While there’s always plenty of beef, real and manufactured, within hip-hop, high profile battles that are fundamentally about lyrical skill are becoming rarer and rarer. The last one of any real note was Nas and Jay-Z at the start of the millennium. Cassidy and Meek Mill’s current back and forth is not on that level. It does, however, feature one of the best, most renowned, battle rhymers in hip-hop.
Back in the days when DVDs still did the rounds, Cassidy’s battle with Freeway in a darkened room full of homies was passed around like that sticky icky. Freeway is no slouch on the mic, not by a long way, but Cassidy gets at him and clearly wins.
Like all the best diss tracks, Cassidy’s R.A.I.D gets Meek on a variety of levels. From the silly ( claiming that when he knew Meek Mill before he hit big he was so broke he couldn’t his braids done) to the more serious ( Cass states that the only time he’s been around correctional officers is in jail, a clear dig at Rick Ross.)
Over a good selection of classic hip-hop riddims, Cassidy spends ten minutes doing what he does best. Straight spitting. It’s so good it made me dig out a few of his old hits from a few years ago.
Cass has been careful to note that this is not street beef. And as someone who has already done the rap-star-in-jail thing, to the extreme detriment of his career, he clearly doesn’t want this to go down like that. But he is going for his, and Meek Mill is yet to respond. Is it ‘cos he doesn’t think Cassidy is on his level? Could be. When he dropped Repo he said it was the last song he was going to release about Cassidy. Of course, he’ll have to consider what his boss thinks about it all. But, if he doesn’t respond, the next time he’s riding through his old hood in Philadelphia, he might just get reminded about it. Once again, he might not care about shit talking. Time will tell.