The Bridge Wars
Encyclopedia
The Bridge Wars was a hip hop rivalry during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, that arose from a dispute over the true birthplace of hip hop music
and retaliation over the rejecting of a record for airplay
. The Bridge Wars originally involved The South Bronx's Boogie Down Productions
, led by KRS-One
, and Marley Marl
's Juice Crew
, hailing from Queensbridge
. KRS-One and Marley Marl have since officially retired the feud, with the release of their collaborative 2007 album Hip-Hop Lives.
's track "The Bridge" in late 1985. The track recited the praises of their home borough and some of its earlier rap crews, and was taken to imply that Queensbridge was where hip hop began, even though it doesn't actually say that. The lyrics that apparently raised the issue were:
Though MC Shan states Queensbridge is where his crew got started, and his birth place, he has stated that he never meant the song to say that Queensbridge is the birthplace of Hip Hop at all, "everyone knows that hip hop was started in the Bronx." Statements can be found in the 2003 documentary Beef
, which features the original battle footage.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361354/
based KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions released the track South Bronx
, which was similar in terms of content to Shan and Marl's track except singing the praises of the South Bronx rather than Queensbridge, and made the argument for it being the real birthplace of hip hop. The song first premiered at a concert where MC Shan had just performed "The Bridge". The track directly attacks MC Shan with lyrics like:
Before "The Bridge" was released, MC Shan was signed to MCA
Records, however he left the label after releasing an almost unheard single entitled "Feed the World". Another line by KRS directly attacking Shan was:
This referred to the fact that MC Shan had attacked LL Cool J
on the A side of "The Bridge" with a song called "Beat Biter", whereby Shan claimed that LL Cool J had stolen beats from Marley Marl. LL Cool J never directly responded to this claim and the impending battle between Shan and BDP drew the attention away from it. Marley Marl later produced most of LL's Mama Said Knock You Out album.
Slate
magazine described it thus: "In 1986, it was a beef that launched the star of KRS-One, when his withering attacks on MC Shan effectively ended his rival's career."http://www.slate.com/id/2169611/nav/tap3/
The official story at the time was that KRS-One was defending the reputation of the South Bronx in response to MC Shan and Marley Marl claiming that hip hop started out in Queensbridge. If the first few lines of "The Bridge" are omitted, a case can be made for this interpretation. However, KRS-One has since gone on record in an interview with MTV, saying that his real motivation was the fact that a demo tape he had made was rejected by Magic, and he was angry. He retaliated by dissing the Juice Crew, of which Magic was a member.
DJ Red Alert also gives a similar version of this story on the CD "Beats, Rhymes And battles Part I". In dialog on that CD (track 5), he states that Magic dissed a track by "24/7" which was a group including Scott La Rock and KRS-One. When they heard "The Bridge", they decided to diss back, and this is why "The South Bronx" was released.
which took various shots at KRS-One and mocked his taking offense in the first place. He even denies saying hip hop started in Queens, and suggests BDP is just trying to jump on their bandwagon
.
In a more recent interview on THE FOUNDATION (Jayquan), Shan defended and explained the misunderstood line:
But KRS continued to play upon the "response to the claim that hip hop started in Queens" premise with his next response, "The Bridge Is Over
", featuring lyrics such as:
Most of KRS's fire was directed specifically at Marley Marl and MC Shan, although he occasionally exchanged insults with other Juice Crew members such as Mr. Magic
and Roxanne Shante
, who had earlier been at the center of the Roxanne Wars
, which were a predecessor to this battle. Shante, mentioned in a very vulgar reference in "the Bridge Is Over", released a rap titled "Have A Nice Day", ghostwritten
by Juice Crew colleague Big Daddy Kane
(who was not otherwise personally involved in the battle), in which she took a shot at Boogie Down Productions with the line:
As she also demanded that BDP stood for Broken Down Punks.
Mr. Magic himself was the actual cause of the whole war in the first place, as KRS and Scott La Rock
had earlier approached him with a 12" single they had recorded entitled "Success is the Word", (under the group name "12:41"). Magic dismissed it as "wack", and then, after forming BDP, they decided to take it out on Mr. Magic and Marley Marl's popular "Juice Crew", using the whole "Queens versus Bronx" issue as a premise.
