By now, it should be clear that Shia LaBeouf’s greatest talent is not as an actor. Or as a performance artist. Or, God help us, even as a rapper. No, his greatest talent is as a troll, whose work still manages to get a rise out of people in entertaining ways. Case in point: The Transformers star is now apparently embroiled in a feud with rapper Soulja Boy as a result of a rap track called “Zapruder” that LaBeouf sent to Charlamagne Tha God, co-host of radio’s The Breakfast Club. Rapping inexpertly over a spare beat, with a flow somewhat reminiscent of Tyler, The Creator, LaBeouf insults several prominent figures in the rap world, including Drake, Lil Yachty, and, yes, even Soulja Boy himself. The reference to the “Crank That” hit maker is brief: “He’s a kow tow trick/Him and Soulja on that shoutout shit.” But that was enough to provoke an angry Instagram rant from Soulja Boy, who declares that the actor is hereby banned from the city of Atlanta.
“You could never come to Atlanta,” Soulja Boy warns. “You could never come to the streets in the hood. You could never live my life. You need to stick to acting.” That seems like a mixture of good and bad advice.
Even in a career with as many bizarre twists and turns as LaBeouf’s, very few observers could have predicted that his 2016 would end with a beef between the actor and a rapper who taught the world how to Superman back in 2007. But that’s how this particular chapter of the story has turned out. Lil Yachty, meanwhile, had the good sense to treat this whole thing as a goof. “He’s not worth it,” the rapper told the press. “He’s not important.” Fair enough.
For his part, LaBeouf has responded with a new freestyle comparing himself to both Stanley Kubrick (bold) and Marlon Brando (ill-timed), and saying that he will, in fact, come visit the Hollywood of the South whenever he likes—or at least “when [his] schedule is flexible.” You can hear that below.
[via Uproxx]