8 Rappers Who Had Their Careers Ruined By Diss Tracks

Some of the more brutal memes that sprung up in the wake of Drake's Meek Mill diss tracks were the ones shouting "R.I.P." or insinuating that Meek's career was dead. With a recent number one album, a good record deal and (most importantly) a ton of talent, Meek doesn't seem like he's going anywhere anytime soon, but people claiming that "diss songs can't ruin careers" in the wake of "Back To Back" are somewhat off the mark.

Hip-hop's long timeline is now strewn with the names of has-beens, flashes in the pan and erstwhile superstars, and while money problems, legal issues, lack of talent, substance abuse and other factors are more commonly cited as reasons for those casualties of the game, getting intelligently, un-fuck-with-ably dissed is pretty lethal as well. Most of the time, those snuffed by a single track are small fries who take on rap titans-- while beefs between greats usually have a victor, the loser is still resilient enough to limp off, lick their wounds and continue on. 

Here are eight rappers who were never able to recover from the lyrical smackdowns they received from their rivals.  

The track: BDP's "The Bridge Is Over" 1987

The biggest rap beef of the 80s was almost unquestionably between the South Bronx and Queens, Boogie Down Production and the Juice Crew, known as "The Bridge Wars." Several salvos of disses were exchanged, kicked off with Shan and Marly Marl's "The Bridge" in '86, continued with KRS-One's "South Bronx" and Juice Crew's "Kill The Noise," and shut down with "The Bridge Is Over." It's a fierce, reggae-flavored track that ensured that the rest of the world would only hear about Shan as a footnote in KRS' biography.

The track: Dr. Dre's "Fuck Wit Dre Day" 1992

Tim Dog rose to prominence with one of the most bluntly-titled diss tracks ever, "Fuck Compton," which took aim at nearly everyone making music in that city at the time. He was quickly ethered, along with Eazy-E and 2 Live Crew's Luke, on Dr. Dre's The Chronic. Unfortunately for Tim, he didn't have quite the star power of either of the other guys mentioned, so he ended up being the second name mentioned on Nas' "lost souls" round-up "Where Are They Now?" in 2006. 

The track: 50 Cent's "Back Down" 2003

"You sing for hoes and sound like the cookie monster" is still up for the most apt diss in rap history. Ja's reign of NYC rap radio pretty much died the day Fif's Get Rich Or Die Trying dropped, and even though Fif never matched the success of that album since, it's clear who emerged from this tiff more victorious. From time to time, these two will still take shots at each other.  

The track: Eminem's "Nail In The Coffin" 2002

Benzino and Eminem's beef stems from the former giving The Marshall Mathers LP a two out of five mic rating in The Source. Rappers angrily responding to negative reviews is rarely flattering (looking at you, Wale), but Em managed to speak to the shadiness of Benzino simultaneously being a rapper and running a hip-hop magazine. In the end, "disgruntled rapper" trumps "colluding self-promoter," especially when Em's on the mic. Benzino was never a huge star as an MC, but his profile plummeted (along with THe Source's reputation) after this track.  

The track: Snoop Dogg's "Pimp Slapp'd" 2002

Snoop had been salty about Kurupt ever since he jumped ship from Tha Dogg Pound to join Suge Knight's Death Row label, and this track was effectively the straw that broke Death Row's back. Knight, once arguably the most intimidating man in hip-hop, was reduced to laughing stock after Snoop rapped "Suge Knight's a bitch, and that's on my life." Snoop eventually reconciled with Kurupt, but not before he almost completely dismantled his career.

The Track: T.I.'s "99 Problemz (But Lil Flip Ain't One)" 2004

Lil Flip had a pretty good thing going for himself in 2004, appearing on the cover of The Source and going gold in one week with U Gotta Feel Me. During that period, he dissed T.I. while the ATL rapper was in jail, and that did not sit well. Soon after he was out, Tip let loose a diss track that pretty much singlehandedly killed Flip's buzz-- his subsequent album struggled to sell a quarter of its predecessor's total.

The track: MC Lyte's "10% Dis" 1988

Another name that appears in Nas' "Where Are They Now?", Antoinette got roasted by MC Lyte for "stealing a beat" for her track "I Got An Attitude." Lyte was the baddest female MC of her time, so stepping to her proved to fatal for Antoinette's career. 

The track: Cam'ron's "Dear Stan" 2000

Another relative unknown who bit off more than he could chew by fucking with a bigger rapper, Stan Spit's da rapper whose main claim to fame is a role in the film "Belly." Welp, Cam dismantled that in four bars on a freestyle over Eminem's "Stan":

"I don't know if you'll make it as a rapper, we all seen Belly
You're a very good actor
But you wasn't acting, that's your real life, dunn dunn
You gonna get killed, and you was DMX' son son"

I'm willing to bet that nowadays, most of you get to this page and ask, "Stan who?" Thank Cam for that.