Shan continues recounting in the FOUNDATION interview:
After "Kill That Noise", Shan himself became more passive in the battle, as the above statement indicated. But meanwhile, Two other Queensbridge residents, Rockwell Noel & Poet
, joined in the battle, resulting from the inferior responses from MC Shan and the juice crew offering the strongest attack against BDP. Their first single was entitled "Beat You Down", in which he reiterates that no one actually said that hip hop started in the Bridge, but then points out that the area was nevertheless very prominent in the early days of rap, and even had superior sound equipment, causing it to surpass the Bronx as the leader of hip hop.
The line "Rap like a rasta" was aimed at the way "The Bridge Is Over" was recorded, with a reggae
flavor, in a Jamaica
n accent. The track had been one of the first blendings of rap with reggae.
, BDP's DJ Scott La Rock
was shot dead. Even after La Rock's death, the feud still continued.
MC Shan's song "Juice Crew Law" contained several anonymous shots at KRS. At the same time, other rappers joined in making songs dissing Queensbridge, such as Cool C
's "Juice Crew Dis" which mocked "Juice Crew Law" and attacks both Shan and Shanté, and MitchSki's "Brooklyn Blew Up the Bridge, South Bronx Helped us out", which made fun of Shan's on-stage appearances.
Another rapper named Butchy B stepped in for Queensbrige, with "Go Magic", which was a promotional
for Mr. Magic's WBLS
radio show that begins
and adds
The lipstick reference was aimed at the rival station "KISS FM
", which used a pair of lips as its logo
. He followed up with "Beat Down KRS", in which he among other things, mocks the "didadidadiday" chant of "The Bridge is Over".
KRS took minutes to respond. He answered in 1987 on his featured appearance on "Moshitup" with Just-Ice, from the album "Kool & Deadly" . There, he states
In 1988 DJ Rockwell Noel and the Poet followed up with Taking U Out, which was even stronger than "Beat You Down", and harshly attacked both KRS's then wife, Ms. Melodie, and rival radio station WRKS's DJ Red Alert
, who was on BDP's side of the battle. KRS responded with "Still Number 1, the Numero Uno Mix", where he calls Poet "soft" and uncreative, and accuses him of "sounding like Kane".
He concludes the song with the lyrics:
Although conspicuously absent from this counterattack was any rebuttal to Poet's attack on his wife.
Rockwell Noel & the Poet never seemed to respond to this. Some have suggested that their 1989 single "Massacre" may have been a 'between the lines' response http://www.cocaineblunts.com/blunts/?p=209, with Poet making anoynymous references like "sucker MC's try to test me...".
In 1988, BDP and KRS-One fuels their feud with the juice crew again with "My Philosophy".
On Shan's album Play it Again, Shan
, the track "Time For Us To Defend Ourselves" contains a response to "My Philosophy".
In 1990, Boogie Down Productions released the concept album Edutainment
. It has been praised by critics for its insightfulness and hailed as BDP's most experimental album. KRS-One took on such topics as politics, racism, self identity, slavery, black on black violence, police brutality & corruption and even the meat industry. But, even though KRS-One covered a range of subjects, he couldn't resist a Juice Crew dis. On the second track "Blackman In Effect" he states:
, Das EFX
, Nas, Cunninlynguists
, Big Punisher, Supernatural
, Chino XL
, Mars ILL
, and 2Pac. MC Shan and KRS-One themselves acknowledged the rivalry's important place in hip hop history when they appeared together in a commercial for the Sprite
soft drink in the mid-nineties, in which they exchanged battle rhymes inside a boxing ring. However, the respective fortunes of the pair in the nineties were very different; MC Shan, widely seen by hip hop listeners as the loser of the conflict (should there have been one), never really recovered his reputation and later effectively retired, while KRS forged out a successful solo career and remained an important figure in hip hop.
Meanwhile, Poet had gone on, eventually rechristening himself as "Blaq Poet", later went on to be a part of the groups PHD (Poet + DJ Hot Day), and Screwball; and some of the records released over the years, took numerous pot shots at KRS.
In particular, Screwball's "The Bio" and "You Love To Hear The Stories" (a followup to the original "The Bridge", and which featured MC Shan) recounted the story of him entering the battle, and being basically ignored, and that it thankfully never escalated into physical violence; and the latter pointed to the Nas
album Illmatic
(1994) as proof that "the Bridge is still live". Key lines from both:
----
In 2001, on the compilation QB's Finest (a showcase of Queensbridge hip hop artists), MC Shan took one last parting shot at KRS-One with the comment:
The Bridge was never Over, we left our mark
KRS-One and Marley Marl have since officially retired the feud, with the release of their collaborative 2007 album, Hip-Hop Lives. The album features two tracks further exemplifying the end of the feud: "The Victory" (produced by DJ Premier) which sees KRS on the same track as Blaq Poet, and "Rising" (as in "Rising To the Top"), in which KRS recounts the whole story from his perspective (a struggling former group home
resident trying to enter the business in a period when "answer records" were popular, sparked off by Shante's "Roxanne's Revenge"). You can see this (and the changed attitude towards the former rivals) in the line:
He concludes the track acknowledging his indebtedness to Shan and Marley. He also speaks well of them on other tracks in the album, such as "House of Hits". KRS had also contributed a verse to the Symphony 2000 remake of the Marley Marl classic in 1999.
MC Shan - "The Bridge"
Boogie Down Productions - "South Bronx"
MC Shan - "Kill That Noise"
Boogie Down Productions - "The Bridge Is Over"
Craig G - "Duck Alert"
Roxanne Shanté - "Have A Nice Day"
Rockwell Noel & The Poet - "Beat You Down" and "Taking U Out"
Boogie Down Productions - "Still No. 1 (Numero Uno mix)"
MC Mitchski - "Brooklyn Blew Up The Bridge" (Defending BDP)
MC Shan - "Juice Crew Law"
Cool C - "Juice Crew Diss"
MC Butchy B - "Go Magic" and "Beat Down KRS"
Boogie Down Productions - "Black Man In Effect"
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and retaliation over the rejecting of a record for airplay
Airplay (song)
Airplay is a term used in the radio broadcasting industry to state how frequently a song is being played on over-the-air radio stations. For example, a song which is being played several times every day would be classed as receiving a large amount of airplay...
. The Bridge Wars originally involved The South Bronx's Boogie Down Productions
Boogie Down Productions
Boogie Down Productions was a hip hop group that was originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, months after the release of BDP's debut album, Criminal Minded. The name of the group, Boogie Down, derives from a nickname for the...
, led by KRS-One
KRS-One
Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...
, and Marley Marl
Marley Marl
Marlon Williams , better known as Marley Marl, is an American DJ and record producer, who is considered one of the most important and influential hip-hop producers in the history of hip hop.-Biography:...
's Juice Crew
Juice Crew
The Juice Crew was a hip hop collective of largely Queensbridge-based artists in the mid- to late-1980s. Founded by producer Marley Marl and radio DJ Mr. Magic and housed by Tyrone William's Cold Chillin' Records, the Juice Crew would introduce New School artists Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie,...
, hailing from Queensbridge
Queensbridge, Queens
Queensbridge Houses is the largest public housing development in North America. It is located in Long Island City in Queens, and opened in 1939. The 3,142-unit complex is owned by the New York City Housing Authority. The complex is located in Community Board 1...
. KRS-One and Marley Marl have since officially retired the feud, with the release of their collaborative 2007 album Hip-Hop Lives.
The war begins
The feud began with Queensbridge-based producer Marley Marl & MC ShanMC Shan
MC Shan is an American rapper. He is perhaps best known for collaborating with Snow in "Informer", an international number one hit single.-Biography:...
's track "The Bridge" in late 1985. The track recited the praises of their home borough and some of its earlier rap crews, and was taken to imply that Queensbridge was where hip hop began, even though it doesn't actually say that. The lyrics that apparently raised the issue were:
- You love to hear the story, again and again,
- Of how it all got started way back when,
- The monument is right in your face,
- Sit and listen for a while to the name of the place,
- The Bridge,
- Queensbridge
Though MC Shan states Queensbridge is where his crew got started, and his birth place, he has stated that he never meant the song to say that Queensbridge is the birthplace of Hip Hop at all, "everyone knows that hip hop was started in the Bronx." Statements can be found in the 2003 documentary Beef
Beef (documentary)
Beef is a 2003 film that documents the history of hip-hop feuds. The film's producers were Casey Suchan and Denis Henry Hennelly and the executive producer was Quincy Jones III...
, which features the original battle footage.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361354/
1986: response
In response, South BronxSouth Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....
based KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions released the track South Bronx
South Bronx (song)
"South Bronx" was a single by Hip hop group, Boogie Down Productions from their 1987 debut album, Criminal Minded. The song was produced by Ced Gee, DJ Scott La Rock and KRS-One. The song was a diss track aimed at MC Shan in response to his song, The Bridge and is part of what became known as The...
, which was similar in terms of content to Shan and Marl's track except singing the praises of the South Bronx rather than Queensbridge, and made the argument for it being the real birthplace of hip hop. The song first premiered at a concert where MC Shan had just performed "The Bridge". The track directly attacks MC Shan with lyrics like:
- Party people in the place to be, KRS-One attacks,
- Ya got dropped off MCA cause the rhymes you wrote was wack,
- So you think that hip-hop had its start out in Queensbridge,
- If you popped that junk up in the Bronx you might not live
Before "The Bridge" was released, MC Shan was signed to MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
Records, however he left the label after releasing an almost unheard single entitled "Feed the World". Another line by KRS directly attacking Shan was:
- Show all the people in the place that you are wack,
- Instead of trying take out LL, you need to take your homeboys off the crack
This referred to the fact that MC Shan had attacked LL Cool J
LL Cool J
James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
on the A side of "The Bridge" with a song called "Beat Biter", whereby Shan claimed that LL Cool J had stolen beats from Marley Marl. LL Cool J never directly responded to this claim and the impending battle between Shan and BDP drew the attention away from it. Marley Marl later produced most of LL's Mama Said Knock You Out album.
Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
magazine described it thus: "In 1986, it was a beef that launched the star of KRS-One, when his withering attacks on MC Shan effectively ended his rival's career."http://www.slate.com/id/2169611/nav/tap3/
The official story at the time was that KRS-One was defending the reputation of the South Bronx in response to MC Shan and Marley Marl claiming that hip hop started out in Queensbridge. If the first few lines of "The Bridge" are omitted, a case can be made for this interpretation. However, KRS-One has since gone on record in an interview with MTV, saying that his real motivation was the fact that a demo tape he had made was rejected by Magic, and he was angry. He retaliated by dissing the Juice Crew, of which Magic was a member.
DJ Red Alert also gives a similar version of this story on the CD "Beats, Rhymes And battles Part I". In dialog on that CD (track 5), he states that Magic dissed a track by "24/7" which was a group including Scott La Rock and KRS-One. When they heard "The Bridge", they decided to diss back, and this is why "The South Bronx" was released.
1987: escalation
The Juice Crew soon responded with the track "Kill That Noise" on Shan's album Down by LawDown by Law (MC Shan album)
Down by Law is the debut album by East Coast hip hop artist MC Shan. Released at the height of the Bridge Wars, a feud between artists from Queensbridge and South Bronx , the album contains various diss tracks...
which took various shots at KRS-One and mocked his taking offense in the first place. He even denies saying hip hop started in Queens, and suggests BDP is just trying to jump on their bandwagon
Bandwagon effect
The bandwagon effect is a well documented form of groupthink in behavioral science and has many applications. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as fads and trends clearly do, with "the probability of any individual adopting it increasing with the proportion who have...
.
In a more recent interview on THE FOUNDATION (Jayquan), Shan defended and explained the misunderstood line:
- JQ : Did you ever say in any song, interview or anywhere that Hip Hop started in Queens ?
- Shan : I only said HOW it started in QUEENSBRIDGE, not over the world. The new Source magazine says I still stand on the fact that Hip Hop started in Queens - writers get it twisted. The song the Bridge starts off saying M.C. Shan & Marley Marl in the house tonight - they wanna tell you a story about where THEY come from.http://www.jayquan.com/shan.htm
But KRS continued to play upon the "response to the claim that hip hop started in Queens" premise with his next response, "The Bridge Is Over
The Bridge Is Over
"The Bridge Is Over" is a 1987 song by Boogie Down Productions from their debut album Criminal Minded, performed by rapper KRS-One and produced by DJ Scott LaRock and KRS-One.-History:...
", featuring lyrics such as:
- What's the matter with your MC, Marley Marl?
- Don't you know that he's out of touch?
- What's the matter with your DJ, MC Shan?
- On the wheels of steel Marley sucks
- You better change what's coming out your speaker
- Your better off talking about your wack Puma sneaker
- Cuz Bronx created Hip-Hop
- Queens will only get dropped
Most of KRS's fire was directed specifically at Marley Marl and MC Shan, although he occasionally exchanged insults with other Juice Crew members such as Mr. Magic
Mr. Magic
John "Mr. Magic" Rivas, was an important figure in the world of hip hop radio.-Biography:Mr. Magic debuted in 1981 on WHBI-FM in New York City with the first exclusive rap radio show to be aired on a major station...
and Roxanne Shante
Roxanne Shanté
Roxanne Shanté is an American hip-hop pioneer. Born and raised in the Queensbridge Projects, Shanté first gained attention through the Roxanne Wars and her association with the Juice Crew....
, who had earlier been at the center of the Roxanne Wars
Roxanne Wars
The Roxanne Wars is a well-known series of hip hop rivalries during the mid-1980s, yielding perhaps the most answer records in history. It arose from a dispute over a failed appearance at a radio promotional show...
, which were a predecessor to this battle. Shante, mentioned in a very vulgar reference in "the Bridge Is Over", released a rap titled "Have A Nice Day", ghostwritten
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
by Juice Crew colleague Big Daddy Kane
Big Daddy Kane
Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...
(who was not otherwise personally involved in the battle), in which she took a shot at Boogie Down Productions with the line:
- KRS One, you should go on vacation,
- with a name sounding like a wack radio station.
- and MC Scott La Rock, you should be ashamed,
- when T La Rock said 'it's yours', he didn't mean his name
As she also demanded that BDP stood for Broken Down Punks.
Mr. Magic himself was the actual cause of the whole war in the first place, as KRS and Scott La Rock
Scott La Rock
Scott "La Rock" Sterling was the original DJ of the hip hop group Boogie Down Productions.-BDP:Sterling, a social worker, met rapper KRS-One in 1986 at the Franklin Men's Shelter in the Bronx where KRS lived. The pair, together with DJ D-Nice, formed Boogie Down Productions...
had earlier approached him with a 12" single they had recorded entitled "Success is the Word", (under the group name "12:41"). Magic dismissed it as "wack", and then, after forming BDP, they decided to take it out on Mr. Magic and Marley Marl's popular "Juice Crew", using the whole "Queens versus Bronx" issue as a premise.
Shan continues recounting in the FOUNDATION interview:
- Mr. Magic dissed BDP and said some stuff about their record on the radio, and he [KRS] made me the target. I wasn't gonna keep ridin' that Kris/Shan thing...people kept sayin "why aren't you answering back"? I'm like why?...I gave him a career already. http://www.jayquan.com/shan.htm
After "Kill That Noise", Shan himself became more passive in the battle, as the above statement indicated. But meanwhile, Two other Queensbridge residents, Rockwell Noel & Poet
Screwball (group)
Screwball is a New York City hip hop group, with members Hostyle, KL, Blaq Poet, & Solo. Their debut Y2K The Album was released in 2000 on Tommy Boy Records. The album yielded two singles; "H-O-S-T-Y-L-E" and the surprising and virtually unbroadcastable "F.A.Y.B.A.N."...
, joined in the battle, resulting from the inferior responses from MC Shan and the juice crew offering the strongest attack against BDP. Their first single was entitled "Beat You Down", in which he reiterates that no one actually said that hip hop started in the Bridge, but then points out that the area was nevertheless very prominent in the early days of rap, and even had superior sound equipment, causing it to surpass the Bronx as the leader of hip hop.
- BDP is trying to dis, we know that they're on it
- Every time we make a record, they get disappointed
- Nobody said hip hop started out in the Bridge;
- but now you've dissed all of Queens, so we know how you live
- You try to get paid talkin bout my town;
- when I battle you punk, I'mo beat - you - DOWN
- How could you say the Bridge is over? We've just begun;
- you soft sucker MC, KRS-1
- Can you believe it, party people? He raps like a rasta!
- Boogie Down Productions are full of imposters;
- They say things, that are not true
- Now the Poet and Noel will break it down to you;
- Bronx started hip hop, but couldn't maintain it;
- now they're gettin jealous 'cause Queens has made it:
- THAT's why those suckers are trying to dis;
- 'cause we're getting paid, and they're getting pissed!
The line "Rap like a rasta" was aimed at the way "The Bridge Is Over" was recorded, with a reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
flavor, in a Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n accent. The track had been one of the first blendings of rap with reggae.
Ending & aftermath
In 1987, attempting to calm down an unrelated domestic dispute involving BDP colleague D-NiceD-Nice
D-Nice is the stage name of discjockey, beatboxer, rapper, producer and photographer who began his career in the mid-1980s with the hip hop group Boogie Down Productions.-Career:...
, BDP's DJ Scott La Rock
Scott La Rock
Scott "La Rock" Sterling was the original DJ of the hip hop group Boogie Down Productions.-BDP:Sterling, a social worker, met rapper KRS-One in 1986 at the Franklin Men's Shelter in the Bronx where KRS lived. The pair, together with DJ D-Nice, formed Boogie Down Productions...
was shot dead. Even after La Rock's death, the feud still continued.
MC Shan's song "Juice Crew Law" contained several anonymous shots at KRS. At the same time, other rappers joined in making songs dissing Queensbridge, such as Cool C
Cool C
Christopher Roney , known by the stage name Cool C, is an American rapper whose musical career peaked in the late 1980s. He is perhaps best known today for the notoriety surrounding his involvement in the murder of a Philadelphia Police officer in a bank robbery in January 1996...
's "Juice Crew Dis" which mocked "Juice Crew Law" and attacks both Shan and Shanté, and MitchSki's "Brooklyn Blew Up the Bridge, South Bronx Helped us out", which made fun of Shan's on-stage appearances.
Another rapper named Butchy B stepped in for Queensbrige, with "Go Magic", which was a promotional
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
for Mr. Magic's WBLS
WBLS
WBLS is an urban adult contemporary FM radio station in New York City, operating on 107.5 MHz. WBLS is owned by Inner City Broadcasting Corporation along with sister station WLIB...
radio show that begins
- I heard about you suckers with your Juice Crew Dis,
- you went and made a record that the people go and miss"
and adds
- all you suckers with the lipstick need to get a dress;
- Looking like a faggot, jocking Mr. Magic,
- acting like a parasite, leach or maggot...
The lipstick reference was aimed at the rival station "KISS FM
WRKS-FM
WRKS , known by its on-air branding 98.7 Kiss FM, is an Urban Adult Contemporary radio station in New York City, owned by Emmis Communications...
", which used a pair of lips as its logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
. He followed up with "Beat Down KRS", in which he among other things, mocks the "didadidadiday" chant of "The Bridge is Over".
KRS took minutes to respond. He answered in 1987 on his featured appearance on "Moshitup" with Just-Ice, from the album "Kool & Deadly" . There, he states
- They run they run they run they run they run their lyrics through
- But when they finish rhymin you have not heard nuttin new
- So this one dedicated to the one that run their rhyme-a
- Time after time after time after time
- I know what you will say before you jump up on the stage
- But make sure you don't say "Di-di-di-dahMorse codeMorse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
-di-di-di-day" - Or I'll have to look for you and beat you all up
- So when you see me in the street just keep your mouth shut
In 1988 DJ Rockwell Noel and the Poet followed up with Taking U Out, which was even stronger than "Beat You Down", and harshly attacked both KRS's then wife, Ms. Melodie, and rival radio station WRKS's DJ Red Alert
DJ Red Alert
DJ Red Alert is a disc jockey on 98.7 Kiss-FM, N.Y.C., and has been recognized as a hip hop pioneer...
, who was on BDP's side of the battle. KRS responded with "Still Number 1, the Numero Uno Mix", where he calls Poet "soft" and uncreative, and accuses him of "sounding like Kane".
- Ka-Re-eSe Uno es fresco (Spanish for: KRS is fresh.)
- Poet is soft ya know
- Do not speak when grown people are speaking
- Don't interrupt the class when I'm teaching
- Turn your text-books now to BDP
- And see
- "Criminal Minded" and "By All Means Necessary"
- I'm sort of like a bounty hunter,
- I search for the best and crush the mother________.
