The real reason KRS-One dissed LL Cool J and called“wack”
KRS-One is a militant emcee and has always been unfiltered about what he thinks. His most famous diss track is ‘South Bronx’ where he dissed Juice Crew’s MC Shan and the entire Queensbridge neighbourhood in the legendary ‘Bridge Wars.’
Although KRS-One as part of Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was a big deal in the 1980s he was nowhere near as powerful as LL Cool J concerning commercial hip-hop. From brand deals to music videos, LL Cool J and Run-DMC were the focus of attention for most on the East Coast and they dominated what was then the black music charts.
For most of his career, KRS-One has attacked the commercialisation of hip-hop and has expressed his anger at how far it has strayed from its roots as an underground culture run and owned by black people. However, he has never spoken about LL Cool J or shared a negative opinion about him. Still, on one occasion, he came out with a rap calling the ‘Hush’ rhymer “wack.”
During a concert, KRS-One once decided to diss LL Cool J while battling a fan at a concert in Pittsburgh. KRS-One has always been an exceptional battle rapper, as he proved in 2021 in his versus with Big Daddy Kane. However, while clashing with a fan who was wearing a bucket hat, KRS came out with a diss and told the fan he was “trying to be on LL’s dick and LL’s wack.”
However, LL Cool J did not respond to the matter, and for a while, people were on edge, waiting for the Bigger & Deffer creator to make a move. Still, it turned out that it was a spur-of-the-moment diss made by KRS-One to a fan, and, in his heart, he did not mean to diss LL Cool J but accidentally found himself using the legend to make a point.
The real reason KRS-One dissed LL Cool J was that it was the only comparison he could draw. The fan was wearing a hat, and because he was dissing the individual, he had to call him “wack.” So, simply, it was a mistake.
At a 2015 album release party for Now Hear This, KRS-One made an apology on stage in a rap. He began rhyming, “I’m about to ask for forgiveness / I fucked up with my lyrical physical fitness / I want y’all to see this, heaven or hell / I did a rhyme, and I dissed LL / Now some of y’all might know this / I did it in Pittsburgh, the other day, with Chris / I was battlin’ this dude, / Tryin’ to get in my face, I ate him like food.”
He continued, “I’m about to ask for forgiveness / I fucked up with my lyrical physical fitness / I want y’all to see this, heaven or hell / I did a rhyme, and I dissed LL / Now some of y’all might know this / I did it in Pittsburgh, the other day, with Chris / I was battlin’ this dude, / Tryin’ to get in my face, I ate him like food.”