Beef (2003) on Netflix
R20031h 43mDocumentary
A chronicle of hip-hop feuds, from the early 1980s, when MC battles were contests of verbal one-upmanship, to rivalries that turned personal. Those involved describe the conflicts.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.2/101,093 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Hip-hop battles go back to rap's infancy in the early 1980s, when MCs faced each other in contests of verbal one-upmanship, and some of those clashes grew personal. The documentary moves through that history in order, taking up rivalries such as Kool Moe Dee against Busy Bee and KRS-One against MC Shan. Hip-hop figures speak about the conflicts in interviews recorded for the project and in material drawn from television archives, and extended portions of some conversations that did not make the final cut also appear. Performances by a number of artists are included. The project grew partly from a producer's belief that feuds were harming hip-hop.
Cast
- Busy Beeas Himself - 'Chief Rocker' (as Busy Bee Starski)
Show all 20 cast
- Bone Thugs n Harmonyas Themselves (archive footage) (as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony)
- Black Childas Himself - Murder Inc. Records
- Davey Das Himself - Hip Hop Historian
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Beef (2003)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The documentary Beef was partly born out of producer Quincy Jones III's belief that "Beefs are killing hip-hop".
- Beef includes never-before-seen performances by many of the participants and extended interview portions cut from the final film, including Nate Dogg discussing a 1995 brawl at a Dogg Pound video shoot between Ruthless Records and Death Row Records entourages.
- The Beef series continued with Beef II (2004), Beef 3 (2005), a BET series in 2006, and Beef 4 (2007), which was narrated by Charlie Murphy instead of Keith David.