He concludes the song with the lyrics:
- Your first mistake was to answer back
- to the undefeated master of beating suckers silly
- No, I'm not from Philly
- My name isn't Magic, Poet, or Billy
- It's KRS, especially if it doesn't take you too long
- to find out where I shift
- And shifted back
- To simply say you're wack
- Weak, soft and really never posed a threat
- In fact, I haven't heard a decent lyric from you yet
- I'll bet creativity is something hard to get
- As someone does your music and lyrics you slept
- So step
- Because obviously you haven't heard about my rep
- I am undefeated, allow me to go more in depth
- Boy you know - I'm still number one ("one" echos)
Although conspicuously absent from this counterattack was any rebuttal to Poet's attack on his wife.
Rockwell Noel & the Poet never seemed to respond to this. Some have suggested that their 1989 single "Massacre" may have been a 'between the lines' response http://www.cocaineblunts.com/blunts/?p=209, with Poet making anoynymous references like "sucker MC's try to test me...".
In 1988, BDP and KRS-One fuels their feud with the juice crew again with "My Philosophy".
- you walk down the street and get jumped
- You got to have style, and learn to be original
- and everybody's gonna wanna diss you
- like me, we stood up for the South Bronx
- and every sucka mc had a response
- You think we care? I know that they are on the tip
- my posse from the Bronx is thick
- and we're real live, we walk correctly
- a lot of suckas would like to forget me
- but they can't, cause like a champ
- I have got a record of knocking out the frauds in a second
- on the mic, I believe that you should get loose
- I haven't come to tell you I have juice
On Shan's album Play it Again, Shan
Play it Again, Shan
Play it Again Shan is the third and final album by Cold Chillin' Records artist and Juice Crew member MC Shan. The album was released during 1990 on Cold Chillin’/Warner Bros. Records.-Tracklisting:#Ain't It Good To You Play it Again Shan is the third and final album by Cold Chillin' Records artist...
, the track "Time For Us To Defend Ourselves" contains a response to "My Philosophy".
- Knowledge ain't nothin but a book on your shelf
- With justice in mind think deep to yourself
In 1990, Boogie Down Productions released the concept album Edutainment
Edutainment
Edutainment is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse.-Overview:...
. It has been praised by critics for its insightfulness and hailed as BDP's most experimental album. KRS-One took on such topics as politics, racism, self identity, slavery, black on black violence, police brutality & corruption and even the meat industry. But, even though KRS-One covered a range of subjects, he couldn't resist a Juice Crew dis. On the second track "Blackman In Effect" he states:
- This is the language of the people ready to hear the truth
- I've got no juice, 'cause I'm not getting juiced
- To have juice means you kiss and lick a lot of booty
- To have respect means you simply know or knew me
- Heard what I had to say and felt as though you'd say that too
- I'm not down with a juice-crew
- But anyway I say today the message I create is great
- I don't preach hate, I simply get the record straight
Legacy
During the nineties, the beef was not forgotten by fans or the participants, but rather fondly remembered as a classic hip hop rivalry. It has since been referenced in hip hop lyrics by the likes of CormegaCormega
Cory Mckay , better known as Cormega, is an American emcee best known for his vivid and poignant narratives about inner-city life.- Early life :...
, Das EFX
Das EFX
Das EFX is an American hip hop duo. It consists of emcees Skoob and Dray...
, Nas, Cunninlynguists
Cunninlynguists
CunninLynguists are a hip hop trio from Lexington, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia. The group currently consists of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti...
, Big Punisher, Supernatural
Supernatural (rapper)
Reco Price , better known by his stage name Supernatural is an American rapper best known for his "on-the-spot" freestyle and battle rap abilities He has been a regular performer and host of the Rock the Bells Music Festival since its beginning in 2004.- Biography :Born in Marion, Indiana,...
, Chino XL
Chino XL
Derek Keith Barbosa , better known by his stage name Chino XL, is an American hip hop lyricist, battle rapper, and actor of Puerto Rican and African American descent...
, Mars ILL
Mars ILL
Mars Ill is an emcee/DJ hip-hop duo from Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of Gregory Owens and Nathan Corrona . They are also part of the hip-hop collective Deepspace5....
