The Bridge Wars
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The Bridge Wars was a hip hop rivalry during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, that arose from a dispute over the true birthplace of hip hop music and retaliation over the rejecting of a record for airplay. The Bridge Wars originally involved The South Bronx's Boogie Down Productions, led by KRS-One, and Marley Marl's Juice Crew, hailing from Queensbridge.
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[edit] The war begins
The feud began with Queensbridge-based producer Marley Marl & MC Shan's track "The Bridge" in late 1985. The track recited the praises of their home borough and some of its earlier rap crews, and was taken to imply that Queensbridge was where hip hop began, even though it doesn't actually say that. The line that apparently raised the issue was:
- You love to hear the story, again and again,
- Of how it all got started way back when,
- The monument is right in your face,
- Sit and listen for a while to the name of the place,
- The Bridge,
- Queensbridge
[edit] 1986: response
Taking offense, South Bronx based KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions released the track "South Bronx", which was similar in terms of content to Shan and Marl's track except singing the praises of the South Bronx rather than Queensbridge, and made the argument for it being the real birthplace of hip hop. The track also went one step further by directly attacking MC Shan with lyrics like:
- Party people in the place to be, KRS-One attacks,
- Ya got dropped off MCA cause the rhymes you wrote was wack,
- So you think that hip-hop had it's start out in Queensbridge,
- If you popped that junk up in the Bronx you might not live
Before "The Bridge" was released, MC Shan was signed to MCA Records, however he left the label after releasing an almost unheard single entitled "Feed the World". Another line by KRS directly attacking Shan was:
- Show all the people in the place that you are wack,
- Instead of trying take out LL, you need to take your homeboys off the crack
This referred to the fact that MC Shan had previously attacked LL Cool J on a record entitled "Beat Biter", whereby Shan claimed that LL Cool J had stolen beats from Marley Marl. LL Cool J never directly responded to this claim and the impending battle between Shan and BDP drew the attention away from it. Marley Marl later produced most of LL's Mama Said Knock You Out album.
[edit] 1987: escalation
The Juice Crew soon responded with the track "Kill That Noise" on Shan's album Down By Law which took various shots at KRS-One and mocked his taking offense in the first place. He even denies saying hip hop started in Queens, and suggests BDP is just trying to jump on their bandwagon. KRS's main response to this was "The Bridge Is Over", featuring lyrics such as:
- What's the matter with your MC, Marley Marl?
- Don't know you know that he's out of touch?
- What's the matter with your DJ, MC Shan?
- On the wheels of steel Marlon sucks
Most of KRS's fire was directed specifically at Marley Marl and MC Shan, although he occasionally exchanged insults with other Juice Crew members such as Mr. Magic and Roxanne Shante, who had earlier been at the center of the Roxanne Wars, which were a predecessor to this battle. Mr. Magic actually is the real cause of the whole war in the first place, as KRS and Scott La Rock had earlier approached him with a 12" single they had recorded entitled "Success is the Word", (under the group name "12:41"). Magic dismissed it as "whack", and then, after forming BDP, they decided to take it out on Mr. Magic and Marley Marl's popular "Juice Crew", using the whole "Queens versus Bronx" issue as a premise. Shante, mentioned in a very vulgar reference in "the Bridge Is Over", released a rap titled "Have A Nice Day", ghostwritten by Juice Crew colleague Big Daddy Kane (who was not otherwise personally involved in the battle), in which she took a shot at Boogie Down Productions with the line:
- KRS One, you should go on vacation,
- with a name sounding like a wack radio station.
- and MC Scott La Rock, you should be ashamed,
- when T La Rock said 'it's yours', he didn't mean his name
Meanwhile, another Queensbridge resident, MC Poet, with his DJ Rockwell Noel, joined in the battle, offering the strongest defenses against BDP. His first single was entitled "Beat You Down", in which he reiterates that no one actually said that hip hop started in the Bridge, but then points out that the area was nevertheless very prominent in the early days of rap, and even had superior sound equipment, causing it to surpass the Bronx as the leader of hip hop.
- BDP is trying to dis, we know that they're on it
- Every time we make a record, they get disappointed
- Nobody said hip hop started out in the Bridge;
- but now you've dissed all of Queens, so we know how you live
- You try to get paid talkin bout my town;
- when I battle you punk, I'mo beat - you - DOWN
- How could you say the Bridge is over? We've just begun;
- you soft sucker MC, KRS-1
- Can you believe it, party people? He raps like a rasta!
- Boogie Down Productions are full of imposters;
- They say things, that are not true
- Now the Poet and Noel will break it down to you;
- Bronx started hip hop, but couldn't maintain it;
- now they're gettin jealous 'cause Queens has made it:
- THAT's why those suckers are trying to dis;
- 'cause we're getting paid, and they're getting pissed!
