The Year’s Coldest Rap Disses (By People Not Named Kendrick Lamar)
From Megan Thee Stallion and Latto to Cam’ron and Shaq (!), these are some of the best (and most savage) diss tracks of 2024.
The best rap disses tend to impact in three different ways: They’re vicious, they’re targeted, and they’re petty. Sometimes they’re softer jabs, subliminals meant to bring on death by a thousand cuts. Other times, they’re as blatant as a brick with your name on it hurtling toward your face. A tried-and-true tradition of the genre, they range from obscure curiosities siloed off to hardcore fandoms (Canibus never fully recovered from LL Cool J’s scathing “The Ripper Strikes Back”) to earthshaking cultural moments (Nas’ “Ether,” Tupac’s “Hit ’Em Up,” Pusha T’s “The Story of Adidon”) capable of breaking or redefining entire careers.
This has been a ripe year for the rap diss. Even before Kendrick Lamar and Drake brought their long-simmering beef to a boil in March and then kept the world locked into their hip-hop soap opera for months, the energy felt particularly combative. Old wounds were reopened; Kendrick’s pedophilia accusations against Drake seemingly inspired several other rappers to bat around heinous claims of their own; modern stars fought back against industry titans; former partners switched sides; rap-adjacent figures got bored and decided to bar some adversaries up for kicks. Below, I’ve compiled nine of my favorite 2024 diss tracks that aren’t part of the Kendrick-Drake canon.
