Payper isn’t taking MI’s challenge for Nigerian rappers to fix up their lives lying down, he’s taken the fire straight back to him on his new song “Top 5 Dead Or Alive”.

The song starts like Payper is having a “You Can Hate Me Now” Moment, and the Bayelsa-bred  MC goes on lay his claim to be included in the Top 5 lyricist conversation going forward. While those claims are obviously contentious, it’s what Payper does on the last verse in particular that has the potential to cause real controversy.

In referring to MI, the rapper said this:

How’s the culture gonna grow when you ain’t putting niggas on your album? /
You know a lot of rappers that’s hot /
But you’re scared that the tables might turn if you give them a shot /
You caught a writer’s block and then you took a long break /
They gassed you up to drop the right song on the wrong day /
He thought his team was the all-stars /
What happened to Pryse and Dice? He turned them both to popstars /
…
Your prodigy couldn’t freestyle on the Breakfast Club /
…
And we don’t like to sing, we are not the choir /
And it’s no disrespect but it’s shots fired

Sheesh!

Listen to Payper’s response to MI in full below:

And if you like what you hear, there’s more where that raw energy came from, listen to Payper’s latest mixtape Everyone’s A Target below: