What Is Beef?

Beef is a film that documents the history of hip hop/rap rivalries. The film's producers were Casey Suchan and Denis Henry Hennelly and the executive producer was Quincy Jones III (QD3). It was written by Peter Alton and Peter Spirer (who also directed), and was narrated by actor Ving Rhames.

In this film, it shows a chronological look of battles (some friendly, but many personal), dating back to rap music's infancy in the early 1980s. Among the notable rivalies discussed include KRS-One vs. MC Shan, Kool Moe Dee vs. Busy Bee, 50 Cent vs. Murder Inc., Common Sense vs. Ice Cube & Westside Connection, the break-up of legendary group N.W.A, which includes Ice Cube's abrupt departure, and the later animosty between Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, and the most well-known feuds, 2Pac vs. The Notorious B.I.G. and Nas vs. Jay-Z.

Many prominent hip-hop personalities such as Russell Simmons, Snoop Dogg, Kool Moe Dee, Jay-Z, KRS-One, Mack 10, DMX, and Ice-T also participate in the film through interviews (some done for the film, as well as archived interviews from other sources, such as MTV and BET clips). Beef also features newly-released performances by many musical artists.

Subsequent releases in this series have been released, including Beef II (released 2004, also produced by Suchan and Hennelly, and narrated by actor Keith David), Beef 3 (released in 2005, narrated by DJ Kay Slay), and a BET series titled Beef: The Series, which premiered in 2006. These sequels are a continuation of the original film, however these two films cover more lesser-known confrontations and developing beefs just prior to the release of each respective film, including LL Cool J vs. Canibus, Ja Rule vs. 50 Cent, 50 Cent vs. The Game, Lil' Flip vs. T.I., Nelly vs. Chingy, and Erick Sermon vs. EPMD partner