The Hip Hop scene in Nigeria has been the talking point of Nigerian music in the past few weeks, and this is not unconnected to perhaps one of the biggest beefs in Nigerian Hip Hop, after the Modenine and Ruggedman beef of the early 2000’s.
When two heavy weights like MI Abaga and Vector Tha Viper decide to go head to head, you know it’s a big deal. These two guys have immense talent and amazing rap skills that cannot be questioned. It’s safe to say they’ve both paid their dues.
MI has dropped a total of 8 personal projects, while Vector has dropped 5 projects. Unarguable, MI has been the more successful of the two, and also unarguably the greatest Nigerian rapper out of the country, all factors from talent and success combined.
The good thing about beef is that it’s really not about success, it’s about who can bury the other lyrically, who’s got more dirt on the other, it’s about being able to “kill” your opponent, albeit on wax. There has been tension between MI and Vector over the years, many are even surprised that it took this long before it blew up into a direct beef.
In January 2019, On the Martell Cypher 1 featuring AQ, Loose Kaynon, Blaq, MI took shots at the Hennessy brand and the Hennessy Cyphers, the video ended with the text “Don’t do cyphers with brands that won’t pay you, come to us instead”, this was right after he said “To the other cognac, this is how to spend your budget”. It’s not news that Vector is the headliner of the Hennessy brand, so He obviously felt attacked by that MI verse.
Fast forward to August 2019, on the Hennessy Cypher that had Vector, Ycee and Ice Prince, Vector threw subs back at MI.
“The whole world has heard you subbing me in some other ways, but we all know you shading me won’t keep your sun away”
It should be noted that at this juncture, things were not yet as intense and direct as they would letter get after the Martell cypher 2. Comparing both cyphers tho, the Martell Cypher was the better of both, it’s a no brainier, from the beat selection, to the bars spat by the rappers, there is no competition whatsoever.
A month later the Martell Cypher 2 dropped and things got more direct, MI didn’t only throw shots at Vector, he called him out directly.
“So y’all got paid to cypher here and We don’t get any appreciation? Well let’s call it charity, a poverty alleviation. And y’all economists? ’cause it was like an economic forum Or like an oil drill drilling my nigga, that shit was boring”
“Hi hater, yes, I heard you talking, I’m Big Brother I’m always watching
Let’s discuss your options, Shut the fuck up or let’s get to boxing
Anybody close to dude better stop him, Or tell him to get a coffin”
Shut the fuck up or let’s get to boxing, MI called out Vector, and then warned him to to get a coffin, because death was his only option.
“Dah homie just drop your joint like you missing a kneecap
Leave me alone or speak up I know you fake, you like Bobrisky’s D-Cup”
At this juncture, MI had called for a war, and a war it was there after. Vector had no other option than to come with the smoke. on the 20th of September 2019, Vector teamed up with Vader and Payper and put out “The Purge”. The collaboration was deliberate because Payper and Vader had earlier sent diss tracks aimed at Blaqbonez, one of MI’s affiliates.
Vector was in his zone on “The Purge”, Vector is the battle emcee type of rapper, he’s built for battles and beefs. Vector didn’t hold back, it was a direct response to MI’s verse on the Martell Cypher. Vector straight up obliterated MI on this joint.
“I Mean Their Chairman Is Panicking Pushing Buttons Like A Rookie Playing Video Games
He’s Thinking It’s Fun Sha – Until The Men Show You Why The Men Na Men”“African Rapper Number One My Ass, Boy The Flavour Left. I Don’t Care If You Respect Me, Just Don’t Play Yourself, You Made A Cypher, But My Name Started Trending, I Retweeted Then Your Claims Started Bending (laughs). Forget The Hard Talk Everybody Knows You Soft”
Her Vector takes shots at MI’s claim of being the Number 1, warns him not to play himself by coming at him, then mocks him on how his name trended after the Martell Cypher.
“For You, You Think It’s Boxing, For Me I’m Playing Football, and How Are You A Beast When You’re The Size Of A Chihuahua, I’m King Kong In The City, E Ma Riwa Te Ba Wawa”
“You Told Me Drop A Joint, What’s The Point? If I Cut My Legs Off, You Still Wouldn’t Reach The Point.. Where My Head Is”
“You Rep Another But You Still Take Henny Shots, You’re Desperate Taking Any Shots Sit Down”
The gloves were off at this point, it was a perfect response to MI’s verse on The Martell Cypher 2. At this point, Vector had the lead, it was so very clear, he lyrically went in on MI.
The references to Khali Abdu and Ice Prince leaving MI’s chocolate city was however a tip of the ice berg of what to expect later.
two weeks passed before MI responded to Vector, in between those two weeks, Vector Hit MI with another Diss called “Tetracycline”, but it was soon discovered to be a 2015 freestyle. The delivery was sickness!!!! the beat was also dope, but the lyrics didn’t hit hard at all.
