Jay-Z vs. Nas. Canibus vs LL Cool J. NWA vs Ice Cube. The great rap beefs make hip-hop fans feel lucky to be alive to witness them. Non only do they pack divisive drama on a calibration that ranges from cinematic to biblical, just sometimes they button each contender toward unheard heights of creativity. Just this by yr, for case, Drake got a Grammy nomination out of a Meek Mill diss track, marking perhaps the almost unequivocal win in beefiness history. While that feud was typical of modernistic rap battles, which tend to play out over Twitter and Soundcloud rather than the radio airwaves of Roxanne War-fourth dimension, the hottest rap beefiness in years is taking place on completely new technological turf: a podcast.

Devoted podfans show love for their favorites in different ways. Some patronize the sponsors. Others send in homemade gifts. And the really hardcore, possibly shortsighted ones go tattoos. But on Jensen Karp and Matthew Robinson's hip-hop leaning pop civilization podcast, Get Up On This, true heads send in songs. Shawn Collins, The Batman of Rap made a gear up of tracks early on that the hosts enjoyed so much, they made them function of the show's official repertoire. A series of regular contributors followed, and collectively became known within the show'southward mythology equally the Four Horsemen. Over the years, their work has been a nice value-add together—on whatsoever given episode, you might hear 1 of several extremely decent underground rappers spit bars about the podcast itself. But and so, ii weeks ago, all hell broke loose in the best possible mode. The Iv Horsemen are now in all-out state of war with each other, and everybody's going to the mattresses.

It's beefiness season.

"In all honestly, it's mind-blowing," Jensen Karp tells me. "We've always been impressed with the quality of songs we've gotten from fans over the past few years, but the bar has been raised so loftier with these beef songs, that we genuinely believe we're showcasing the best diss tracks in years."

The podcaster and one-act writer knows what he'south talking almost too. In a former life, Jensen got a 1000000-dollar record deal as the rapper, Hot Karl, an experience which he recounts in a forthcoming memoir. Although out of the game now, he still keeps an ear tuned toward the current globe of battle rapping, and reports on his podcast whenever there are new developments like the contempo Compliments Battle. (You have to see it to believe information technology.) Merely Jensen doesn't accept to expect very far for rap battles at the moment because the most interesting one around is happening in his backyard.

In a contempo song submission, rapper William Giovanni, a/k/a WillGee, made a passing reference to surpassing Shawn Collins to become the definitive rapper of the show—The Get-Upwardly God, if you volition. Collins had informally retired from sending in songs, and at that place was a risk calling him out might have gone unnoticed, or at least unanswered. That proved to not be the case, though, and Giovanni's minor slight ultimately awakened a sleeping giant.

For the April 4 episode of Get Up On This, Shawn Collins, The Batman of Rap clapped back hard. He sent in a full song with hooks, dial lines, drops—the whole package—all over i of his trademark guitar-driven beats.

"Volition, take this L, and simply say that you're sorry/ Goodfellas-style: 'I know I fucked up, Paulie.'"

Dense with film references and a rewind-that Tidal diss, it'southward pretty much a banger. Coincidentally (nosotros recollect), the Batman of Rap dropped his song just in time for Jensen and Matty to play information technology on the show the calendar week after Batman v Superman's release.

"We normally take polite friends and fans–what is happening?" Jensen wonders out loud later the song is over.

"This is the first inter-special beefiness," Matty confirms.

The ii so speculate whether Captain America: Civil War-type havoc will suspension out amid the rest of the 4 Horsemen, which includes Cleve, Shoes Robinson, and Wob-Z.

"You remember when y'all used to play dodgeball in PE and they threw all the balls out?" Jensen asks. "That's what happened today. All the assurance are at present out."

The prophecy was fulfilled the post-obit week, when William Giovanni fired dorsum. Leading with a radio hit-caliber hook that manages to cover both Batman and wrestling–"If you wanna be Bruce for existent, I'll introduce you lot to the Bullet Club"—the Giovanni response was even more of a monster than its predecessor. It'south hateful, it'southward catchy, and it rebuts every ane of Collins's points confronting him. It elevated the level the game was being played on and suddenly gave listeners a reason to desire to fast forward to side by side week's episode before it was next week yet. The song also turned both Jensen and Matty into a couple of hypebeasts, something forth the lines of Mean Gene Okerlund crossed with Funkmaster Flex.

"This could be its own podcast at this point," Jensen says on the evidence after playing the song.

"This is the podcast, as far equally I'm concerned," Matty responds. "I don't give a fuck about the podcast. I'm not here for the podcast anymore. I'one thousand here for beefiness season. I'm hongry."

Illustration: courtesy of Beef Season, Lou de la Rosa

The saga continued this by Monday, April 18, with the release of the latest episode of Go Up On This. Non only did Shawn Collins, The Batman of Rap rising like his namesake Night Knight, with some deeply researched abrupt darts for WillGee, Shoes Robinson besides tossed his own song into the fray. Giovanni might answer Collins next calendar week and he might not. Cleve might go after Shoes, and perchance Wob-Z volition get involved. The only thing that's for sure is that these are some of the best original diss tracks in years, and this is far from over.

"Each week, when Matty or I become a new vocal from these guys, we simply text back and forth like we're in loftier school again talking well-nigh Canibus and LL Cool J, or out of higher with Nas and Jay Z," Jensen tells me. "People are rooting for their favorites and I cannot wait to see how this whole thing plays out."

What team are you on? Take hold of upward on Get Up On This and let the states know in the comments.