It's What's For Dinner: Benny the Butcher vs. Freddie Gibbs

BEEF! Everybody hates it, everybody loves it. I rarely get to talk about it because of its rarity. It's produced some of the best tracks and moments in hip-hop history. From the legendary (Pusha T vs. Drake, Jay-Z vs. Nas), to the forgettable (the Game has tried to diss Meek Mill and Eminem on his past two albums), rap beef is a timeless sport. 

That doesn't mean it's all fun and games, however. Plenty of the back-and-forth involved in hip-hop feuds seems harmless, but many would point to the deaths of Biggie and Tupac as a cautionary tale. Violent escalation is the least desired outcome, yet far too common an occurrence.

So what's going on with these two underground legends, Benny the Butcher of Griselda Records and Freddie Gibbs? Let's take a look:

Origins

As with most beef, the relationship between our two battlers Benny and Gibbs started off as a friendship. The two grew a bond through the underground music scene, as Gibbs was featured on several Griselda records (in 2020 on both Westside Gunn's "$500 Ounces" and Conway the Machine's "Seen Everything But Jesus"). 

Later, they collaborated twice within six months on Gibbs' "Frank Lucas" and Benny's "One Way Flight."

Following these songs, there were rumors circulating of a potential joint album, part of it having already been recorded by early 2021. A leak surfaced late 2021, titled "McLovin" and produced by frequent collaborator of the duo, Hit-Boy.

By December 2021, it was clear the high quality version of this song would never make it to streaming services.

Things go Sour

Somewhere between rumors of the collab album and Benny's EP The Plugs I Met 2, Freddie and Benny's relationship dissolved. Tensions seemed to arise when Gibbs tweeted the following (pardon the language):

Niggaz don’t put the cities they get robbed in on the tour dates.

— Big 🐰 (@FreddieGibbs) October 3, 2021

While he never mentioned Benny by name, it wasn't long after a news story had circulated that Benny had been held at gunpoint, robbed of his chain, wallet, and gun, then shot in the leg.

Benny seemed to take that personally, but at the time nothing came of it. In 2021, when in New York, an unrelated fight broke out between Jim Jones and Gibbs, with Jones seemingly dealing the punches. Benny took to Twitter to tease Gibbs within an hour of Jones decking Gibbs.

At this point, no one knew whether there was actual beef between the rappers, and for the most part, the rest of 2021 was silent.

Escalation

In 2022 interviews, Benny began receiving questions about the rumored Freddie album-length collaboration, to which he responded "recording with Freddie Gibbs came and went." Hardly an endorsement of someone who is supposedly a good friend.

Gibbs, being the resident Instagram fiend and constant jokester, took to social media to respond, informing Benny he knew "some other shit that came and went" and to next time just respond "next question."

Not much later while in New York for his "Space Rabbit Tour", Gibbs and his crew were jumped by a mob of individuals later recognized as being associated with Griselda Records. (CW: minor violence in the following video -- it's really hard to make anything out).

Gibbs sustained sufficient bruising and swelling to his face and supposedly lost his chain in the scuffle (which is the rap-equivalent of being unmasked in a Lucha libre match). Here he is performing the same day, clearly fucked up:

Props to Gibbs for taking it like a champ and still performing. I'm sure his security got fired real quick.

Today

All seemed quiet for months -- Benny had been focused on his stellar 2022 release, Tana Talk 4, and Gibbs on releasing his much-anticipated SSS (still nowhere in sight). Until August 23rd, when Benny posted a video of him "cleaning jewelry," and most notably Gibbs' girlfriend's "ESGN" chain featured among the collection.

Benny went on to post more on his story, oddly referring to Gibbs as "MC Dinosaur BBQ" (where the jumping happened) and not saying much more than reminiscing about the altercation in New York. It wasn't until Gibbs posted on Instagram that things got spicy (again, please pardon the tweet's language):

Freddie Gibbs and Benny the Butcher beef so petty bro. look what Freddie put on his story.. pic.twitter.com/aPaNn4sa0c

— Treywop. 🌬 (@TRYVNS) August 25, 2022

The reference to "sealed plea agreements" seems to have quieted Benny, but is there any truth to either story? Most likely not. Benny thought he was clever and posted a couple pics on Twitter of Gibbs' girlfriend, one from her old porn days (which I won't post here for obvious reasons, click this link at your own risk). Freddie brushed it off, saying "y'all some real detectives". Then he said this, which is too dark (language, again, sorry!):

I saw u at yo homie grave tell that nigga you’ll be home soon.

— Big 🐰 (@FreddieGibbs) August 24, 2022

Since then, these doofuses have said a whole lot of nothing on Instagram stories, Gibbs' fans have invaded Benny's Insta DMs to make fun of him, and Benny has kept it mostly clean. But we're all losing here.

What does this mean?

It means these fools are promoting their albums -- this beef was wild right after Tana Talk 4 came out in earlier 2022, now Gibbs is rumored to drop SSS soon, and they needed some easy press.

Stay tuned here as the Battle of the Hairlines continues:

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What do you make of this beef? Will the two ever trade bars over wax? Will they be able to bury this feud? Let us know in the comments below!

- Ritter