Got beef?

When it comes to musical artists getting pissed off with each other, hip-hop has that locked down. Beatles vs Stones, Backstreet Boys vs N*SYNC, Axel Rose vs Guns 'n Roses... none of that has anything on what's gone down in hip-hop.

So here are some of my favourite/most controversial hip-hop beefs

Puff Daddy vs Steve StouteShort version: Puff appeared in one of Nas's videos, "Hate Me Now", as someone getting crucified. The occasionally-strident Christian Puffy decided later on that he didn't want the shots included in the video, and asked Nas's manager Steve Stoute to remove them. Stoute said no. So Puff went to Interscope, into Stoute's office (with a couple of heavies) and proceded to beat Stoute around the head with his own office phone. He was arrested for aggravated assault.

Jay-Z vs Nas
The Notorious BIG was dead, the title of King of New York was open. Jay and Nas sparred a little bit, before Jay stepped it up in a Kanye West-produced track called "Takeover". He attacked Nas's record as an MC, (he'd had one good album in the last decade), as well as his street credibility and rapping ability. Nas responded with "Ether", which attacked Jay's credibility, accused him of stealing his best lines from Biggie, and being outshone by Eminem on his own album. The rest of the song was mainly concerned with making homosexual references about Jay. It was critically acclaimed, and got Jay angry enough that he came back with "Supa Ugly", in which he bragged about having sex with Nas's babymama while Nas was away on tour. It was some harsh shizz. Jay's mum made him apologise on radio, and the feud kinda simmered down a bit. Then, in 2006, Jay surprised everyone by bringing Nas out on stage at a concert and they performed together. Nas ended up being Jay's labelmate at Def Jam and they've recorded several tracks together.

Eminem vs The Benzino/Source magazine
Benzino, a Latino rapper and co-owner of then-respected hip-hop magazine The Source, wanted to boost his own profile as a rapper. So he went after Eminem. It went badly. After attacking him for taking the place of black rappers, Benzino got the magazine onboard, running anti-Eminem stories in each issue. Eminem responded in rhyme, with most of the hip-hop community on his side. Benzino came back with a tape of a young Eminem calling a black ex-girlfriend a "n****" in a song. Eminem publicly apologised and it was mostly forgotten. Rival hip-hop magazine XXL got onboard and joined with Eminem in attacking Benzino and The Source. A number of major labels and advertisers pulled their advertising from The Source and moved it to XXL, as well as giving the magazine exclusive interviews with major stars. That shift saw the demise of The Source as a respected publication, and the rise of XXL as the chronicle of record for hip-hop through the 00s.

50 Cent vs Rick Ross
This is some bad shizz. Rick says he's a major cocaine dealer, but has proven to be a former prison guard in Florida. He and 50 started beefing over something, so Rick keeps calling him gay, and 50 calls him a snitch. Both insults are about as mean as you can get in hip-hop. Calling someone a "faggot snitch" would be the worst insult possible. Anyways, 50 took it to a whole nother level when he released a sex tape featuring Ross's babymama, with commentary from 50. Yup. Ross has so far tried to rise above it, but I don't see how he's going to. I think Fiddy's got him on this one.