In a recent interview with the Earn Your Leisure podcast, veteran hip hop rapper Ice Cube broke down his top five diss tracks of all time. Before officially firing off his list, Cube made sure to declare his 1991 N.W.A diss song “No Vaseline” the “top battle song ever,“ adding “and it’s not even close.”
From there, Ice Cube name dropped the other four songs on his list, which includes 2Pac’s Hit ‘Em Up, Nas’ Ether, Boogie Down Productions’ The Bridge Is Over and Let’s Go by Kool Moe Dee.
“I mean, I would go with, you know, ‘Hit ‘Em Up’ is a good one, ‘Ether’ is dope. I would go with ‘The Bridge Is Over,’ and I don’t know, I think I gotta go with ‘Let’s Go,’” said Cube.
Ice Cube released “No Vaseline” as a diss track to his former group N.W.A, which he left due to royalty issues. On the song, which samples LL Cool J’s To Da Break Of Dawn, Cube spoke on his decision to leave Ruthless Records and accused the late Eazy-E and the group’s manager, Jerry Heller of unfairly exploiting the other members of N.W.A.
“Lookin’ like straight bozos, I saw it comin’, that’s why I went solo … You got jealous when I got my own company. But I’m a man, and ain’t nobody humpin’ me,” rapped Cube on the scathing diss song.
Shortly after it’s release, Dr. Dre left N.W.A, citing lack of monetary compensation. This led to the dissolution of the group. N.W.A as a group never responded to No Vaseline. Run the track back below.
