The Bridge Wars
hip-hop rivalry
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. The Bridge Wars originally involved two groups from different boroughs of New York City: the South Bronx's Boogie Down Productions, led by KRS-One; and Marley Marl's Juice Crew, hailing from Queensbridge in Long Island City, Queens. KRS-One and Marley Marl have since officially retired the feud, with the release of their collaborative 2007 album Hip Hop Lives.
1985–1986: Origins
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:
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
Though MC Shan states Queensbridge is where his crew originated and is 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.
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:
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 its 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.
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