Last month New York radio station Hot 97 set up a battle-of-the-beats showdown between Nasir “Nas” Jones and Shawn Carter, a.k.a. Jay-Z. In one corner was Jay, boasting of an affair with Nas’ baby’s mother and threatening to come to Queens to hem up his adversary over the musical backdrops of Nas’ “Got Ur Self A …” and Dr. Dre’s “Bad Intentions” on a freestyle he calls “Super Ugly.”

FEATURING: 50 CENT, THE GAME, SNOOP DOGG, LIL’ FLIP, T.I., TWISTA, NELLY, CHINGY, BONE THUNGS-N-HARMONY, YUKMOUTH, JIM JONES, DAVID BANNER, STAT QUO, DOMINATION, REMY MA, THE D.O.C., JIMMY HENCHMAN GUERILLA BLACK & MORE!

The official second single from Phenomenon was “4, 3, 2, 1,” which featured Method Man, Redman & Master P and introduced DMX and Canibus. In the original version of the song, Canibus rapped “Yo L, is that a mic on your arm? Lemme borrow that”, referring to LL’s tattoo of a microphone on his arm. LL heard the verse, interpreted it as a diss, and responded to it with his own verse. This essentially created a battle between two MCs in the same song. In an attempt to calm tension, LL later called Canibus to say he saw the line as disrespect, and asked him to change it, to which Canibus complied. LL did not remove his verse, believing that with Canibus’ verse gone no one would know who he was referring to in his verse. However, the original version of the song was leaked to the public. This would set up a rivalry. Canibus released his single “Second Round K.O.”, containing lyrics dissing LL, who later responded with “Ripper Strikes Back.” In this song he not only dissed Wyclef, Canibus’ producer, but went on to berate ex-friend Mike Tyson for appearing on “Second Round K.O.” LL did another diss, with “Back Where I Belong” featuring Ja Rule. Canibus replied to both tracks with his “Rip the Jacker” using LL’s “I’m Bad” backing track…

A documentary on the evolution of MC battles from verbal one-upmanship to street warfare.