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The Bridge Wars was a hip-hop music 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. [1] 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. KRS-One and Marley Marl have since officially retired the feud, with the release of their collaborative 2007 album hip-hop Lives .
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 lyrics that apparently raised the issue were:
Though MC Shan states Queensbridge is where his crew got started, and his birthplace, he has stated that he never meant the song to say that Queensbridge is the birthplace of hip-hop at all, "everyone knows that hip-hop was started in the West Bronx." Statements can be found in the 2003 documentary Beef , which features the original battle footage. [2]
In response, South Bronx-based KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions released the track "South Bronx" in 1986, 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 its being the real birthplace of hip-hop. The song first premiered at a concert where MC Shan had just performed "The Bridge". The track directly attacks MC Shan with lyrics like:
Before "The Bridge" was released, MC Shan was signed to MCA Records. However he left the label after releasing an almost unheard single titled "Feed the World". Another line by KRS directly attacking Shan was:
This referred to the fact that MC Shan had attacked LL Cool J on the B side of "The Bridge" with a song called "Beat Biter", whereby Shan claimed that LL Cool J had stolen beats for his "Rock The Bells" from "Marley Marl Scratch" theme. 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 album Mama Said Knock You Out .
Slate described it: "In 1986, it was a beef that launched the start of KRS-One, with his withering attacks on MC Shan." [3]
Another unnoticed attack is the fact that South Bronx was arranged under the same tempo as "The Bridge", most notably as the rhymes that are performed before the chorus chant.
The official story at the time was that KRS-One was defending the reputation of the South Bronx in response to MC Shan and Marley Marl claiming that hip-hop started out in Queensbridge. However, KRS-One has gone on record in an interview with MTV, saying that his real motivation was the fact that he and Scott La Rock earlier had approached WBLS radio station's Mr. Magic with a 12" single they had recorded entitled "Success Is the Word", (under the group name "12:41"). Magic dismissed it as "wack", and then, after forming BDP, they retaliated by dissing Mr. Magic and Marley Marl's popular "Juice Crew", using the whole "Queens versus Bronx" issue as a pretense. [4]
DJ Red Alert also gives a similar version of this story on the CD Beats, Rhymes and Battles Part I. In dialog on that CD (track 5), he states that Magic dissed a track by them. When they heard "The Bridge", they decided to diss back, and this is why "South Bronx" was released.
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.
In a more recent interview on THE FOUNDATION (Jayquan), Shan defended and explained the misunderstood line:
But KRS continued to play upon the "response to the claim that hip-hop started in Queens" premise with his next response, "The Bridge Is Over", featuring lyrics recorded, with a reggae flavor, in a Jamaican accent. The track had been one of the first blendings of rap with reggae, and one section delivered in a sing song fashion modeled after Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" from his album Glass Houses .
Most of KRS's fire was directed specifically at Marley Marl and MC Shan, although the MC added insults to 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. 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.
Shan continues recounting in the FOUNDATION interview:
After "Kill That Noise", Shan himself became more passive in the battle, as the above statement indicated. But meanwhile, Two other Queensbridge residents, Rockwell Noel & Poet, joined in the battle, resulting from the inferior responses from MC Shan and the Juice Crew offering the strongest attack against BDP. Their 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.
In 1987, attempting to calm down an unrelated domestic dispute involving BDP colleague D-Nice, BDP's DJ Scott La Rock was shot dead. Even after La Rock's death, the feud still continued.
Other rappers joined in making songs dissing Queensbridge, such as Cool C's "Juice Crew Dis" which mocked Shan's "Juice Crew Law" and attacks both Shan and Shanté, and M.C. Mitchski's "Brooklyn Blew Up the Bridge", with the refrain "South Bronx Helped us out" in support of Boogie Down Productions and lyrics that made fun of Shan's on-stage appearances.