Vector was in his zones here, perhaps the delivery was fire because it was a 2015 recording.
On the 5th of October, MI finally responded with “The Viper” and oh boy, what immense impact did it have. It was a technical knock out, it’s the type of diss track that many opponents would throw in the towel after listening.
“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.”
MI went a different approach and was in his zone, the beat, the flow, the delivery, the concept were all on point. He went the petty route and practically went for Vector’s ego and confidence as a man, called him a failure and a hater whose heart is filled with hatred. MI played God on this joint, seeking to help the “struggling Lanre” so he could be as great as he should be.
MI knew he couldn’t match Vector’s style, so he move to go this route was smart, and as we would notice when Vector replied, it was a smart move, because it conditioned and dictated the pattern of his reply.
“So I swore by my name cause there is no higher authority, I will not destroy you instead I give you maturity”
MI is the King of mind games, He’s the king at being petty, MI is that rapper that doesn’t do anything without ensuring he makes a scene and gets the attention of everyone.
“Your soul is unclean, your heart is full of impurity and Jealousy, jealousy nigga jealousy ahh!
This isn’t a diss, this is truth listen, This is wisdom I’m giving to you cause you my youth
You can never battle Jude your default setting is lose”“Your very first line on your first single showed how you rated me. But Lanre see, I’ve always rated you
You no be mate to me though, You should look up to me like your pàle, I’m happy my son is taller
Doesn’t mean you won’t dobale, chale”
A direct response to Vector’s line: “If I Cut My Legs Off, You Still Wouldn’t Reach The Point.. Where My Head Is”
MI goes ahead to label him an ingrate and a failure.
“Look how you treated YSG when them niggas really believed in you, fucking snake, always bite the hand of people feeding you”
“AQ was your guy you did nothing to help him blossom no. But since he’s been around me, that nigga’s been doing awesome. Your manager and cousin gave you all cause he believed when you got arrested he sat in jail with you and wouldn’t leave, but as you head dey hot, got rid of nigga just like a weave, and he still put you on his CV we gave him a job at CC, see we rise by lifting others, who you lifted?”
I helped you manager, and your friend who you couldn’t help has been in my camp and has blossomed ever since, MI says.
“I’m tryna save your life Lanre, that’s my priority cos you let, jealousy jealousy fuck your legacy up
Yeah, this isn’t a diss, this is compassion”
“You mean, all this noise and seizures Is because you didn’t get a feature? nigga, damn”
“You called me short man at the Headies And I could’ve been real petty, but my head is always heavy from the crown. Choc City Warner doing biz and my shares can help you feed your kids”
MI makes quite a revelation here on why he thinks Vector has been hateful towards him, sayings because of a feature he failed to do, then go ahead to respond to him how he’s king and why he never responded to his bickering on him being short.
“So all these years, you ain’t helped one person. You ain’t put one person on, you ain’t sign nobody
There’s no manager, no artist, no fashion designer, Nobody connected to you doing well
It’s cause your heart is fucking bitter.”“I know your fans are gonna demand that you revenge, but will they crowdfund for you, when It’s time to pay your rent? I’m willing and able, I’ll put 20 million on the table, that’s budget for you to spend and CC will float your label, Just swallow your pride, let me show you how to be king”
The lines that hit the hardest for me, I mean the whole diss was to be-little Vector, label him a failure due to his hatred for MI. MI offered to give him N20m and float his label, and all he had to do was swallow his pride. That was a blow beneath the belt for me.
MI being the strategist that he is, perhaps explains why he has been at top of a while, milked the diss to the fullest. A day after he dropped “The Viper”, he was on the Big Brother Nigeria stage performing with a shirt that had an inscription “no Snakes”. This was another blow to Vector, as #NoSnakes became a trending topic on Twitter that night, and by the next day, The shirts were up for sale.
MI didn’t stop milking the cow with that move, he went ahead to announce his 2019 North American Tour, titled: “No snakes tour”. Man was hitting Vector on all levels and winning the war on a scale that was already insurmountable with the diss record.
MI was coasting to an effortless victory, and then on the 11th of October 2019, Vector came with disaster on “Judas the Rat”. On first listen, i was upset at fact that Vector dropped this much dirt and didn’t make it hit hard. Let’s be honest, after what MI did on “The Viper”, Vector had no choice than to bring a whole container of dirt, but unfortunately the delivery and fire was lacking, two reasons why MI’s “The Viper” hit hard.
Imagine dropping this much dirt with the flow and delivery he had on “Tetracycline”, yeah that would have been crazy.
