Diss diss, where to find? Help me find all the diss tracks out there.

November 20, 2012 5:33 PM

I'm interested in finding a list of every hip hop/rap diss track out there as the basis for a research project. Where can I find a listing?

I've emailed many of the major music services (itunes, emusic, Spotify, Gracenote, etc...), but discovered that such lists do not seem to be retained because diss tracks do not form a coherent genre by themselves.

Is there a compendium/some kind of official list of diss tracks? The alternative would be to hunt down the meanings of lyrics of all hip hop/rap artists (or look up each song on youtube to see if a song is labelled with the word 'diss'), but I want to exhaust the possibilities of finding an official list somewhere.

I have run the obligatory google search, but it turns up unofficial lists, and wonder about the completeness/quality of those.

Any leads would be appreciated!

posted by butwheresthesushi to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Best answer: This would be a long list. Diss tracks are extremely common, to the point that almost every rap album has one or two of 'em. You might start with the Beef documentary series, which will at least point you to some of the major hip hop feuds and the songs they produced.
posted by chrchr at 5:44 PM on November 20, 2012

Partial answer: Roxanne Wars, which includes a list.
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:45 PM on November 20, 2012

Yeah. The Bridge Wars is another similar list, as are Kool Moe Dee vs. L.L. Coo J and Jay-Z vs. Nas and some more under hip hop feuds.
posted by chrchr at 5:49 PM on November 20, 2012

Best answer: If you use RapGenius.com, it can provide insight on the lyrics of diss songs. It definitely clears up what the rapper was trying to convey within the song. Some of it is pretty blatant, but some of it goes a bit deeper. Ex. Nas - Ether (Jay-Z diss)
posted by Junior687 at 6:34 PM on November 20, 2012

Obviously, there's no such thing as an official list of all diss-tracks. And I doubt anything comes even sort of close, considering how ingrained with (prolific) hip-hop culture diss tracks are (plus, what about not-so-specific diss tracks? i.e. every rap song ever).

Your best bet is to compile the lists that you do find.
posted by wrok at 6:51 PM on November 20, 2012

Best answer: Ego trip's book of rap lists may have something others have missed. Fun read anyway.
posted by shushufindi at 7:08 PM on November 20, 2012

Diss replies predate hip-hop, back to the dozens and further, so you are more or less going to be completing this yourself for the first time anywhere.

The world thanks you in advance!
posted by rhizome at 11:08 PM on November 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Also, most of these tracks are not on official albums and are released on mixtapes.
posted by wongcorgi at 10:25 AM on November 21, 2012