Top 10 Diss Songs of the 80's

Roxanne Shante' ready to battle

One thing you have to know about beef back in the 80's, most of it was started to get attention. If there was a popular song or artist out there with a hit, you would have be prepared for responses. This was one of the ways an artist got recognition back in those days. Of course since rappers have huge egos, it was hard for them to ignore the disses, so most of the time they responded and all out wars would commence. And then history was made.

Here's a list we put together listing the greatest diss songs of the 80's. Oh, and if you're wondering why Kool Moe Dee vs. Busy Bee, or Cold Crush vs Fantastic 5, those were live battles, not songs. So without further ado:


10 - The Showstopper - Salt-n-Pepa (1985) - This was typical in the 80's. Salt-n-Pepa didn't really have any beef with Doug E. Fresh or Slick Rick but they made this song in response to their hits "The Show" and "La Di Da Di", hopefully to get put on the map. And it worked.


9 - Roxanne's Revenge - Roxanne Shante'(1984) - Again, Shante' didn't really have beef with UTFO, but she was just trying to have fun and get put on by responding to their hit "Roxanne, Roxanne," and they didn't like it. So they hired "The Real Roxanne" to diss Shante', thus the Roxanne Wars began. By the way, Shante' was 13-14 when this was all going down. Check out the history in this video clip


8 - Kill That Noise - MC Shan (1987) - This track was in response to Boogie Down Productions' "South Bronx". Out of all the diss songs during the Bridge Wars, I think this is weakest in terms of battling. He really didn't go at BDP that hard.


7 - Lights Out, Party's Over - Antoinette (1988) - This joint is in response to MC Lyte's "10% Dis". She has a couple hot lines in this one, but didn't have enough to match up to Lyte's talent. Lyte responded with "Shut the Eff Up (Hoe!)", and apparently, Antoinette did.


6 - Let's Go - Kool Moe Dee (1988) - This joint is in response to LL's "Jack The Ripper" which we think is a real fresh response. Especially when he starts breaking down what "LL" really stands for.


5 - Have a Nice Day - Roxanne Shante' (1987) - After BDP dissed Shante' in "The Bridge is Over", she came back and dissed them in the 3rd verse of this song. And ever since then, no one has dissed KRS-One or BDP better than Shante' did in this joint.


4 - South Bronx - Boogie Down Productions (1986) - MC Shan and BDP didn't have beef before this song dropped. But KRS-One and Scott La Rock were offended by Shan's hit "The Bridge", which they felt like was saying hip-hop started in Queens. So BDP dropped "South Bronx" in response.


3 - 10% Dis - MC Lyte (1988) - Lyte was dissing Antoinette in this joint after she heard Antoinette's hit "I Got An Attitude". Lyte believed that the beat was inspired Audio Two's "Top Billin" (Lyte is the sister of Milk and Giz), so she went after her. Oh yeah, you got dissed back in the day for biting rhymes and beats. Wish that would still hold true today.


2 - Jack the Ripper - LL Cool J (1988) - On the song "How Ya Like Me Now", Kool Moe Dee was sending subliminal disses in LL Cool J's direction. Moe Dee thought LL's whole style was ripped from him. LL was a hot head back in the day, so he came full force at Moe Dee in this all-time classic.


1 - The Bridge is Over - Boogie Down Productions (1987) - When MC Shan responded to BDP's "South Bronx" with "Kill That Noise", KRS and BDP's career began. They responded with "The Bridge is Over" and completely ripped apart Shan and the Juice Crew, making this track the greatest diss song of the 80's and one of the best of all time.