Rappers Rick Ross and Young Jeezy have never bee the best of friends and you will rarely see them within 10 feet of each other, but Saturday evening during the 2012 BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta, someone dropped the ball and the two came face to face.

Rawse & Jeezy have been beefing for years and they reportedly exchanged a few words that escalated into a physical altercation backstage during the awards show.

I was among the first to spill the tea online via twitter…

No one knows (or is telling) what exactly started the scuffle but it only takes a mean mug from one or the other to get thangs poppin.

A bit of the scuffle was captured on video below…

According to TMZ, who obtained the above footage:

In the video, security can be seen stepping in between the various combatants almost immediately, separating everyone before the fight got out of hand. A shirtless Rick Ross can be seen yelling before being escorted away from the scene.

Whoever Ross was yelling at tried to follow after him, but security stepped in before he could get there. There was one casualty however ? a random mirror.

I was sitting in my seat eating a pretzel when the drama popped off and was NOT backstage in the midst of it, but I received several texts and phone calls from a few industry insiders who were.

“They say” shots were fired but Atlanta Police, who were on hand throughout the evening, issued a statement saying that the gunshots rumor wasn’t true…

Shortly after 7:15 pm Saturday, a fight broke out in the parking lot at the Atlanta Civic Center (where the BET Awards were being taped) between two groups. Atlanta Police Department officers on scene responded to break up the fight and used OC spray in the process. Individuals fled the scene. There were no arrests or reports of serious injuries.

Reports of shots fired appear to be untrue

I didn’t hear any gunshots, but I dunno what all happened outside in that parking lot.

DJ Drama, who can be seen in the video above walking swiftly away from the scene, spoke about the incident on his radio show, stating:

Some words got exchanged. There were some ?What?s ups?. Security got hostile. [There was] some interesting conflict between Ross and Jeezy and it just went bad backstage.

I?m assuming that there is no way BET thought that these guys were gonna run into each other. Definitely not. All parties walked away unscathed that?s for sure. One party went one way, one party went the other.

All this stuff about shots getting fired. I can?t confirm any of that. I left. (source)

Here’s the thing… Jeezy’s burning bridges that he may have to cross again soon. His best friend is suing him for half his earnings over the years, claming he was being shady with CTE company money AND he’s still gettin’ the side eye around town about Big Meech’s letter exonorating T.I. of being a “snitch” due to the fact that his BMF homey spoke out for the first time and didn’t even bother to mention his name (but that’s a story for another day).

All I know is… this is waaaayyyy ‘deeper than rap’!

Is this the beginning of a new phase of “beef” between these two? To be continued…

CLICK HERE for more photos from the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards

FULL PHOTO GALLERY