Even Dr. Dre is disappointed in modern music.

I recently made a Spotify playlist called Rap Battle Royale, inspired by the recent beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. I set out to create a playlist of my favorite dis tracks of all-time, new and old, for the gym (when it's me sans kids).

I was surprised by the themes of today's beef compared to yesteryear. Exploiting knowledge of your opponent's personal life (past relationships, career choices, etc.), money, rap hierarchy, affiliation, and credibility have always been popular themes in diss tracks and remain so. However, today's artist are more likely to talk professional relationships, body image and lifestyle, perhaps a personal attack but it's missing something I constantly hear in the older songs....homophobia.

I listened to Ether by Nas for the first time in probably years and was surprised by the gay slurs being used. Now, I know that song bar for bar, word for word. When It first came out when I was in college, it was one of the best diss tracks ever released. Listening to it today, it hasn't aged well. I can admit that just as clearly as I can admit "Baby it's Cold Outside" is also from a different era and should stay there. Neither of these songs belong to today and that's okay.