“See I don’t know about you, But I’m the only number 1 from the 234, Alaye joor joor joor”
Vector demystified the whole definition of success by MI, called MI out on how he ran down Chocolate City as CEO, he clowned him for the supposed failure of his brother Jesse Jagz.
Vector obliterated MI with the lyrics of this joint, after several listens, you begin to hear how hard he went at MI, it was really bad.
“You call yourself a teacher but your students failed in real life”
“Your brother was such a gift you wrapped away from the light, I mean you claim helping people who are struggling to make it. Hmm, well Jesse is struggling to make it. You dey Lagos, you dey floss, Chairman sir, you na boss, but your brother went from Lagos to Ondo then to Jos”
“Choc City went down from all that fuckboy antics, the last I checked, Jesse was in a Choc Boy mansion. But since your Big Brother evicting him is part of the game”
I mean how else do you show the world that MI is a fuck boy than using his brother Jesse Jagz as the topic? Vector didn’t hold back, he was ready to hit MI where it hurts.
“And now you tryna be my father, LOL that’s what he said [Laughs], I’m sure everybody knows my father is dead. I mean, your father raised you in the name of the Lord, but we never see you acting in the name of the Lord”
Mocks MI here for the whole “I’m your father, you are my son” narrative he painted on “The Viper”.
“I’ve stopped judging success by the kind of money I make, or the house that I build, or the rents that I pay
I think a successful man, is one who knows himself, That thinking is far from you because it’s top of the shelf”
Painting a whole new definition of success was very important for vector at this point, after the humiliating jabs he got from MI, and honestly i think he did it good.
“I know the day will come everyone you lifted will speak, People will know you lifted them to step on them to your peak”
This next set of lines hit hard, very hard. Vector calls MI gay.
“You advertised your ass a lot, went to Abuja a lot and came back with more money let that story be that
And what’s my success in life? the answer is life, I look in the eyes of my daughter, and I’m thankful for life”
That line of his version of success being life and bringing in his daughter was a killer blow, Vector made himself the bigger and more mature man.
“I had a fight with YSG, that shht is normal in life, Your girl broke with you, we thought she’d be your wife
You were the bitch in the relationship, the stories are right, You claim I treated YSG in a way that was false
I was the one who lost everything in my life but my pulse”
Ouch, now he pays back MI in his coin and throws shots at his relationship, how it ended and how he was the bitch of the relationship.
“Let’s talk about CC (CeeCee), not your BB (Big Brother)guest
Let’s talk a little bit about your CC mess
You did your Emperor crazy, one of CC’s best
Then Brymo’s exit ushered in the CC stress
I mean Dice could really rap, he had your CC crest
And many artists don fall sha, off your CC steps
CC was in the room, we guess CC left
Even the lounge can testify, it reads CCX”
I mean we all know Vector is good with his rhymes, tho they could be corny sometimes. From Jesse Jagz, to Brymo, to Dice Ailes, Vector tells MI how his steps as Chocolate City’s CEO has led to the fall of the label.
Vector did close the gap of the beef with this joint, he had so much dirt on MI on this, way more than MI had on Him on “The Viper”. He was petty, he was direct, but he didn’t hit it home well enough.
@MI_Abaga you have more answers on here since you have hidden time to be in the DM. To think your manager reached out to settle.
Why are you playing yourself?
Him then. Him now. pic.twitter.com/LGFpC3Rdn4
— Teslim. (@VectorThaViper) October 11, 2019
MI however made the most ridiculous move in Hip Hop beef history, by sending Vector a DM hours after “Judas The Rat” dropped, Vector tweeted the screen shots, and gained more points with MI obviously loosing points and acting like a rat indeed.
But the content of the DM is what is interesting for me, It shows that in 2015, Vector had actually messaged MI to be on King King, but MI never sent in a verse, even tho he asked Vector to send a mail.
This goes to validate MI’s claim that Vector is bitter about a feature he didn’t do.
MI in the DM sent to Vector, also said Vector was making the beef too easy for him (Hmmm i wonder what comes next), he also reiterates the fact that he has 20m for Vector, and he should come over to Chocolate City.
How MI has the mind to send such after a diss song is quite very confusing and shocking at the same time, mind games perhaps? We all know MI is king of mind games, but the DM was a huge L for MI.
By the way, MI is not the only one with trending hashtags from this whole beef, as #ALAYEJORJORJOR has been trending all day today.
As it stands, it’s more of an MI win or a slight draw. Vector could have easily taken the lead with a crazy delivery, he had the ammo, he just didn’t know how to use it to kill off MI once and for all.
MI didn’t have as much dirt on Vector , yet he delivered murder on “The Viper”, that’s how important a dope beat and an impeccable delivery matters in a beef.
