Memorable Diss Tracks and Rap Battles
If you watched Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, you saw a diss track in action. We answer the question: What are some of the most memorable diss tracks and rap battles on film?
Topics discussed:
- "South Bronx" and "The Bridge Is Over"
- LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee
- Roxanne Shanté vs. UTFO and Roxanne vs. KRS-One
- Biggie "Who Shot Ya?" vs. 2Pac "Hit 'Em Up"
- Nas vs. Jay-Z
- 50 Cent vs. Ja Rule
- Ice Cube "No Vaseline" vs. Eazy-E
- 3rd Bass "Pop Goes the Weasel" vs. Vanilla Ice
- 2 Live Crew "Martinez" vs. Bob Martinez
- Eminem vs. Everybody
- B-Rabbit vs. Papa Doc in 8 Mile
- Adam vs. everyone in Bodied
- DJay vs. Skinny Black in Hustle & Flow
- On the Come Up
Also check out:
Our episodes on 8 Mile, our interview with Craig G on coaching the on-screen rappers in 8 Mile, Bodied, Hustle & Flow, On the Come Up, Wild Style, and Notorious.
Credits
Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie. Follow @hiphopmovieclub on Instagram!
And remember:
Don't hate...checkmate!
Check us out:
Our next live event is Thursday April 24 at SteelStacks in Bethlehem: Hustle & Flow
Check out our live event schedule and more at our Linktree.
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Transcript
Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show that harmonizes the rhythm of hip hop with the
magic of movies.
2
:Today we're discussing diss tracks and rap battles.
3
:We're three old heads who put their old heads together To vibe on these songs for you.
4
:I'm Dyno Wright, podcaster, filmmaker, longtime hip hop fan, and I am amused that the
Based god was beefing with Kevin Durant.
5
:Kevin Durant.
6
:I'm JB, 80s and 90s, nostalgia junkie, longtime Hip Hop fan.
7
:And the first rap battle that I recall as a kid was Roxanne Shante versus the educated
rapper or EMD from UTFO when I heard it on Power 99 out of Philly.
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:Boogie, a DJay, long time hip hop fan, and I absolutely live for the battle.
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:As long as it stays in the music, I can listen to diss tracks all day long.
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:I get a kick out of them.
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:In this episode, we'll answer the question, what are some of the most memorable diss
tracks and rap battles of all time?
12
:So as we all know, one of the biggest, most successful diss tracks of all time was just
released over the past few months and was performed at the Super Bowl by Kendrick Lamar,
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:not like us.
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:And that got us thinking, let's talk about some of these biggest diss tracks and rap
battles of all time.
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:Cause there are dozens upon dozens of them.
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:Some more memorable than others, but as long as there's bravado and
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:rappers competing for the spotlight, fighting over fame, fighting over money, fighting
over women, whatever, you know, there's going to be these diss tracks and we're
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:entertained by these, sometimes appalled by them, but long live the diss track and rap
battle.
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:Movies are made out of these, et cetera.
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:Boogie, what are some of the most memorable diss tracks?
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:that you can recall.
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:Yeah, I mean, I could start from the beginning, which was probably the ones that I
remembered, like that kind of got me when I was first getting hooked on hip hop.
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:And I say it was probably the South Bronx by Boogie Down Productions, which basically was
a call out to the Queens Bridge Posse and the Juice Crew.
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:And they claimed that hip hop started out in Queens.
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:And, you know, of course, you know,
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:history tells us that it was actually the Bronx where it did start.
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:yeah, KRS One and Scott LaRock and they got on there and they went off and they just said,
yo, this is where it started.
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:I don't care what you're talking about.
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:And of course, know, MC Shan responded.
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:And that was, that was unfortunately short lived because Boogie Down Production released
the Bridge is over and that just stomped everything out from there.
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:There were a couple battles that went back and forth between LL Cool J and Kool Moe Dee on
tracks.
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:Also, of course, the one that you mentioned, JB with Roxanne Shante going after those guys
over at UTFO.
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:Also, let's go some of the other big ones that most people know about.
