【写．说唱】Beef除了是hip hop竞争，也可以杀人｜专栏

编按：无论阁下对本地 hip hop 生态是否熟悉，也许都对近期掀起的 Beef 风波有所听闻。一切由厂牌 Bakerie 上周三发表的歌曲〈DLLM〉开始，除了歌中的含沙射影，主脑 Dough-boy 还即晚登上网台节目，解说当中恩怨。而另一边厢的T先生及撒野作风 Wild$tyle Records，则分别以声明及帖文回应，指出歌词失实。昨日米奇老味神奇屋再释出 remix〈DLLM〉的〈180K〉，明言是对 Wild$tyle 和 T 先生的 diss。

作为乐迷，除了隔岸观火，也不妨以此为契机，了解 Beef 文化的来龙去脉。除了歌词表面上的八挂，Beef 体现了 hip hop 的何种精神？史上最刺激却也最悲剧的 Beef 又是怎样的？

文：Michael Ka Chi Cheuk（Britpop/Alternative乐队陈大文主唱，乐队专辑《Ordinary People》现已透过幻想唱片发售。）

译：曾凯茵

*英文原文在下

Beef 原是 19 世纪美国俚语，有投诉之意。至于在 Hip hop 文化中，Beef 则指两个人或两个团体之间的分歧或夙怨（feud），相关人士会借助传媒，或以说唱歌曲回应。

要衡量一场 Beef 在 hip hop 史上的文化意义，较常用的标准，是由因夙怨衍生、具侮辱性的“diss track”质量判定。和 freestyle rap battle 不同，个人恩怨成为 rapper 互喷的语境。而这又是个让 rapper、听众都能参与其中的平台，一方面，rapper 以此锻炼口头灵敏度来羞辱对方；另一方面，观众能享受八卦 Beef 及欣赏口头战争带来的双重乐趣。一些更深入的研究，进一步揭示了 Beef 能具像化地呈现几个足以定义 hip hop 的特色。

Hip hop 强调竞争。没有哪个认真的 rapper，不渴望成为天下第一，或者用 hip hop 术语来说，成为最 dope 的一个。为了决定谁是至高无上，rapper 们互相比拼，表现自己的巧舌，侮辱对手。

最早的 hip hop Beef，可以追溯到 1981 年的纽约曼哈顿Harlem World夜店，Kool Mo Dee 和 Busy Bee 的对决。Hip hop 历史学家认为，这是 lyrical MC 和 party MC 两个门派之间的对决。最后 Busy bee 败给 Kool Mo Dee，成为 hip hop 音乐的转捩点：把字词妙用及文字游戏之价值表露无遗的 lyrical MC 由此发迹。

Hip hop 的竞争精神，还与自我膨胀有关。这是种希望打败另一位比自己更受欢迎、更受人敬仰的 rapper 的强烈欲望，以及那种想维护个人声望和尊严的迫切需要。Hip hop 史上最刺激，却也最悲剧的 Beef，不得不谈 1990 年代美国东西岸之间的夙怨。

这场夙怨最初由东岸 rapper Common 的单曲〈I Used To Love H.E.R〉而起，被视为是在侮辱西岸 hip hop 和愈发普及的 gangsta rap。

She used to only swing it with the inner-city circle

Now she be in the burbs, lookin' rock and dressin' hippie

And on some dumb shit when she comes to the city

Talkin' bout poppin' Glocks, servin' rocks and hittin' switches

Now she's a gangsta rollin' with gangsta bitches

西岸 rapper Mack 10 和 Ice Cube 则以单曲〈Westside Slaughterhouse〉反击，维护个人荣誉。

Well, it's the dog, breathin' out the smog

I'm a hog of this gangsta shit, Don of the clique

All you suckas wanna diss the Pacific

But you buster niggas never get specific

Used to love her, mad ‘cause we fucked her

Pussy-whipped bitch with no Common Sense

Hip-hop started in the West

横跨东西岸的情仇，在 90 年代迅速蔓延并白热化。西岸由 2Pac 带头，东岸领军人则是 The Notorious B.I.G.，尽管许多 hip hop 经典如 B.I.G. 的〈Who Shot Ya〉和 2Pac 的〈Hit Em Up〉，都在这场 Beef 中诞生，暴力却很快取代了歌词。Thug culture跳出了歌曲的界线，成为现实中的暴力。六个月之间，2Pac 和 B.I.G. 先后遇害。

最伟大的两位 rapper 之死，让 hip hop 社群醒悟到，是时候将个人情绪和暴力从 hip hop 文化中抽离。来到 21 世纪，Beef 作为市场策略的附加功能愈趋明显，作为商业和艺术的结合，hip hop 音乐更是声名大躁。Jay Z 曾自言：“我不是生意人，我就是生意，老兄。(I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man.)”Rapper 充分利用 beef 去取得商业关注、曝光，随著 Jay Z 和 Nas 长达十年的重大 Beef 落幕，hip hop 催生了它史上最受商业推动的夙怨。2007年，Kanye West 和 50 Cent 组织了不涉及暴力和个人恩怨的 Beef，转而竞争最高专辑销量，输家要从此退出 hip hop 界。Kanye West 胜了，而 50 Cent 最终没兑现承诺，但这不重要，因为这场夙怨重新燃起了 hip hop ——作为当代最复杂、最好斗的音乐种类和文化的特色：竞争。

今时今日最大牌的 rapper ，例如 Drake、Nicki Minaj 和 Kendrick Lamar，都对 Beef 的文化传统作过贡献。就连香港听众熟悉的 MC Jin 也曾和一位叫 China Mac 的 rapper Beef 过，MC Jin 还在美国时，被 China Mac 指责不尊重他的队员，其后更引发了一场枪击事件，China Mac 因此入狱。Beef 仍是 hip hop 音乐和文化中不可或缺的一部分。

对于diss及beef这两个词汇，作者有以下补充：

As I have mentioned in the article, hip hop is about competition and respect. if someone starts beef with you, you have to respond. If a rapper doesn't respond to beef, his credibility is weak. I think the difference between diss and beef is not that huge, in a hip hop context. Of course, all of these debates about definitions boil down to the ultimate issue in hip hop: authenticity. What is “real” hip hop? This is a question no one can authoritatively answer.

