the time quote Dre as saying "I'm done with Death Row if Pac comes". But he came and they made a record: California Love. Thats about it, though. Only Dre beat on Pac's album, even though Dre took credit for others he had no hand in. Pac felt Dre was super lazy with his work ethic and didn't pull his weight at Death Row(post The Chronic). When Dre left Death Row, Pac stayed and took Suge's side of the conflict. Dre was also working with Nas at the time(The Firm), whom Pac also had beef with. He constantly mentioned that Dre was gay and still in the closet. Such as in the outro of "To Live And Die In LA" where Pac goes "California Love part mf 2!Without gay ass Dre". Pac also sampled "No Diggity" on his song "Toss It Up" and dissed Dre on there because the Diggity beat was originally supposed to be for Pac but Dre took it with him when he left Death Row. Dre never responded and it all ended when Pac was killed in 96.

Mase vs Jay Z

Mase and Jay feud was quick and subtle. In 1997, when Mase dropped his debut album "Harlem World". The album featured a skit where Mase confuses his girlfriends names in a phone conversation. One of the names he mentions is Arion. Well apparently she was a real person and the actual girlfriend of somebody in the Roc-A-Fella crew. This made Dame and Jay very mad at the time and they supposedly let Mase and his crew know. In 1998, Mase fired some subtle shots at Jay on 112's single "Love Me". Insinuating that he sold more records than Jay with the line "all we hear is platinum that, platinum this, platinum whips..nobody got no platinum hits". Jay quickly and efficiently shot back the same year on his Vol.2..Hard Knock Life album. On the song "Ride or Die", Jay raps "you see the respect I get every time I come through, check ya own videos..you'll always be #2" in reference to Mase being second fiddle to Diddy, who was arguably the biggest star in rap at the time. Mase retired a year later and the beef ended. It wasn't until recently that Mase even admitted that it all got started because of a girl.

There are a few more but I didn't want OP to be too long, feel free to add more. Check out the other 90s threads if you haven't yet
The 1995 Source Awards--ktt2.com/the-1995-source-awardsthe-most-electrifying-night-in-rap-history-119187
Dr. Dre Vaulted 90s projects--ktt2.com/lost-classicsvaulted-dre-projects-of-the-90s-119644

History

Never knew the Mase and Jay one

Is there a major 90s/2000s rapper who wasn’t in a beef?

Excellent thread

Yo it’s crazy too cuz they was talkin GREASY lmao

Ay @op also wanna add in that Toss It Up was a response to Dre takin the beat for No Diggity that was originally supposed to be for Pac. Pacs whole verse and outro is him dissing Dre on that song lmao

The B**** In Yoo is so hard I haven’t heard that in a while

Good s*** them dudes really wasn't cool huh? lol

Yo it’s kinda crazy to think that too cuz Cali Love was one of PAC’s biggest records and I just always assumed that they were closer than what they were

fr I was surprised when I found this s*** out. That song is as iconic as it gets and the video and everything is memorable. Shame we didn't get more of them collabing.

Ye until Aubrey lol but na i would've included a handful of Em beefs and TI vs Luda if I expanded it to the 2000s lol S*** was competitive

Redman/Keith Murray vs Prodigy

Kurupt vs DMX

Almost included this one. Apparently they were shook/outnumbered when Redman and Keith confronted em one night at the Tunnel Wu vs Bone Thugs another cool mini feud

bump for the evening crowd

I thought it was known that Pac & Dre weren’t that cool..

Pac & Snoop were real friends, Dre was just a Coworker.

If I was a teenager in this era I would be dead right now

Interesting that Snoop and Pac was cool. Though at the end Pac was mad at Snoop too lol

Damn Hov buried Mase with that one

lets be honest, rap feuds are some of the best parts about Hip-Hop, niggas are too PC now to beef like that, I wish Drake vs Pusha kept going

Quik mc eiht
no limit cash money

Quick vs Mc Eith would've taken an entire thread tbh