A Look Back... Beanie Sigel vs. Jadakiss Article by: John Kennedy As Jadakiss and Beanie Sigel trade verses over the dragging synths and soft bells of DJ Khaled’s “Problem,” their flows complement each other as if they are long-time rap comrades. But their alliance, which was officially marked by Sigel’s appearance on Sheek’s “Kiss Your Ass Goodbye,” is still in its infant stage. With the long-standing rivalry between Philadelphia ambassador Beans and Yonkers representative Kiss in the past, NobodySmiling takes a look back on the battle between the two lyrical marvels that arose five years ago. How it unfolded… The battle was initiated when a 2001 issue of The Source Magazine reported that Jadakiss said Philly rappers were stealing his style. “A whole state got on because of me. Philly's on right now because of me. Everybody's tryin' to sound like me,” Jadakiss said, according to the magazine. Despite Jada’s claims of being misquoted, South Philadelphia native Beanie Sigel took offense to the statement and retaliated with an under-the-radar mixtape response. Then, Jada’s solo debut Kiss The Game Goodbye dropped with the venomous “Here We Go Again.” The track, which featured DMX, contained some harsh bars for Sigel: “Ni**as can’t f**k with ‘Kiss, I meanie that / Had to stop eating red meat cause I ate too many Beanie Macks,” Jada boasted. By this point, the war was at full throttle. It wasn’t long before the Broad Street Bully took the offensive, dropping a classic battle freestyle over Jadakiss’ “Put Ya Hands Up” that would be simply dubbed “F**k Jadakiss.” On the track Beanie is as aggressive as ever, dropping bombs like “I’m about to son Kiss (Sunkist) like the soda” and “This ni**a’s sweeter than a Hershey Kiss.” In the rhyme, Beanie also alleges that Styles ghostwrites Jadakiss’ material and quips that “everybody liked [Jada] better in that shiny suit.” Beanie’s lyrical onslaught eventually fades out but Jadakiss’ answer followed shortly after. The Lox frontman released a freestyle of his own over a disco-influenced backdrop. Akin to his adversary’s record, the freestyle was coined “F**k Beanie” and featured a barrage of clever punchlines that Jadakiss had become known for. He directly charged that Beanie took his style, warning “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” Some of the track’s hardest-hitting lines were “I don’t know why this ni**a’s talking all greasy / when Mack’s jam easy,” and “Mos Def, I’ll have a ni**a bury your carcass / for a Kool G and I’m not from Rawkus.” Several other shots were taken between the lyricists, with Styles and Sheek joining on Jada’s front and the State Property crew (including Freeway, who Jadakiss named “the baby gorilla”) riding with Beanie. The only other notable lyrical clash occurred in Philadelphia, when a live Powerhouse concert performance by Jadakiss suddenly evolved into a Beanie-bashing session. Through the crowd’s jeers, Jada spit a freestyle diss: “Send Sigel a wire that I'm ridin’ again / We getting’ it on / throw your man’s leg on the lawn / he cant walk / put your brother’s tongue in the mail / he can’t talk.” Later that evening, Beans himself took the stage, retorting to the LOX-frontman. “He a b*tch, without the pocketbook and the wig / how he talk that ‘Pac sh-t, when he rolled with B.I.G.,” Beanie rhymed, later concluding, “You couldn’t bake a Bean in Boston, chump!” The outcome… With a battle of greater proportion developing between Jay-Z and Nas, the musical skirmish between Yonkers and Philadelphia eventually mellowed. Most fans solely judged the battle by the “F**k Jadakiss” and “F**k Beanie” freestyles. Beanie was praised for his aggressiveness, hard rhymes and relentless flow. But he was docked for his numerous usage of The Notorious B.I.G. rhymes in both the live freestyle (“I’ll make his mouthpiece / obese / like Della Reese / when I release / he lose Sheek / and little P …”) and “F-ck Jadakiss” (“Look what you made me do / brains blew / My team in the marine blue…”) Jadakiss, won the battle by a slim margin using his wit (“Sigel’s not real to me, therefore he doesn’t exist / so vamoose son of a Kiss”) and wordplay (“I hate Beans, but f**k it, Kiss gon’ eat”) to ridicule the Philly MC. Nevertheless, being able to hold his own against a rapper of the caliber of Jadakiss allowed many to see Beanie Sigel as a lyrical heavyweight rather than one of Jay-Z’s soldiers. Since the skirmish, Beanie Sigel has remained virtually untested by other rappers, but has encountered several legal predicaments, eventually serving most of his one-year sentence for gun possession charges from late 2004 to August 2005. He escaped a robbery with bullet wounds to both arms just last month. Beanie Sigel’s third album, The B. Coming, was critically hailed as his most introspective work to date, but did not manage to sell 500,000 copies. On the other hand, Jadakiss has since become tangled in a rap battle with G-Unit capo 50 Cent. While the ensuing battle has been one-sided, with powerful blows coming from the D-Block camp, 50’s revenge came at the expense of Styles’ sophomore project Time is Money, which has been repeatedly pushed back by Interscope. Given Fiddy’s influence at the label, being among the top revenue generators, many believe that he played a part in Styles’ album being constantly delayed. As for Jada, his second offering, Kiss of Death, dropped in 2004. While it did not live up to its predecessor, Kiss of Death showed a more personal, well-rounded Jadakiss than his rookie record. It also performed better on Soundscan, nearly earning Kiss his desired platinum plaque. With the hatchet now buried between the two of the most respected lyricists in Hip-Hop, look forward to more collaborations between the D-Block clique and the State Property family. (160) Comments | Post a comment »