What It’s Like To Produce a Diss Track

When rap producer Ron Browz crafted the ominous beat that would ultimately become Nas’ legendary 2001 diss track, “Ether,” he initially had a much different MC in mind: Nas’ rival, Jay-Z, who was offered the instrumental first. But Jay’s then-A&R executive, Kyambo “Hip-Hop” Joshua, passed on the track, with no idea that it would later become the backdrop to one of rap’s most iconic diss records.

“I get a phone call: ‘Nas wants you to come to hear what he did to the beat,’ ” recalls Browz, who had handed his CD to Nas’ travel agent months prior. “I go to the studio. Nas is in there eating fruit. Calm and no entourage. Just him and the engineer, and he’s like, ‘Yo. Play it for Ron.’ Then I hear the intro: ‘Fuck Jay-Z.’ I was like, ‘Wait. I didn’t put that in there.’ ”

At the time, Browz was living at his mother’s house in Harlem and had only scored one other placement, for the late rapper Big L’s “Ebonics.” “I’m in shock, but the whole time, [I’m thinking], ‘Ron, this is your introduction,’ ” Browz says. “In my mind, I’m like, ‘Is this a good thing or bad thing?’ Because it was going at the No. 1 artist in the game. I just remember sitting there with the great Nas, who said, ‘I’m putting this out on Friday,’ which was Jay-Z’s birthday. Jay-Z’s birthday is Dec. 4, and my birthday is Dec. 6, so it was like a fly birthday present.”

“Ether” proved to be the game-changer Browz’s career needed, swiftly propelling him into the spotlight upon its late-2001 release. And, 23 years later, his story still resonates with many producers, especially in today’s competitive hip-hop climate where feuds are more prevalent than they’ve been since the 1990s or early 2000s. This year alone, there have been clashes between Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion, Latto and Ice Spice, Chris Brown and Quavo — and, of course, Drake and Kendrick Lamar, whose blockbuster beef yielded seven diss tracks in a month, including Lamar’s Billboard Hot 100 chart-­topper, “Not Like Us.”

Produced by Mustard, “Not Like Us” was the producer’s first-ever No. 1 on the chart — and arrived three years after his most recent top 20 Hot 100 song, Roddy Ricch’s “Late at Night.” “Mustard worked like a machine, sending beats daily because he was trying to get [Kendrick] on his album. This went on for months,” says Meko Yohannes, Mustard’s manager and co-founder of their record label, 10 Summers. “He was just overwhelming him with beats. As long as [Kendrick] said, ‘Keep them coming,’ we kept them coming.”

“Not Like Us” immediately became a pop culture phenomenon. Actress Taraji P. Henson used the song during her opening monologue at the 2024 BET Awards. Serena Williams crip-walked to the track while hosting this year’s ESPYs Awards. Multiple professional sporting leagues, most notably the NBA, used the song during their broadcasts. And at his Juneteenth Pop Out concert, livestreamed on Amazon Prime, Kendrick performed it five times. “I didn’t know what we were getting ready for,” Yohannes says. “I don’t think anybody did. Mustard always wanted to work with Dot. That was one of the things missing from his résumé. For the first time working together, not only is it Mustard’s biggest record, but it’s also Dot’s biggest record.”

Even if a diss record doesn’t become a “Not Like Us”-size hit, it can still significantly increase the profile of the producer involved. Though “Ether” failed to chart on the Hot 100 and only peaked at No. 50 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, it boosted Browz’s visibility in New York, where top-tier producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland reigned supreme at the time. “Ether” “was all you heard in the neighborhood, coming out of cars and anything with a radio,” Browz recalls. “Cars, stores, everything. It stopped the city.”

Browz, who had received $1,500 for Big L’s “Ebonics,” earned his “first big check” with “Ether,” for $10,000. But while he landed placements for DMX and 50 Cent following the song’s success, he also experienced some growing pains.

“This time, in New York, the club scene is crazy. Once we started going to the club, I worked with DMX, Lil Kim, Fat Joe, Ludacris and 50 Cent. Artists would say, ‘I need that “Ether.” Send that.’ I remember doing that for a while. I was getting the placements, but they weren’t the singles,” he says. “Singles had to be bright and happy, so I had to switch the sound, and that’s how my hit ‘Pop Champagne’ ” — the 2008 single that hit No. 22 on the Hot 100 on the strength of a remix with Jim Jones and Juelz Santana — “came about.”

While producing a big diss track has advantages, it’s not always without consequences. Several producers contacted for this story — including The Alchemist, who produced Lamar’s “Meet the Grahams,” as well as Wyclef Jean, who co-produced Canibus’ 1998 track “Second Round K.O.” — declined to speak about their experiences, preferring to leave them in the past due to the significant political implications involved. Reopening an old wound, or potentially straining relationships further after the fact, isn’t ideal for producers looking to expand their networks.

For Mustard, though, it’s working out. As “Not Like Us” remained in the top 10 of the Hot 100 during the summer, Mustard used the momentum to propel the release of his first album in five years, Faith of a Mustard Seed. (Lamar doesn’t appear on the project, but plenty of other hip-hop stars do.) Its first single, “Parking Lot,” featuring Travis Scott, dropped about six weeks after “Not Like Us” and peaked at No. 57 on the Hot 100, becoming Mustard’s highest-charting song as a lead artist since 2020. The track also continues to boost Lamar, who was named the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show headliner in September.

“We held back on [releasing] ‘Parking Lot,’ ” Yohannes says. “We stopped it because we wanted to give room to see how high ‘Not Like Us’ would go. We sat back like everybody else, just watching. It’s something that you can’t just make happen; you got to be ready for it and do your best to build off the momentum.”

This article appears in the Oct. 5 issue of Billboard.