Another rapper named Butchy-B (from Manhattan) stepped in for Queensbridge, with "Beatin Down KRS", in which he among other things, mocks the "didadidadiday" chant of "The Bridge is Over". Butchy-B was connected with WBLS's Mr. Magic and got involved to defend the radio station. The track "Go Magic" from the same 12-inch also touched on the rivalry.
In 1988, DJ Rockwell Noel and the Poet followed up with "Taking U 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". Although conspicuously absent from this counterattack was any rebuttal to Poet's attack on his wife.
In 1990, Boogie Down Productions released the concept album Edutainment . On the second track "Blackman In Effect", he discusses the concept of "juice" and states: "I'm not down with a juice-crew".
During the 1990s, 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, Das EFX, Nas, Cunninlynguists, Big Punisher, Supernatural, Chino XL, Mars ILL, and 2Pac. 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 was widely seen by hip-hop listeners as the loser of the conflict; Despite co-writing and producing "Informer", a number one hit single for the Canadian reggae singer Snow, Shan never recovered his reputation and later effectively retired. KRS, meanwhile, forged out a successful solo career and remained an important figure in hip-hop.
Meanwhile, Poet had moved on, eventually rechristening himself as "Blaq Poet", and went on to be a part of the groups PHD (Poet + DJ Hot Day), and Screwball; and some of the records released over the years, took numerous pot shots at KRS.
PHD's 1991 album title track "Without Warning" samples a couple of lines from "Numero Uno" as if answering them. Screwball's "The Bio" and "You Love To Hear The Stories" (a followup to the original "The Bridge", and which featured MC Shan) recounted the story of him entering the battle, and being basically ignored, and that it thankfully never escalated into physical violence; and the latter pointed to the Nas album Illmatic (1994) as proof that "the Bridge is still live".
In 2001, on the compilation QB's Finest (a showcase of Queensbridge hip-hop artists), MC Shan took one last parting shot at KRS-One with the comment:
KRS-One and Marley Marl have since officially retired the feud, with the release of their collaborative 2007 album, hip-hop Lives . The album features two tracks further exemplifying the end of the feud: "The Victory" (produced by DJ Premier) which sees KRS on the same track as Blaq Poet, and "Rising" (as in "Rising To the Top"), in which KRS recounts the whole story from his perspective (a struggling former group home resident trying to enter the business in a period when "answer records" were popular, sparked off by Shante's "Roxanne's Revenge"). You can see this (and the changed attitude towards the former rivals) in the line:
He concludes the track acknowledging his indebtedness to Shan and Marley. He also speaks well of them on other tracks in the album, such as "House of Hits". KRS had also contributed a verse to the Symphony 2000 remake of the Marley Marl classic in 1999.
Queensbridge Records released the 2011 album Bridge Wars, which put a new spin on the old story with the release of the compilation which features artists such as F.E.R.N (produced by DukeDaGod of The Diplomats), Mahogany Jones (four-time Champion of BET’s "Freestyle Friday's" battle competitions) and Brooklyn's own L.G. Wise. [5]
Nas revisited "The Bridge" on his 2012 album Life Is Good by sampling it for the hook in his track "Back When", which focuses on the past of hip-hop.
In 2016, Shan essentially revived his part of the beef in an interview, pointing out that they never actually battled, and that he was showing some resentment regarding the claim the KRS "took Shan out" and having to live with the stigma of "losing" the battle. He would claim he wanted to record a response to The Bridge Is Over, but Marley Marl stopped him. [6] He also included a three-minute freestyle in an over the phone interview. [7] KRS quickly responded. [8]
Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was an American hip hop group originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, five months after the release of BDP's debut album, Criminal Minded. The name of the group, Boogie Down, derives from a nickname for the South Bronx section of New York City. The group pioneered the fusion of dancehall reggae and hip hop music and their debut LP Criminal Minded contained frank descriptions of life in the South Bronx during the late 1980s, thus setting the stage for what would eventually become gangsta rap.