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:There was the big feud between Nas and Jay-Z.
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:It some back and forth with that.
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:Of course, the infamous in all caps infamous Biggie and Tupac, which sparked the East
Coast, West Coast feud.
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:that unfortunately infamous because, know, as we all know, we lost two hip hop juggernauts
in that battle with Biggie and Tupac both being murdered, unfortunately.
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:So Boogie, the songs from that feud, Who Shot Ya was the one and I'm trying to recall the
other, Hit Up, that was it, Hit Up.
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:Those are great songs, but yeah, they're very vicious.
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:Yeah, and the thing about the hit em up song is I don't even know if and Biggie denied it
that he made us that song Calling out Tupac but Tupac claims that that song was about him
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:getting shot in the studio Unfortunately, but But of course, you know that spark Tupac's
probably one of the greatest diss tracks of all time hit 'em up I mean it was just
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:scathing scathing and I think
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:The one, I think the only drawback about that song was that it wasn't just Tupac on it.
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:Like if he would have just, if it would have been straight Tupac through that whole song,
I think it would have been better.
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:But the fact that he let, you know, his other boys get on there, was like, all right,
okay, yeah.
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:Cause that kind of took away from it a little bit.
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:yeah, was a hard hitting song though.
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:I remember like it played in the club.
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:Like, I mean, they would put on some biggie songs.
50
:And all of a sudden right behind it, that's why you hear Tupac That's why F Joe is aw man.
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:The whole place would go nuts.
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:And I felt so bad.
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:I'm like, yo, are we supposed to be dancing?
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:This like we're on the East Coast like, yo, what's going on here?
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:Like, what's the loyalty?
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:It's crazy.
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:But yeah.
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:actually covered a lot of this in the films that we, if you go back to our catalog of
podcast episodes, we watched Notorious, talked about those tracks that you mentioned.
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:We just watched Nas as Time is Illmatic.
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:We saw the screening in Phoenixville and talk about the bridge is over.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:that whole feud with KRS-1 and Roxanne Shante We watched the Roxanne Roxanne documentary
back on Netflix.
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:So talks about how that feud with UTFO and then, we were discussing beforehand, there's
multiple versions of that.
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:There was like six, seven, eight different tracks.
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:Everybody's trying to jump in and get some airplay over that same beat.
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:So yeah, it's all intertwined with some of these documentaries and films also.
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:Yeah, right.
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:Exactly.
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:Yeah.
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:multi-part series that his mother, Afeni had put out.
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:Yeah.
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:Yes, age old, you know, beefs that have gone on, like hundreds of them.
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:So.
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:you can't keep up with all of them.
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:I was looking through some of the lists and I'm like, I didn't know that they were
beefing.
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:I didn't know that.
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:I'm over here trying to figure out what they're talking about.
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:And it's like, there's some new messages and jabs at the moment.
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:okay, all right.
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:Some of them are subtle than others.
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:Some of them are just like blatant.
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:Yeah.
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:yeah.
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:Like hit em up before the beat even dropped.
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:Like he started it off.
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:And I think that's what caught everybody off guard is like, dang.
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:Heh.
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:Another one on film, Straight Outta Compton chronicles the breakup of NWA and how nasty
that was with Eazy-E.
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:Dr.
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:Dre, know, the No Vaseline song is in the top three of diss tracks of all time.
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:They really put down Eazy-E and they had someone portraying him in the video and all types
of inappropriate actions going on there.
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:Yeah, I mean, Ice Cube, I mean, in the beginning, Ice Cube did a lot of the writing for
NWA.
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:like, I mean, and people, lot of people don't give Ice Cube his props as far as his pen
game.
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:Ice Cube has a strong pen game and when he focuses and puts, you know, what he wants to
zero in on, he can, he puts out some good quality lyrics and that No Vaseline is just
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:like, It's like, wow.
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:Yeah.
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:There's some almost comical songs over time, like Pop Goes the Weasel, 3rd bass dissing
Vanilla Ice for being a poser or kind of like a sellout and not really hood.
