Tupac Wearing a Make Rap Great Again Hat
Their worlds seemed destined to collide. They were two of the most talented hip-hop rappers on the scene. And they both were defended to exposing the truth of the tribulations of life on the streets, social injustice and the racial dissever. But the biggest departure between Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls: They represented different coasts.
What exploded into arguably the biggest rivalry in music history, concluded up in the death of both artists, just as their careers were skyrocketing. Tupac (also known as 2Pac) was gunned downward on September 7, 1996, and died six days after, while Biggie (also known as the Notorious B.I.One thousand.) was shot and killed six months later on March ix, 1997.
Neither murder has ever been solved. But 1 thing that at that place'southward no question about is that they started off as friends.
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Tupac entered the music scene 2 years before Biggie
Born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City as Lesane Parish Crooks, Tupac'due south single mother moved the family oftentimes in an attempt to escape the high-criminal offense areas. They beginning went to Baltimore and so to Marin Metropolis, California. It was in that location that Tupac'south dear and talent for poetry was bred. He eventually broke into the music business, showtime equally a roadie and dancer for the grouping, Digital Undercover. He eventually he took the mic in 1991, with his debut album, 2Pacalypse At present, released that twelvemonth.
Meanwhile, back in New York City, Christopher "Biggie" Wallace, was raised in Brooklyn, spent his teen years attention prestigious loftier schools (where English was a strong subject field), dealing drugs in the streets and rapping for fun. "Information technology was fun just hearing myself on record over beats," he said in his biography for Arista Records.
Simply a demo he fabricated found its way to Source magazine, which spotlighted the young talent — and he was shortly represented past Sean "Diddy" Combs (also known as "Puffy Daddy"). His starting time single, "Party and Bulls**t" came out in 1993.
Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls and Puff Daddy perform onstage at the Palladium on July 23, 1993, in New York City
Photo: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Biggie asked Tupac to be his manager
By that year, Tupac was already a platinum-selling artist, so Biggie asked a drug dealer to introduce him to Tupac at a Los Angeles party, co-ordinate to a Vice excerpt of the volume Original Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-Due east, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of Due west Declension Rap by Ben Westhoff.
"'Pac walks into the kitchen and starts cooking for us. He'southward in the kitchen cooking some steaks," an intern named Dan Smalls who worked with Biggie recalled of the meeting. "We were drinking and smoking and all of a sudden 'Pac was like, 'Yo, come get it.' And we go into the kitchen and he had steaks, and French chips, and bread, and Kool‑Help and we just sittin' there eating and drinking and laughing...that's truly where Large and 'Pac's friendship started."
At that place was common respect between the two, equally well as their friend groups. According to the Vice extract, EDI Mean, a friend of Biggie's, said, "We all idea he was a dope rapper." The story reports that Tupac gave Biggie a Hennessy bottle as a gift. Biggie would crash on Tupac's couch when he was in California and Tupac would always end by Biggie's neighborhood when he was in New York. In essence, they were like any other pair of friends.
And the potential greatness of their combined talents was also axiomatic. At the 1993 Budweiser Superfest at New York City's Madison Foursquare Garden, they freestyled together. Biggie oftentimes turned to Tupac for advice in the business — and fifty-fifty asked him to manage his career. But Tupac didn't mix business with friendship: "Nah, stay with Puff. He will make you lot a star."
Biggie Smalls and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs at the 11th annual Soul Railroad train Music Awards in Los Angeles, California on March 7, 1997. Biggie died two days later on.
Photo: Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Drove via Getty Images
Tupac believed Biggie had a hand in his 1994 gun down
While there were some smaller kerfuffles betwixt Tupac and Biggie, the beginning big fallout happened when they were scheduled to work on a project together for some other rapper, Little Shawn.
Tupac arrived at Times Foursquare'due south Quad Recording Studios on November 30, 1994, and was getting fix to caput upstairs to where Biggie and Combs were. But instead, Tupac was gunned downward in the lobby and shot five times, co-ordinate to the New York Times.
He survived the assail merely believed Biggie might have something to do with it, even though they did brand information technology upstairs to encounter them right after the incident. "Tupac said the crew looked surprised and guilty, just Puffy claimed they showed him 'nothing merely dear and business concern,'" according to the Vice excerpt.
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When Tupac joined Death Row Records, the East Coast-West Coast rivalry was cemented
While Tupac was incarcerated for another incident, he came to believe Biggie knew about the attack ahead of time. The west coast rapper reached out to Suge Knight, who offered him a identify on his Death Row Records roster. Tupac accustomed, cementing the rivalry betwixt Knight's characterization and Combs' Bad Male child Records. "Whatever artist out there that wanna be an artist, stay a star, and won't have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the records, dancing—come to Decease Row!" Knight proclaimed at that 1995 Source awards prove.
In that location was never proof that Biggie or Combs knew nearly the incident. Only a couple of months later, Biggie'due south B-side single was a track called "Who Shot Ya?" which led to Tupac's response with the song, "Hitting 'Em Up." In information technology, Tupac claimed he slept with Biggie'southward wife, Religion Evans. According to Vibe, Evans denied the claim, saying, "That ain't how I do concern."
The punches continued to be thrown throughout their short lives, each side blaming the other for the deaths (while other theorists believe they may all the same be live).
But subsequently Tupac's death, Biggie wanted to put an end to the declension-to-coast fighting. "We two private people, we waged a coastal beefiness...one homo confronting one homo made a whole West Coast hate a whole E Coast. And vice versa. And that really bugged me out," he said in an interview. "I've got to exist the one to try to flip it... because Pac tin't be the one to try to squash it because he's gone."
Source: https://www.biography.com/news/biggie-tupac-friends-rivals-east-coast-west-coast
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