The Biggie / Tupac
rivalry took the East / West rivalry to alarming proportions, where you
either liked Tupac OR Biggie, not both. Unfortunately, the rivalry ended
with both rappers dead, both leaving an impressive legacy, and a much
treasured discography. But where did the rivalry all start?
Christopher Wallace, AKA
The Notorious BIG / Biggie Smalls was once a friend of Tupac's, up until
Tupac's 1994 shooting. Tupac, possibly even envious of Biggie's new found
success, claimed that Biggie had "bitten his style". In an
interview which can be heard on "In His Own Words", Tupac claims
that he "trained" Biggie, and that he was mad at him because
"all of a sudden he wasn't saying THUG LIFE." Tupac alleges
that he told Biggie "Do not rap for the niggas, rap for the
bitches. The bitches will buy your records and the niggas will want what
the bitches want." Tupac felt that his advice was the foundation
for Biggie's new found style, which Tupac claimed was "New York-tised
2Pac". It seems that once Biggie found success, he abandoned his
THUG LIFE roots, in favour of the Bay Boy Entourage.
Accusations of
further "biting" came from tupac after Biggie's debut album
"Ready To Die" came out. Tupac alleged that HIS forthcoming
album had originally sounded similar, and had to be changed because Biggie
had "stolen" his style.
The rivalry between Tupac
and Biggie became major when Tupac was shot in a Times Square studio in
November 1994. Tupac implicated Biggie in the shooting, along with other
former close friends Stretch and Andre Harrell. Tupac claimed that Biggie
had knew that the shooting was going to take place, but he failed to warn
Tupac properly, thus "setting him up".
This led to several
highly publicised on-record "disses" from Tupac, including the
famous claim that he had slept with Biggie's wife, singer Faith Evans.
Biggie, however, very rarely dissed Tupac publicly, in an attempt to
"play down the beef"
Following Tupac's death,
Death Row's hatred for Bad Boy escalated. Biggie was later murdered on
March 9th 1997 in a shooting incident in LA. He was rushed to hospital,
but was pronounced dead upon arrival. His murder case, like Tupac's
remains unsolved. May Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls rest in peace