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:That was kind of entertaining.
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:Yeah, absolutely.
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:Yeah.
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:I was joking earlier.
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:mean, sometimes it's not even just rappers, but just like dissing other people.
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:Like 2Live Crew had a famous song, F Martinez, which was aimed at the mayor of Miami at
the time, because he was, there was all this legislation to, to ban their music.
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:And they eventually came out with Banned in the USA, which was a take on Born in the USA.
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:But that F Martinez song, was dissing him, his wife, other colleagues of his.
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:Whoever was trying to stop them from making money off of these explicit lyrics.
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:And then you look at today and there's explicit lyrics all over the place.
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:So these guys were kind of trailblazers for free speech.
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:Yeah.
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:they definitely kicked the door open.
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:Yeah, big time.
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:Any other diss tracks?
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:I mean, again, we could go on for hours and hours, but those are some of the most
memorable ones.
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:Any others that come to mind?
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:Oh yeah, we got Jay and Nas going at each other.
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:Yeah, yeah.
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:The takeover, Ether, oh man.
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:So Jay, Jay at that point, I think in his career, Jay had a successful run of probably
about, I want to say maybe eight years in a row of just like being at the top of the game.
119
:And Nas,
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:As we mentioned in our time is illmatic episode and also in the documentary, Nas' first
album, out the gate, was a straight up classic.
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:And he hasn't been able to, I mean, despite, you know, he's been consistent with his
lyrics, but some of the production hasn't allowed that same duplication, that feat to be
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:duplicated again.
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:Like he hasn't put out a...
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:I mean, he's put out some classic songs, but that whole no skip album of Illmatic, he
hasn't been able to duplicate that, unfortunately.
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:So, Jay kind of was like plucking at him like, yo bro, like what's going on?
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:Like you're inconsistent.
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:Like I'm putting out hit after hit after hit after hit after hit.
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:Like you're putting out like one here and there, like eh, you're not doing it right.
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:Like what's going on?
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:And then, know, then Nas released Ether and kind of smacked Jay-Z up a little bit.
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:Yeah.
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:And that's another one that kind of starts off like, like how Pac started off hit em up.
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:said, hear, you hear the beep, ding, F Jay-Z.
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:said, oh, it's like, wait a minute.
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:It's like, oh, this is what we doing?
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:And then he just, right.
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:And then he just, then he he just went on to commence to just go after him, like, you
know, calling him.
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:Camel, which was kind of funny though.
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:Joe Camel.
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:Jay is my man and all, but that was funny.
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:But yeah, that was some good stuff right there though.
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:Good stuff.
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:Ja Rule was 50 Cent’s whipping boy for quite a while
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:Ohhhh
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:God.
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:Yes.
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:Multiple diss tracks, yeah.
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:Yoosh!
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:I think the unfortunate part about that beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule was that 50
Cent's main critique of Ja Rule was like, yo, how you gonna be hardcore?
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:You singing on your songs.
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:Like you singing on your songs.
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:Ended Ja Rule's career and then started doing what?
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:Singing on his songs.
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:I was like, yo, you doing the same thing you just dissed him for, but nobody said anything
about it.
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:I was like, come on, bro.
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:Like really?
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:Come on, Curtis.
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:Hehehehe
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:Oh man, like, I mean, and I say that, you know, with all, with all respect for 50 Cent,
he's a very, um, business, business savvy gentleman.
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:So like he, that was calculated.
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:Yeah.
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:Chess, not checkers.
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:Take him off of his spot and I'm gonna put myself in that spot doing the same thing he was
just doing.
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:Cause Ja had that long running.
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:He had a little, a little run too.
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:Like he has, um,
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:songs with him and Ashanti, know, classic, classic him and JLo, classic, classic, like the
vocals and the rapping, was just, it was perfect.
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:It was a perfect blend over those tracks.
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:And then, know, 50 Cent came through and stomped on it like Godzilla, like, it's over.
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:man.
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:Ashanti was, yeah, that was a great mix between the two of them.