Marlon Lu'Ree Williams, better known by his stage name Marley Marl, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and record label founder, primarily operating in hip hop music. Marlon grew up in Queensbridge housing projects located in Queens, New York. He performed in local talent shows during the early days of rap music, further fueling his interest.
The new school of hip hop was a movement in hip hop music, beginning in 1983–84 with the early records of Run–D.M.C., Whodini, and LL Cool J. Predominantly from Queens and Brooklyn, it was characterized by Drum Machine-led minimalism, often tinged with elements of Rock; rapped taunts, boasts, and socio-political commentary; and aggressive, self-assertive delivery. In song and image, its artists projected a tough, cool, street B-boy attitude. These elements contrasted sharply with Funk and Disco, Novelty hits, live bands, synthesizers, and party rhymes of artists prevalent in the early 1980s. Compared to their older hip hop counterparts, new school artists crafted more cohesive LPs and shorter songs more amenable to airplay. By 1986, their releases began to establish hip hop in the mainstream.
Lolita Shante Gooden, better known by her stage name Roxanne Shante, is an American rapper. She first gained attention through the Roxanne Wars and was part of the Juice Crew. The 2017 film Roxanne Roxanne is a dramatization of Shante's life.
Shawn Moltke, better known by his stage name MC Shan, is an American rapper, singer and record producer from New York City. He is best known for his guest appearance and production on Canadian singer Snow's 1992 single "Informer", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100. Shan is also known for his 1986 single "The Bridge," which was produced by Marley Marl and entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Queensbridge Houses, also known simply as Queensbridge or QB, is a public housing development in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York City. Owned by the New York City Housing Authority, the development contains 96 buildings and 3,142 units accommodating approximately 7,000 people in two separate complexes. The complex opened in 1939 and is the largest housing project in North America.
Nas & Ill Will Records Presents QB's Finest, commonly known as simply QB's Finest, is a compilation album released on November 21, 2000 and the second release from rapper Nas' new Ill Will Records imprint, distributed by Columbia Records. It featured Nas and a number of other rappers from the Queensbridge housing projects, including Mobb Deep, Nature, Nashawn, Littles, Bravehearts and Cormega, who had briefly reconciled a longtime feud with Nas.
The Roxanne Wars were a series of hip hop rivalries during the mid-1980s, yielding rap music's first diss record and perhaps the most answer records in history. It is one of hip-hop's earliest feuds and perhaps the first ever "rap beef". The dispute arose over a failed appearance at a radio promotional show. There were two Roxannes in question: Roxanne Shanté and The Real Roxanne.
The Juice Crew was an American hip hop collective made up largely of Queensbridge, New York–based artists in the mid-to-late 1980s. Founded by radio DJ Mr. Magic, and housed by Tyrone Williams' record label Cold Chillin' Records, the Juice Crew helped introduce New School artists MC Shan, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Roxanne Shante, Masta Ace, Tragedy, Craig G and Kool G Rap. The crew produced many answer records and engaged with numerous "beefs" – primarily with rival radio jock Kool DJ Red Alert and the South Bronx's Boogie Down Productions, as well as the "posse cut", "The Symphony".
Percy Lee Chapman, known by his stage name Tragedy Khadafi, is an American rapper and record producer. Chapman hails from the Queensbridge Housing Projects in Queens, New York City, and helped spawn other hip hop artists such as Mobb Deep, Capone-N-Noreaga, Nas. He is documented to be the first to use the phrase "illmatic" in 1988 on a record called "The Rebel", from the Marley Marl album In Control, Volume 1, which was an inspiration and influence on fellow New York rapper Nas.
Golden age hip hop refers to hip hop music created from the mid or mid-late 1980s to the early or early-mid 1990s, particularly by artists and musicians originating from the New York metropolitan area. A precursor to the new-school hip hop movement, it is characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence on overall hip hop after the genre's emergence and establishment in the old-school era, and is associated with the development and eventual mainstream success of hip hop. There were various types of subject matter, while the music was experimental and the sampling from old records was eclectic.
