Never has the old adage “can’t we all just get along” felt more applicable. Battle fever appears to have stricken hip-hop’s veterans, thanks to the masterminding presence of Swizz Beatz and Timbaland and their Verzuz initiative. With rappers already competitive in the best of times, the prospect of asserting dominance in a public forum has pushed a few over the edge — including DMX, a man clearly comfortable in his legend role.

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With his sights set on Jay-Z, X had already brushed off Eminem as no threat before doing the same to Lloyd Banks, in an altogether more dismissive fashion. As Fatman Scoop proceeded to rattle off some of rap’s lyrical greats, a list that included Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Eminem, and Lloyd Banks, X paused to single out the G-Unit rapper. “Lloyd Banks?” he questioned. “Lyrically? Top 4 bars. Impress me with four bars! Give me two!” 

It didn’t take long for Banks to catch wind of X’s comments, and while he was initially quick to shrug it off, he later decided to revisit the slight with his own theory. “So because I didn’t come to the studio to work when HE reached out..I’m not that good?” ponders Banks, his tears of joy indicative of his tone. After one fan turned the tables and asked what prompted him to snub a legend, Banks simply shifted the blame to logistics. I didn’t…I had a flight to catch.” 

While it’s unclear as to when this studio session was meant to go down, one has to wonder if it had to do with X’s 50 Cent collaboration “Shot Down,” which appeared on Grand Champ. In any case, one has to wonder if Banks’ speculation holds true, and X is indeed nursing a grudge. After all, he did single out the PLK in a long list of names.