Diss (music)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"I'm gonna diss you right now" --"My Loleatta" |
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A diss track or diss song is a song primarily intended to disparage or insult another person or group. While musical parodies and attacks have always existed, the trend became increasingly common in the hip hop genre as part of the hip hop rivalry phenomenon.
The term dissoriginated in Jamaican Vernacular English or African American Vernacular English, probably originally short for disrespect or disparage.
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History
Historical forerunners of the diss track were the satirical Arabic poems called "Hija" during the Middle Ages, from the 9th century on. The idea was insulting somebody present in the same room as the poet recited his poem.
One of the earliest musical diss tracks occurred in Jamaica. After Lee "Scratch" Perry left producer Coxsone Dodd he released a track called Run for Cover (1967) poking fun at him. Perry in particular has a long history of releasing diss tracks directed at former musical collaborators. The musical single People Funny Boy (1968) attacked his former boss Joe Gibbs. In response Gibbs himself released a track called People Grudgeful (1968). Perry's "Evil Tongues" (1978) was aimed at The Congos and “Judgement Inna Babylon” (1984) and "Satan Kicked The Bucket" (1988) at Chris Blackwell. Perry also attacked Michael Jackson (with whom he never worked together) on the track "Freaky Michael" (2010).
In music
The first recorded use of diss was in a 1986 song "Raising Hell" by Run DMC that contained the lyrics:
- "Dissin all devils, causin havoc in hell"
Claims that the word had origins as early as 1970 lack evidence of usage.
The phrase continued to gain credibility in rap lyrics and saw an appearance in the popular Public Enemy album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
Another use of this word took place for humorous effect in Weezer's first hit single "Buddy Holly." The lyrics are: "What's with these homies dissin' my girl; why do they gotta front."
Songs
In the hip-hop genre, a diss song or diss track is a song which has the main purpose of verbally assaulting and insulting a person or a group of people. Diss songs are more often than not the by-product of heated rivalries between two or more rap artists (e.g. Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., Eazy-E and Dr.Dre, Nas and Jay-Z, Eminem and many artists, particuarly Benzino, or The Game and 50 Cent). One of the earliest examples of this particular type of song is "The Bridge is Over" by Boogie Down Productions.
See also
