I am the first to admit I know just enough about rap and hip-hop music to be dangerous.

Still, I have paid some attention to who was singing what and which artist was fuming with whom, and I have a working knowledge that this genre is one where the feuds occur in public and onstage.

Rap stars on both coasts have been killed during this feud, but mostly it's words shot from the mouths of artists, most recently Eminem vs. actor and rapper Will Smith.

Eminem, the mouthy Detroit rapper whose "The Real Slim Shady" berates everyone from Christine Aguilera to Tommy Lee, has now taken on Smith, who at 32 has been in music half his life and has the fortune and awards to back him up.