East Coast vs. West Coast: Joey Bada$$, Ray Vaughn, Reason & More Keeping the Game Entertained with Diss After Diss
Look man, the boys is rapping. In case you missed it – the East Coast and West Coast is getting at it. It’s all a friendly fade, as it should be. But hats off to Joey Bada$$, Ray Vaughn, Reason, AZ Chike, Kai Cash, DAYLYT and everybody getting to it.
So background. In case you missed it, Joey Bada$$ had a lil beef brewing between Ray Vaughn and DAYLYT. It all kicked off on “The Ruler’s Back” in case you missed it. It was at the top of the year, whe Joey dropped off “The Ruler’s Back” and rubbed some people the wrong way, echoing JAY-Z’s “Too much west coast dick licking” bar from “22 2’s.”
That caught DAYLYT’s attention, with all the love Kendrick Lamar and the west was getting, but also TDE’s Ray Vaughn who had some smoke to return with “Crashout Heritage.”
“What’s with the sneak dissing? Taking shots at us then hide the Uzi
‘Cause the only badass the world was recognizing is Boosie Please don’t get confused with shooting them movies with really shooting
Was on Soul album so if you ask me, you look like a goofy
I hope this message reaches you well.”
And then, he hit social media: “2025 no sneak dissin, only crashouts. @joeyBADASS.”
But Joey Bada$$ wanted smoke for everyone. After sending shots at the West Coast, Joey had bars for J. Cole?
The new single “Sorry Not Sorry,” produced by Conductor Williams and Mario Luciano, references J. Cole’s latest body of work:
“Might delete later, I know damn sure Joey won’t
Fuck it, I want all the smoke!”
You can hear the new release below.
We had some more back and forth from there. DAYLYT let off “YHRR,” Vaughn had “Impossible Patty,” Joey had “Pardon Me.” Then it was acalming down a bit….. until May. Ray Vaugn spun the block with his appearance on Justin Credible and then Joey left off a missile appearing next to Ab-Soul, dissing the whole coast on “Red Bull Spiral Freestyle.”
And from there, all hell broke loose. Continuing to crash out, Ray Vaughn let off “Hoe Era,” flipping the Pro Era name and not letting the dust settle before he sparked. Produced by Tariq and OhGoddc, “Hoe Era” is a gritty, lyrical rebuttal that sees Ray Vaughn unleash sharp shots in response to Joey’s earlier track “The Ruler’s Back,” where he downplayed the West Coast’s recent dominance, even in the wake of Kendrick Lamar’s clash with Drake. Ray’s first reply was “CRASHOUT HERITAGE,” but his latest effort pulls no punches.
In one biting line, Ray spits, “Baby teeth you ain’t even got a plaque yet… fact check… we want to see the numbers like a math test!” He later taunts, “Run Joey, run… we gonna aim it at your backpack… you should act more… yeah, you should rap less!”
Perhaps the most viral lyric comes when Ray name-drops another New York artist, rapping, “You let Ice Spice turn into the King of New York!” And that right there is a nuke.
And Joey was right back on his ass with “The Finals,” but also had some words for Kendrick again?
“I salute you Kenny but I know you well aware / You lookin’ for some competition? Then just know that I’ll be right here,” Joey raps, laying down the gauntlet for what could be one of the most exciting lyrical face-offs in recent memory.
But for Vaughn specifically: “The way you let Dot d*** sit in your mouth / This that same d*** linkin’ I was talkin’ about… I bet you ain’t even got his number / It’s funny how the thirst is bein’ disguised as hunger.”
But within that – Joey also evoked the name of former TDE rapper Reason, stating he got dropped from the label. Welp. That got him going, letting off “The Dead Apple,” which may be the best performance and display we have heard yet. Seriously, don’t let that TDE change steer you away from Reason. The man got bars.
The constant West Coast mentions brought out some GNX collaborator AZ Chike with “What Would You Do?” More on him later. And another new DAYLYT track in “WRD2MIMVA. The east loaded up their roster as Kai Cash celebrated the Knicks making the East Finals and came at the West with “Knicks in 6,” while JaeWon delivered Bobby Mercer.”
Then our two number one contenders stepped back in the ring. Joey Bada$$ got Loaded Lux on the line for “My Town,” letting off a clip at everyone and humor and purposefully misporouncing Az Chike as “Ass Cheek,” while stating his smoke with Ray Vaughn was “last week.” And Ray Vaughn was right back at him with “Golden Eye,” impressively touching a flip of 50 Cent’s “Back Down” and taking it further, by leveling Diddy accusations and name-dropping Joey’s girl Serayah. You can hear both below.
In short, all of these guys are talented. Let’s keep it going. Let’s keep it rap. Let’s celebrate Hip-Hop.
Once again claiming TDEast (which is hilarious in his own right), Joey Bada$$ took on the game again, calling Kendrick Lamar scared for not coming outside and saying he was at the same Diddy party he was. Check out “Crash Dummy” below.
Now you let us know – who up?