, and 2Pac. MC Shan and KRS-One themselves acknowledged the rivalry's important place in hip hop history when they appeared together in a commercial for the Sprite
Sprite (soft drink)
Sprite is a transparent, lemon-lime flavored , caffeine free soft drink, produced by the Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced in the United States in 1961. This was Coke's response to the popularity of 7 Up, which had begun as "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" in 1929...
soft drink in the mid-nineties, in which they exchanged battle rhymes inside a boxing ring. However, the respective fortunes of the pair in the nineties were very different; MC Shan, widely seen by hip hop listeners as the loser of the conflict (should there have been one), never really recovered his reputation and later effectively retired, while KRS forged out a successful solo career and remained an important figure in hip hop.
Meanwhile, Poet had gone on, eventually rechristening himself as "Blaq Poet", later went on to be a part of the groups PHD (Poet + DJ Hot Day), and Screwball; and some of the records released over the years, took numerous pot shots at KRS.
In particular, Screwball's "The Bio" and "You Love To Hear The Stories" (a followup to the original "The Bridge", and which featured MC Shan) recounted the story of him entering the battle, and being basically ignored, and that it thankfully never escalated into physical violence; and the latter pointed to the Nas
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
album Illmatic
Illmatic
Illmatic is the debut album of American rapper Nas, released April 19, 1994, on Columbia Records. Following his signing to Columbia with the help of MC Serch, recording sessions for the album took place during 1992 to 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording...
(1994) as proof that "the Bridge is still live". Key lines from both:
- Back when I first laced the wax with rhymes
- It was eighty sa'en, I was a crazy sa'en
- Niggas tried to diss the Bridge I came bustin'
- Even quoted Doug E Fresh sayin we was nothin'
- You don't believe that, you know I called his bluffin'
- Made 'em go buy a click and put 'em on patrol
- You know P-O-E-T stayed in war mode
- My gats stayed unlocked ready to unload
- Loungin' waitin for the drama to unfold
- But luckily we never had to go there
----
- Y'all niggas love to hear the stories again and again
- Of how it all got started way back then
- See it was Marly, MC Shan, the Juice Crew
- Queensbridge, hip-hop land, those niggas blew (up)
- Nobody said it started there
- But some playa hater tried to end a party there
- Niggas didn't care they burned it, put it in the air
In 2001, on the compilation QB's Finest (a showcase of Queensbridge hip hop artists), MC Shan took one last parting shot at KRS-One with the comment:
KRS-One and Marley Marl have since officially retired the feud, with the release of their collaborative 2007 album, Hip-Hop Lives. The album features two tracks further exemplifying the end of the feud: "The Victory" (produced by DJ Premier) which sees KRS on the same track as Blaq Poet, and "Rising" (as in "Rising To the Top"), in which KRS recounts the whole story from his perspective (a struggling former group home
Group home
A group home is a private residence designed or converted to serve as a non-secure home for unrelated persons who share a common characteristic.-Types of group homes:...
resident trying to enter the business in a period when "answer records" were popular, sparked off by Shante's "Roxanne's Revenge"). You can see this (and the changed attitude towards the former rivals) in the line:
- Answer records were big then;
- after Shante did it, everyone was trying to spit them
- So we spit on...
- To tell you the truth, it was the only way a MC could get on
- We answered MC Shan's "Queensbridge";
- A dope jam about where he was from and where he lived;
- But in the Bronx there was these kids
- KRS, Scott La Rock tryin' to live...
He concludes the track acknowledging his indebtedness to Shan and Marley. He also speaks well of them on other tracks in the album, such as "House of Hits". KRS had also contributed a verse to the Symphony 2000 remake of the Marley Marl classic in 1999.
List of relevant records
The following is a chronological list of the records that can be considered to be part of The Bridge Wars:MC Shan - "The Bridge"
Boogie Down Productions - "South Bronx"
MC Shan - "Kill That Noise"
Boogie Down Productions - "The Bridge Is Over"
Craig G - "Duck Alert"
Roxanne Shanté - "Have A Nice Day"
Rockwell Noel & The Poet - "Beat You Down" and "Taking U Out"
Boogie Down Productions - "Still No. 1 (Numero Uno mix)"
MC Mitchski - "Brooklyn Blew Up The Bridge" (Defending BDP)
MC Shan - "Juice Crew Law"
Cool C - "Juice Crew Diss"
MC Butchy B - "Go Magic" and "Beat Down KRS"
Boogie Down Productions - "Black Man In Effect"