Twitter hasn't been short on beefs for 2015, but this week has blown up the social media service as Meek Mill has called out Drake for allegedly using a ghostwriter, and Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift have gone back and forth about VMA nominations and body shape. They weren't the first musicians to stir things up with 140 characters (or several salvos of 140 characters) this year. Here are five other digital battles that have gone down during 2015 thus far, including One Direction, Iggy Azalea and...believe it or not... not Azealia Banks (we take her tweets for granted anymore).
KID CUDI VERSUS LUPE FIASCO
There are two kinds of musicians that the media is always trying to stir up trouble with: Female pop stars and rappers in general. The former because it makes real life oh-so-much more like a soap opera and the latter because it's a genre packed full of competitive vibes and occasionally politics too. Journalists were at it again earlier this year, asking hip-hop's golden boy Kendrick Lamar to comment on just about everything. One tough question looked for a reaction to the death of Michael Brown. Lamar kept his cool and said that of course Garner's death was unjust and problematic, but added a side note that police didn't treat blacks with respect because the black community hardly treated itself with respect. That set off a firestorm of sorts, drawing derisive comments from the aforementioned Banks, but also brought Kid Cudi and Lupe Fiasco to near digital blows. The Cleveland emcee attacked Lamar for his comments while Fiasco took up Lamar's cause. It was an interesting standoff, considering that both are very in-touch with the struggle.
ZAYN MALIK VERSUS LOUIS TOMLINSON
It was all but inevitable that some sort of strife would come out of Zayn Malik leaving One Direction. In our worst nightmares, we imagined the various factions representing each member of the quintet waging bloody war in the streets. That didn't happen, but some social media spatting did. At first everything was alright...the rest of the band was going to move on, keep their heads up, keep making music. Zayn was going to take a break from the music...then he was going to focus on a solo career...and that's seemingly where the problems began. The band's most outspoken member, Louis Tomlinson, mocked a tweet of Zayn and producer Naughty Boy in the studio, laughing at its comical use of Instagram filters. "Remember when you were 12 and you used to think those Mac filters for your pictures were cool haha! Some people still do HA!" Malik responded with "remember when you had a life and stopped making bitchy comments about mine?"
IGGY AZALEA VERSUS BRITNEY SPEARS
All looked well for Iggy Azalea, the target of more Twitter attacks than perhaps any other celebrity at the moment. She had just landed a guest spot in the single "Pretty Girls" alongside Britney Spears, almost assuring her another no. 1 as well as the reassurance that she was, in fact, a pretty girl. Then the single fell short, failing to live up to the standards Azalea had reached alongside performers such as Ariana Grande ("Problem," a no. 1). The emcee suggested that the reason for the fumble was because Spears' camp didn't push it hard enough, which led to a tweet from Spears, where the pop star made a passive aggressive shot at Azalea's cancellation of her upcoming tour. The good news is that the pair never really beefed, according to Azalea, and it was all spun out of control by the media. Or at least that's what they want us to think.
ZAYN MALIK VERSUS NAUGHTY BOY
Zayn Malik strikes again! Just a few months ago it seemed that Zayn and Naughty were best buds, at least based on the image that sent Louis Tomlinson into a tizzy. It turns out the pair had done a collaboration or two, but the producer was exaggerating just how deep the pair's collaboration went. In short, Malik got on Twitter this week and told the "faker" to quit pretending that they were the new Elton John/Bernie Taupin. And, to make things a tad more petty, Malik also referred to Naughty Boy as fat. And the producer responded by telling the performer to stop acting like a "little girl." That escalated AND deflated quickly.
NICK JONAS VERSUS CROSSFIT
Organizations working to discourage smoking have revealed some pretty horrifying commercials this year, somewhat understandable considering their cause. Crossfit CEO Greg Glassman decided to take a similar approach in an attempt to warn people that, if they don't buy his product, they will die. OK not really. He posted a photo of a Coke can photo-shopped to read "Open Diabetes" along with the caption "pour some out for your dead homies." This was a reference to the more common form of diabetes, Type II, which can be traced back to poor diets in some cases. However, nothing pisses off Type I diabetics (a condition not brought upon by diet choices) like labeling the two one and the same. This got the attention of Type I diabetic Nick Jonas, who lambasted Glassman on Twitter. Glassman responded by claiming Type I diabetics COULD get Type II diabetes...which is true, but would require such an absurd amount of work on behalf of the person diagnosed, it would actually take intentional effort to do so.
