When Are They Showing Who Shot Tupac and Biggie Smalls Again

Their worlds seemed destined to collide. They were two of the well-nigh 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 divide. But the biggest difference between Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls: They represented different coasts.

What exploded into arguably the biggest rivalry in music history, ended upwardly in the decease of both artists, just every bit their careers were skyrocketing. Tupac (also known as 2Pac) was gunned down on September 7, 1996, and died six days later, while Biggie (also known as the Notorious B.I.G.) was shot and killed six months later March 9, 1997.

Neither murder has ever been solved. Simply one thing that there's no question about is that they started off as friends.

READ MORE: Within Tupac'due south Last Days

Tupac entered the music scene two years before Biggie

Built-in in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City equally Lesane Parish Crooks, Tupac's single mother moved the family often in an attempt to escape the high-crime areas. They kickoff went to Baltimore and then to Marin City, California. It was there that Tupac'south beloved and talent for poetry was bred. He eventually broke into the music business concern, starting time as a roadie and dancer for the grouping, Digital Underground. He eventually he took the mic in 1991, with his debut anthology, 2Pacalypse At present, released that twelvemonth.

Meanwhile, back in New York City, Christopher "Biggie" Wallace, was raised in Brooklyn, spent his teen years attending prestigious loftier schools (where English language was a strong subject), dealing drugs in the streets and rapping for fun. "It was fun just hearing myself on tape over beats," he said in his biography for Arista Records.

But a demo he made establish its way to Source magazine, which spotlighted the immature talent — and he was before long represented past Sean "Diddy" Combs (also known every bit "Puffy Daddy"). His get-go single, "Political 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

Photograph: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Athenaeum/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-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap by Ben Westhoff.

"'Pac walks into the kitchen and starts cooking for the states. He's 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 staff of life, and Kool‑Assist and we just sittin' there eating and drinking and laughing...that's truly where Big and 'Pac'due south friendship started."

At that place was mutual respect betwixt the two, as well equally their friend groups. According to the Vice excerpt, EDI Mean, a friend of Biggie's, said, "Nosotros all thought he was a dope rapper." The story reports that Tupac gave Biggie a Hennessy bottle as a gift. Biggie would crash on Tupac's burrow when he was in California and Tupac would always cease by Biggie'south neighborhood when he was in New York. In essence, they were similar any other pair of friends.

And the potential greatness of their combined talents was too evident. At the 1993 Budweiser Superfest at New York Urban center's Madison Square Garden, they freestyled together. Biggie ofttimes turned to Tupac for communication in the business — and even asked him to manage his career. But Tupac didn't mix business with friendship: "Nah, stay with Puff. He volition make you a star."

Biggie Smalls and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs at the 11th annual Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles, California on March 7, 1997. Biggie died 2 days later.

Photo: Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Tupac believed Biggie had a hand in his 1994 gun down

While there were some smaller kerfuffles between Tupac and Biggie, the first large fallout happened when they were scheduled to work on a project together for another rapper, Little Shawn.

Tupac arrived at Times Square'south Quad Recording Studios on November 30, 1994, and was getting ready to caput upstairs to where Biggie and Combs were. But instead, Tupac was gunned down in the lobby and shot five times, according to the New York Times.

He survived the attack but believed Biggie might have something to exercise with it, fifty-fifty though they did brand it upstairs to see them correct later on the incident. "Tupac said the crew looked surprised and guilty, simply Puffy claimed they showed him 'nothing just love and concern,'" co-ordinate to the Vice excerpt.

READ More: Within Notorious B.I.G.'s Final Days and Bulldoze-By Murder in Los Angeles

When Tupac joined Death Row Records, the East Coast-W 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 place on his Death Row Records roster. Tupac accepted, cementing the rivalry between Knight's label and Combs' Bad Boy Records. "Any artist out there that wanna be an creative person, stay a star, and won't accept to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the records, dancing—come up to Decease Row!" Knight proclaimed at that 1995 Source awards show.

At that place was never proof that Biggie or Combs knew near the incident. But a couple of months later, Biggie's B-side unmarried was a rail called "Who Shot Ya?" which led to Tupac's response with the song, "Striking 'Em Up." In information technology, Tupac claimed he slept with Biggie's wife, Organized religion Evans. According to Vibe, Evans denied the claim, saying, "That ain't how I do business 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 still be alive).

But later on Tupac's decease, Biggie wanted to put an end to the declension-to-coast fighting. "We two individual people, we waged a coastal beef...one man against one man fabricated a whole Westward Declension hate a whole East Coast. And vice versa. And that really bugged me out," he said in an interview. "I've got to be the one to try to flip it... because Pac can't be the 1 to try to squash it because he'southward gone."

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Source: https://www.biography.com/news/biggie-tupac-friends-rivals-east-coast-west-coast

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