Discursive Verses: when pulling rank goes wrong

In any given week, hip-hop can feel like a pass-or-fail Rorschach test.The whole oppressive, resistant, exploitative, absurdist history of America can be distilled from the most random collision of events.

Or album rollouts.Or podcast wars.

When the multiple choice options range from regrettable firsts to the absolute worst, I feel fresh out of answers.Last week, in particular, made me wanna holler as hustlers and heroes alike found new and inventive ways to, essentially, pull rank.

On each other and the culture.At this point, it's hard to tell which outcome would hurt hip-hop worse.In a historic twist, Pap and Remy have both dropped diss records on each other in recent weeks.

After nearly 20 years of marriage, they've gone from relationship goals to hardcore foes.But the drama has inspired Pap to level up.

The dart aimed at his ex, "Jezebel," might be the most commercially viable song of his career.It hit No.

16 on YouTube's Trending Videos chart.Remy rebutted with the EP Alimony last week.

The title feels like an intentional play on Marvin's classic Here My Dear — the proceeds of which he was notoriously ordered to pay toward his ex-wife's spousal support.Both have charged each other with having affairs during their marriage, but of all the daggers thrown, the one that lit a fire to Remy's pen is the claim that her ex wrote her raps.On the song "Why I Get Married," a send-off as egregious as the Tyler Perry franchise she references, Remy's AutoTune croon sounds high-key disrespectful as she raps, "Riding my wave, you never had motion / Mama told me there's more fish in the ocean."Verbal abuse like this is usually a tool of the patriarchy.

But Remy Ma is in the position to pull rank.Especially with the rep she'd earned as the greasiest lyricist and bigger bankable draw of the two.

Either Remy and Papoose are really hurt or really smart — or really, both — to monetize their messy divorce like this.I'm not sure if they've reached a new pinnacle in rap...