Wrestler Randy Savage’s savage Hulk Hogan diss track
The diss track and lyrical battles are a big part of hip-hop culture and have been since its beginnings in the late 1970s. Rap music simply wouldn’t be where it is without a bit of competition, and from time to time, artists step up and battle for the top spot. When an emcee touches a microphone, they want to be the best.
Whether it is their flow, the similes and metaphors they incorporate into their lyrics, or the smoothness of their delivery, rappers want to be the best they can be. Sometimes, a back-to-back exchange of verses is the only way fans can see who the number one emcee really is, and that spirit has never died. However, rarely do we see these kinds of songs getting made by sportsmen, and that is what makes the existence of a Hulk Hogan diss track all the more strange.
The late Randy Savage, otherwise known as the Macho Man, was a professional wrestler during the 1980s and 1990s who had a reputation for being one of the hardest men in wrestling. During his career, Savage was a two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion and a four-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
That said, during his prime, he was just as popular and well-known as Hulk Hogan. With the two battling it out to become the number one in the world. Their feud was primarily for entertainment, but even after the turn of the millennium, when he had fallen back from wrestling professionally to rattle his foe, he released a diss track aimed at Hogan.
In 2003, Randy Savage decided to release a rap album. Although nobody knows why the athlete decided to make this unusual detour, the project was a mixture of rock and hip-hop music, most likely put out for promotional purposes. During a 2003 interview for Eyewitness News at 10 on UPN, Savage explained, “I have been putting my music at number one. My plate has been full with the music because it’s really something! Everyone’s writing a book. I don’t wanna write a book; I wanna express myself with music.”
In the interview, he spoke about Hulk Hogan, stating, “This is where Hogan messed up too. He became a primadonna. He believed his own publicity. He was a legend in his own mind. Instead of going into the locker room and shaking everybody’s hand, he would go in his own room and stir it up.”
That said, the album’s title track ‘Be A Man’ was aimed directly at Hulk Hogan, and the wrestler said his name explicitly a number of times. On the song, Savage raps, “Hot diggity damn, Hulk afraid you set it off (set it off) / Used to be hard Hulk, now ya done turned soft / Doin’ telephone commercials, I seen ya / Dancin’ in tights as a ballerina!”
He adds, “Hollywood Hulkster / You’re at the end of your rope / And I’mma kick ya in the butt and wash your mouth out with soap / ‘Cause like Rodney Dangerfield, he gets no respect / So come on Hulk, let’s wreck, so I can put you in check.”
Although the track has some good lines, the album and the songs, by extension, were seen as a novelty by most and the diss never got a response. However, it is an entertaining listen.