From the start, hip-hop has thrived on conflict. Between the ostensibly lighthearted insults of battle rapping to the internecine feuds that range from jokey to fatal, it’s hard to think of another musical arena so riven with rivalries and disputes. They occur with such frequency that Doja Cat spends a couple of verses on her fourth album declining to take part. She has, she claims, risen to the top “with no confrontation”, despite attempts to pit her against Nicki Minaj: “I never gave a F,” she snaps. “Go stir the pot, bitch”.
