It's fairly obvious that social media has changed the way rappers beef.
In an interview with Vlad TV, Royce Da 5'9" acknowledged the shift -- which he doesn't necessarily think is a bad thing -- and explained how some younger rappers who have recently dissed Eminem have benefited from the new environment.
"You had to stand by what you said back then," Royce said, comparing beef now to when he came up. "If you said you were gonna punch someone in the face when you seen ’em, you had to punch ’em in the face when you seen ’em. Now it’s like taboo to be hands on [and] actually put your hands on somebody. As an OG, you’ve gotta learn how to ignore things. You have to. You gotta laugh shit off."Then he addressed Earl Sweatshirt, who in December had criticized Eminem's fans and recent work.
“Like Earl Sweatshirt talking crazy about Eminem? You gotta laugh that off now. In ’99, his head? We would have took his head. We would have took his head a long time ago.”Royce added that Tyler, The Creator, who had also shaded Shady, would have met the same fate back in the day.
Skip to about 2:30 to hear Royce discuss the new beef environment.