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:Yeah, they put out some hits.
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:Only for the rule baby.
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:all I just said.
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:But then Ja Rule really got his comeuppance with that festival that went awry.
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:I forget the name of that.
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:That was Fyre Yeah, yeah.
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:And it's coming back too.
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:Hide your wallet.
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:No one got paid for that.
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:People are getting sick.
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:Just like insane.
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:I have to watch that documentary.
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:I never saw it, but I heard about it.
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:Yeah, I watched it.
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:It was pretty funny.
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:It's interesting.
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:Yeah.
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:It was doomed from the start.
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:You look at the plane, you're like, really?
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:That's not gonna work.
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:That's not gonna work.
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:It's not gonna work.
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:not a plan destined for success.
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:Nah, wasn't, not at all.
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:then like, funny part about that, like Dave Chappelle got on his like, yo, you gotta find,
where's Ja Rule at?
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:Find Ja Rule.
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:All of this Ja rule routines are so funny.
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:Yes, Dave Chappelle had a, he had a ball with that one.
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:What's Ja rule think?
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:man, classic, classic stuff, man.
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:so good.
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:I the Eminem and Benzino feud.
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:We talked about that briefly.
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:Eminem just throws strays at everybody.
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:Even people like Kirkpatrick 'N sync and Limp Bizkit.
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:Anybody that's too mainstream.
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:Yeah, yeah, Moby.
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:know, Christina, Aguilera caught some strays.
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:And she didn't even do some.
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:Yeah, everybody was catching them.
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:man.
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:Nope.
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:he was first coming out.
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:He wanted that shock value.
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:Yep.
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:And very few people even thought about responding.
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:And the ones that did, man.
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:you
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:I mean, we saw Eight Mile and his upbringing, but he's just dissing his mother on every
other track too.
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:And once you do that, everybody's fair game.
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:Yeah, the mom and the baby mama was catching it.
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:He didn't have a filter, no.
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:Exactly.
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:It's why we talk about some of the films that also had some big type of rap battles.
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:Right away, Eminem, right?
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:Staying on that theme, Eight Mile, the B rabbit versus Papa Doc played by Anthony Mackie.
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:That was a classic rap duel where he freezes him up, literally freezes him up.
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:I actually just heard Lose Yourself.
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:I was just driving around before Lose Yourself came on and it brought me back to the film.
231
:But yeah, that was a classic rap battle, I mean, B-Rabbit worked his way up, worked his
way up.
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:He failed and then he got the courage and then his strategy was just like, I'm just going
to diss myself.
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:Yeah, I'm trailer park and this happened.
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:They slept with my girl, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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:And then he just goes after Anthony Mackie for being a...
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:them.
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:school, his real name is Clarence and all that stuff.
238
:that whole scene is just a classic scene, man.
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:It's so clutch, so classic, so well done.
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:Yeah, and he started off, he got the whole crew, like he caught, you know, he Lickety
split in the first round, in the next round, he took out Lotto.
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:man, and I think Lotto almost caught him, cause he caught him, you know, the dude from
Leave It To Beaver.
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:And he went back and flipped it on him and just called out everybody in the crew by
character associated with a character from the show, which kind of had the whole crowd go
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:nuts.
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:And then when the beat stopped, he was like, yo, I don't need the beat.
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:You my motto was that motto, I get the digits from your mother for a dollar tomorrow.
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:It's like, whoa.
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:It was like, wait a minute.
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:But like you said, JB, like that, that whole flip the script on Papa Doc, you know, he
called himself out and didn't leave Papa Doc with any ammunition.
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:He just gave him a gun with no ammo.
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:So here.
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:it's like, I know everything you're going to say.
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:So I'm going to say it first.
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:And then he just stripped, stripped his pride.
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:was like, okay.
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:And now I'm going to say a few things about you.
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:I know something.
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:Exactly.
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:Yeah.
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:private school.
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:Oh, man, I love that whole scene though.
261
:Oh, man.
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:I think I've watched it so many times.
