How Much Time Has To Pass Before You Steal Another Rapper's Bar?

[5 Grand]

Notorious BIG had a line that went, "Hit Your Head So Hard That Your Hat Won't Fit Ya" on Goin Back To Cali.

I stole that line for a project that I'm working on. But I feel like Goin Back To Cali came out in 1997 and enough time has passed that I can jack the bar without being called biter.

Jay Z got called a "swagger jacker" because he stole some lines from Big (and Snoop)

I know Eminem stole Pac's whole song for a diss that he made to Everlast. I forget what it was called but he stole Pac's flow from Hit Em Up in 1999, when Hit Em Up was only 3 years old. In my opinion that's not enough time to steal another rapper's flow.

So how much time has to pass to make the difference between "paying homage" vs "swagger jacking"?

 

[L3NU]

Wtf....you must be trolling with your decrepit old ass

The answer is never. Biting is always wack, if you cant come up with ya own shit then dont spit

 

[5 Grand]

Wtf....you must be trolling with your decrepit old ass

The answer is never. Biting is always wack, if you cant come up with ya own shit then dont spit

That'show I felt about Eminem's diss to Everlast because only 3 years had passed.

But Hip Hop is basically the art of taking something and changing it around. I mean, Rap producers sample other people's music all the time. And how many mixtapes are out there where the MC is rapping over somebody else's beat?

Even Big stole a line from Richard Pryor!

Anyway, here's that Everlast diss I was talking about. It came out in 1999 he jacks Hit Em Up @ 3:10

 

[L3NU]

Theres a big difference between paying homage and biting

Noone in the world is gonna listen to that eminem diss and think he came up with that himself, everyone knows hes referencing pac

But if you take some obscure line and wait for mad years to pass so it wont get noticed that's blatant biting

 

[Rickyrich]

Can we ban this old muthafuka

 

[RusselWilsonJr]

The person ur biting cant be actively rapping as a career

 

[Qawshun]

Is there a rapper that hasn't done it

 

[5 Grand]

Is there a rapper that hasn't done it

Yeah I remember when the Dogg Pound used Grandmaster Flash's hook for New York New York but I liked it because 10 years had passed, which is enough time imo.

 

[Qawshun]

Yeah I remember when the Dogg Pound used Grandmaster Flash's hook for New York New York but I liked it because 10 years had passed, which is enough time imo.

If dude dead and it's a well known line it doesn't bother me, if it's a freestyle it doesn't bother me. If you snatch the line and no one knows or you don't give proper credit you wilin