正如我在文章中提到的，hip hop是关于竞争和尊重。如果有人向你挑机，你必须回应。如果一个rapper受到挑衅却没有回应，他的信誉就很弱了。我认为，在hip hop的语境中，diss和beef并没有很大的区别。当然，所有这些字面定义的争论，最终还须归纳为一个hip hop的终极问题：本真性 － 什么是“真正的” hip hop？这是一个还没有人有绝对的权威去回答的问题。

**扭耳仔是次向作者邀稿，旨在给乐迷对一些音乐词汇有更深入认识，而非人云亦云不知所以然。我们不是娱乐版，不欲报导八卦，更无意作什么宣传，只希望从事件当中学习。

What is ''beef''?

A beef in hip hop culture is a disagreement or feud between two individuals. The term ''beef'' is a 19th century American slang for ''complaint''. In a beef, the involved parties respond either through the media or rap music.

The cultural significance of a beef in hip hop is often measured by the quality of the ''diss tracks'' (musical responses that contains insults) that comes about from the feud. Unlike a freestyle rap battle, personal conflict is used as the context for an exchange of insults between rappers in a beef. The conflict becomes the stage for rappers and listeners to participate in the beef. On one hand, rappers view the beef as an excuse to exercise their verbal dexterity to insult another rapper.On the other hand, audiences can enjoy the double pleasure of gossiping about the beef and appreciating the verbal warfare manifested from it. Closer examination further reveals beef as an embodiment of several features that defines hip hop.

hip hop is competitive. All serious rappers aspire to be the best, or the ''dopest'' in the hip hop scene. In order to decide who is no.1, rappers compete through a display of their verbal dexterity to insult each other. The earliest hip hop beef can be traced back to the 1981 battle between Kool Mo Dee vs Busy Bee at the Harlem World in Manhattan, New York. hip hop historians consider the battle as one between the lyrical MC and the party MC. The defeat of Busy Bee by Kool Mo Dee became the turning point of hip hop music: The battle gave birth to the lyrical MC who demonstrated value in the use of words and wordplay.

The competitive spirit of hip hop is also laced with intense braggadocio. This results in a heightened desire to overpower a more popular or respected rapper, and a desperate need to defend one's reputation and dignity. The most exciting yet tragic hip hop beef in history is the East Coast vs West Coast feud in the 1990s.

The beef originally started with East Coast rapper Common's track ''I Used To Love H.E.R.'', which was perceived to be an insult towards West Coast hip hop and its popularisation of gangsta rap.

She was old school when I was just a shorty

Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me

On the regular, not a church girl, she was secular

Not about the money, those studs was mic-checkin' her

But I respected her, she hit me in the heart

A few New York niggas had did her in the park

But she was there for me, and I was there for her

West Coast rappers Mack 10 and Ice Cube responded with the track ''Westside Slaughterhouse'' to defend their honor. The feud grew rapidly throughout the mid 90s.

Well, it's the dog, breathin' out the smog

I'm a hog of this gangsta shit, Don of the clique

All you suckas wanna diss the Pacific

But you buster niggas never get specific

Used to love her, mad 'cause we fucked her

Pussy-whipped bitch with no Common Sense

Hip-hop started in the West

The West Coast was represented by 2Pac, and The Notorious B.I.G. represented the East Coast. Although the beef spawned hip hop classics like B.I.G.'s ''Who Shot Ya?'' and 2Pac's ''Hit Em Up'', physical violence soon overtook the lyrics. The thug culture which rappers rapped about in their songs translated into actual violence. In the span of six months, both 2Pac and B.I.G. were killed.

After the death of two of the greatest rappers, the hip hop community realised it needed to separate personal emotions and violence from hip hop culture. Beef in the 21st century increasingly serves an additional function as a marketing ploy. hip hop is notable for its mix of commercial and art. Jay Z's self-proclamation suggests, ''I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man.'' rappers utilise beef to gain commercial attention and exposure. Following the end of the monumental, decade-long beef between Nas and Jay Z, hip hop produced its most commercially-driven feud. In 2007, Kanye West and 50 Cent orchestrated a feud that did not concern violence or personal disagreements. Instead, their ''beef'' was a competition for the biggest album release sales, in which the loser had to retire from hip hop. Kanye West came out as victorious. While 50 Cent ultimately did not retire, it mattered little as the feud reignited the competitiveness that characterizes hip hop as today's most complex and aggressive and musical genre and culture.

Today's biggest rap stars such as Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Kendrick Lamar have all contributed to this cultural tradition. Even Hong Kong's very own MC Jin was reportedly once involved in a beef with another rapper named China Mac. During his time in the States, MC Jin was accused by China Mac for disrespecting one of his crew members. The feud later evolved into a shooting incident which led to the imprisonment of China Mac. Beef remains an integral part of hip hop music and culture.