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:Like sometimes I'll watch it and rewind it and watch it again, rewind it and watch it
again, rewind it and watch it again.
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:Yeah.
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:The gold standard of rap battles on film.
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:and, Eminem produced the movie Bodied, that, we covered on one of our episodes too.
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:And there was the grad, think a grad student, Adam.
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:Yeah.
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:And he was doing a bunch of research on rap culture, but man, if you watch that film, some
of the most creative, but also ethically charged, nasty.
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:insults in the rap battles, but again, creativity mixed with that, could, it'll leave your
jaw dropped.
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:Like what?
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:Did he just say that?
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:Brutal, brutal word play there.
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:I recommend that if you're into rap battling, that is a kind of a movie that kind of
stayed under radar, but.
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:for the battle scenes alone.
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:They got physical, they actually got physical in there, yeah.
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:Yeah, yeah, the disses, the disses in Bodied were, yeah, they took that, they took the
disses of 8 Mile and just kind of some steroids in them.
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:Seriously.
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:It's like, gotta, if you're sensitive, it's gonna offend you, man.
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:Yeah.
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:Cringe worthy, but creative nonetheless.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:There's a movie we covered, Hustle and Flow, which we're actually going to be doing a live
event in April back in Bethlehem.
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:Showed the battle between DJay and Skinny Black's crew.
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:Skinny Black played by Ludacris and DJay with Terrence Howard.
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:Not a true, true battle, but still like a dope moment nonetheless.
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:Yeah, DJay went for the shine in that one.
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:he put out some good stuff in that, yeah, that Whoop that trick song.
290
:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
291
:song,
292
:Yep, yep.
293
:made him somewhat of a household name in that area while he was incarcerated after the
fallout of attacking skinny black because skinny black didn't like his music and kind of
294
:threw it in the toilet.
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:Yeah, it's like, wow.
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:But.
297
:Yep.
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:And then remember we watched on the come up, right?
299
:And that was like a younger female version of like an eight mile.
300
:And that was really well done.
301
:And again, that's really stayed under the radar, but it was cool.
302
:We got to promote it.
303
:We got some digital copies and that was Sanaa Lathan's directorial debut.
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:Yeah, but there were some good rap battles in there.
305
:Who was that?
306
:Lil Yachty was in it, right?
307
:And yeah, yeah, yeah.
308
:But yeah, there were some really creative battles in there as well.
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:Yeah, that's definitely a good one to watch too.
310
:It kind of shows, you know, when she's trying to get a record deal and try to get on and
how she's got to prove herself by battling local rappers.
311
:and everybody starts coming for her.
312
:the beef exceeded the music.
313
:It escaped from the music.
314
:Yeah, Method Man was in it and Mike Epps.
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:So he has some big, names in there.
316
:Yeah.
317
:Method Man was Supreme, right?
318
:I think was his name.
319
:And he was, yeah, that was, that was worthwhile.
320
:But if we go back to one of the all time classic early hip hop movies, Wild Style, and the
battles that we have there, that's where you see the scene on the basketball court, right?
321
:Y'all can't ball, y'all can't ball.
322
:Yeah.
323
:That was a great battle between those two crews.
324
:Yeah.
325
:Classic.
326
:exactly.
327
:That's one of the first rap battles you'll see on film.
328
:It's a classic scene.
329
:Most people that know that movie, they know that scene.
330
:That's the scene that they know that stands out.
331
:Yep, that's the scene.
332
:Double trouble was in that, I mean, in that movie.
333
:Yeah, fantastic freaks Cold Crush.
334
:Busy Bee Starski I mean, that film is just insane.
335
:And we were fortunate enough to meet the director, Charlie Ahern, and Grandmaster Caz and
Cold Crush Brothers.
336
:and Grammix, Grandmixer DXT.
337
:Yeah.
338
:Yeah, I mean, they came to Bethlehem a little over a year ago.
339
:Thanks again to our man DJ Arm 18 for bringing them out.
340
:We even got to see an after party kind of like behind the scenes acapella from Grandmaster
Caz like ad lib.
341
:was sick.