The line "Rap like a rasta" was aimed at the way "The Bridge Is Over" was recorded, with a reggae flavor, in a Jamaican accent. The track had been one of the first blendings of rap with reggae.
[edit] Ending & aftermath
The feud quickly died down after BDP's Scott La Rock was shot dead in 1987 after attempting to calm down a domestic dispute involving BDP colleague D-Nice. With his new "Stop The Violence" movement, KRS-One's attention lay elsewhere, and the Juice Crew did not release any further diss records for a long period after La Rock's death out of respect. In 1988 however, Poet followed up with "Take you Out", which was even stronger than "Beat You Down", and harshly attacked both KRS's then wife, Ms. Melodie, and rival radio station WRKS's DJ Red Alert, who was on BDP's side of the battle. KRS responded with "Still Number 1, the Numero Uno Mix", where he calls Poet "soft" and uncreative, and accuses him of "sounding like Kane". He concludes the song with the lyrics:
- What possessed you boy, to go freestyle?
- what are you stupid? you must be senile,
- poor child; I'll pull that card and smile...
although conspicuously absent from this counterattack was any rebuttal to Poet's attack on his wife.
Poet never seemed to respond to this. Some have suggested that his 1989 single "Massacre" may have been a 'between the lines' response, with Poet making anoynymous references like "sucker MC's try to test me...". He later went on to be a part of the groups PHD (Poet + DJ Hot Day), and Screwball; and some of the records released throughout the 1990s, such as "The Bio" and "You Love To Hear The Stories" (a followup to the original "The Bridge", and which features MC Shan) took numerous pot shots at KRS.
MC Shan also attempted to restart the rivalry on his song "Juice Crew Law" which contained several shots at KRS. At the same time, other rappers joined in making songs dissing Queensbridge, such as Cool C's "Juice Crew Dis" which mocked "Juice Crew Law" and attacks both Shan and Shanté, and MitchSki's "Brooklyn Blew Up the Bridge, South Bronx Helped us out", which makes fun of Shan's on-stage appearances.
Another rapper named Butchy B stepped in for Queensbrige, with "Go Magic", which was a promotional for Mr. Magic's WBLS radio show that begins
- I heard about you suckers with your Juice Crew Dis,
- you went and made a record that the people go and miss"
and adds
- all you suckers with the lipstick need to get a dress;
- Looking like a faggot, jocking Mr. Magic,
- acting like a parasite, leach or maggot...
The lipstick reference was aimed at the rival station "KISS FM", which used a pair of lips as its logo. He followed up with "Beat Down KRS", in which he among other things, mocks the "ladidadidadiday" chant of "The Bridge is Over". KRS took more than a year to respond, but eventually did so in 1990 on the song "Black Man In Effect" from the BDP (which at that point was basically only KRS-One, D-Nice having left earlier the same year) album "Edutainment". There, he simply says "I ain't down with the Juice Crew".
[edit] Legacy
During the nineties, the beef was not forgotten by fans or the participants, but rather fondly remembered as a classic hip hop rivalry. It has since been referenced in hip hop lyrics by the likes of Cormega, Nas, Cunninlynguists, Big Punisher, Supernatural and Chino XL. MC Shan and KRS-One themselves acknowledged the rivalry's important place in hip hop history when they appeared together in a commercial for the Sprite soft drink in the mid-nineties, in which they exchanged battle rhymes inside a boxing ring. However, the respective fortunes of the pair in the nineties were very different; MC Shan, widely seen by hip hop listeners as the loser of the conflict (should there have been one), never really recovered his reputation and later effectively retired, while KRS forged out a successful solo career and remains an important figure in hip hop. Nevertheless, on the compilation QB's Finest (a showcase of Queensbridge hip hop artists) in 2001, MC Shan took one last parting shot at KRS-One with the comment
- Hip hop was set out in the dark
- The Bridge was never Over, we left our mark
[edit] List of relevant records
The following is a chronological list of the records that can be considered to be part of The Bridge Wars:
MC Shan - "The Bridge"
Boogie Down Productions - "South Bronx"
MC Shan - "Kill That Noise"
Boogie Down Productions - "The Bridge Is Over"
Craig G - "Duck Alert"
Roxanne Shanté - "Have A Nice Day"
Noel Rockwell & The Poet - "Beat You Down" and "Take You Out"
Boogie Down Productions - "Still No. 1 (Numero Uno mix)"
MC Mitchski - "Brooklyn Blew Up The Bridge" (Defending BDP)
MC Shan - "Juice Crew Law"
Cool C - "Juice Crew Diss"
MC Butchy B - "Go Magic" and "Beat Down KRS"
Boogie Down Productions - "Black Man In Effect"