Cold Chillin' Records was a record label that released music during the golden age of hip hop from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. A producer-and-crew label founded by manager Tyrone Williams and run by Len Fichtelberg, most of the label's releases were by members of the Juice Crew, a loosely knit group of artists centered on producer Marley Marl. In 1998, the label shut down, and the majority of its expansive catalog was bought by Massachusetts-based LandSpeed Records.
A diss track, diss record or diss song is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the two people; for example, the artists involved may be former members of a group, or artists on rival labels.
Down by Law is the debut album by East Coast hip hop artist MC Shan. Released at the height of the Bridge Wars, a feud that erupted between Boogie Down Productions and the Juice Crew, responding to the Queensbridge anthem "The Bridge", this album created a blueprint within Hip-Hop music that was never seen before. The album contains the diss track, "Kill That Noise" in response to South Bronx. The album is produced by Marley Marl, and was distributed by Cold Chillin' Records independently, until a distribution deal was struck with Warner Bros. Records (1988), then the album was reissued with slight sample edits. It was the only Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. album that was never initially released on CD by its distributor. The album was not released on that format until 1995, long after the 5-year distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records ended. By this time, Cold Chillin' distributed its material independently, mostly from its back catalog. This CD pressing would only be available for a limited time and went out of print for a few years. It was then re-released in 2001 as MC Shan: the Best of Cold Chillin', which featured all the tracks from Down by Law with a few additional non-album tracks. This version is now out of print as well. In 2007, it was re-released again by its new owner, Traffic Entertainment, in expanded form as a double-disc set with extended tracks, as well as bonus tracks.
Born to Be Wild is the second album released by Juice Crew member and East Coast rapper MC Shan. With the production work of Marley Marl, MC Shan directly attacked Boogie Down Productions with "Juice Crew Law" and ended the silence around their feud.
Hip Hop Lives is the collaborative studio album by American rapper KRS-One and record producer Marley Marl. It was released on May 22, 2007 via Koch Records. Recording sessions took place at House Of Hits in New York and at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Production was handled by Marley Marl himself, except for one track produced with 88 Fingers. It features guest appearances from Blaq Poet, Busy Bee Starski and Magic Juan. The album's title is a response to Nas's 2006 album Hip Hop Is Dead.
Frederick Crute, known professionally as Kool DJ Red Alert, is an Antiguan-American disc jockey who rose to fame on WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip hop music and culture. His weekly radio show airs on WBLS 107.5 FM from Monday to Saturday at 6pm EST.
"The Bridge Is Over" is a 1987 song by Boogie Down Productions from their debut album Criminal Minded, performed by rapper KRS-One and produced by DJ Scott LaRock and KRS-One. The song's intro samples "The Bridge" by MC Shan.
In Control, Volume 1 is the debut studio album by American hip hop record producer Marley Marl, of the Juice Crew. It was released on September 20, 1988, through Cold Chillin' Records with distribution via Warner Bros. Records.
Lawrence "Kris" Parker, better known by his stage names KRS-One and Teacha, is an American rapper from The Bronx. He rose to prominence as part of the hip hop group Boogie Down Productions, which he formed with DJ Scott La Rock in the mid-1980s. KRS-One is known for his songs "Sound of da Police", "Love's Gonna Get'cha ", and "My Philosophy". Boogie Down Productions received numerous awards and critical acclaim in their early years. Following the release of the group's debut album, Criminal Minded, fellow artist Scott La Rock was shot and killed, but KRS-One continued the group, effectively as a solo project. He began releasing records under his own name in 1993. He is politically active, having started the Stop the Violence Movement after La Rock's death. He is also a vegan activist, expressed in songs such as "Beef". He is widely considered an influence on many hip-hop artists.
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