342
:That was a memorable night.
343
:Absolutely.
344
:But yeah, those are some key rap battles in film.
345
:Too numerous to name all of them, but if you want to see some rap battles or listen to
some tracks, go back to listen to some of these ones we mentioned, some of these scenes,
346
:you'll get your fill.
347
:Yep, yes indeed.
348
:And this all sets the stage for what we're seeing today.
349
:Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
350
:mean, the fact, again, the fact that They Not Like Us was performed at the halftime show
at the Super Bowl, won multiple Grammy Awards as a diss track, that was just like mind
351
:blowing.
352
:Yeah.
353
:I never thought the hip hop would take it this far.
354
:Like what?
355
:Like you specifically saying the name of another MC and just berating them for the whole
song and you get a Grammy for it.
356
:Not just one Grammy.
357
:It's like wow.
358
:like...
359
:Okay.
360
:Mm-hmm.
361
:It's like certified pedophile.
362
:Wop, wop, wop, wop.
363
:Wop, wop, wop.
364
:man.
365
:So good.
366
:Mm-hmm.
367
:We're saying the same thing.
368
:The funny thing is these memes and these videos coming out and they're putting that track
towards everything and it jives so well.
369
:Like I've seen Michael Jackson when he's dancing like Smooth Criminal, I've seen like.
370
:like High School Musical, so many different.
371
:scenes and it's just like, it goes with everything.
372
:It's crazy, yeah.
373
:Yeah, I even saw like a groom and his best man walk down the aisle to the beginning of it.
374
:from the clip from the Super Bowl, when it was going back and forth with the woman, are
you gonna do it?
375
:And the best man is like, hands him the ChapStick he puts her in and just go down the
aisle like, oh, wait a minute.
376
:Classic.
377
:Yeah.
378
:truly a cultural moment.
379
:Absolutely.
380
:Yeah, it's gonna be hard to top that as a diss track in terms of popularity.
381
:Yup.
382
:I mean, got my man Drake just punching air.
383
:Just punching air.
384
:Yeah.
385
:It's funny because remember, J.
386
:Cole was kind of in middle of that.
387
:He kind of did the the old Homer Simpson through the hedges back.
388
:I'm out.
389
:He's like...
390
:He faded out.
391
:He did.
392
:move.
393
:You don't want to catch any more heat.
394
:Yeah, yeah.
395
:absolutely.
396
:Yep.
397
:I just heard J Cole's new song, Clouds.
398
:It's pretty good if you want to look that up.
399
:It's solid.
400
:it is.
401
:man.
402
:That's the perfect one.
403
:He fade into the bushes like Homer.
404
:that's perfect.
405
:man.
406
:That's one of my favorite memes or animated gifs or whatever.
407
:It's a great one.
408
:great one yeah
409
:That and the Michael Jackson popcorn from Thriller.
410
:He's just like, I'm just here for the comments.
411
:Uh-huh.
412
:Yep.
413
:two amazing ones.
414
:Too good, too good.
415
:Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMC's JB, Boogie and Dyno Wright.
416
:Theme music by Boogie.
417
:Join us on April 24th at SteelStacks in Bethlehem for Hustle and Flow.
418
:Our next screening in the Hip Hop Movie Club film series.
419
:Tickets at SteelStacks.org.
420
:Thanks for listening to the Hip Hop Movie Club podcast.
421
:If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend.
422
:It's a real power up for us.
423
:We've got a bunch of live events coming up.
424
:Click the link in the description and come hang with us.
425
:And remember, don't hate.
426
:Checkmate.
427
:That's what you say, man, when you diss and drop the mic.
428
:When you win, yeah.
429
:Drop the mic.
430
:I'm out.
431
:You slam it down like you're playing dominoes.
432
:Bam.
433
:Hahaha!
434
:You know, I never learned how to play chess myself.
435
:I never took it up.
436
:Yeah, never have.
437
:Oh, it's, you should learn.
438
:It's not that, it's easy to learn.
439
:Hard to master.
440
:Easy to learn, hard to master.
