On September 13, 1996 the Hip-Hop world was violently shaken - when 2pac was tragically killed on the strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was only 25-years-old, but had put a lifetime of work, dedication and truth into music. Tupac had the power to draw listeners in from all corners of the world, by his presence. When you listen to his songs, you can feel the emotion behind them; no matter if he was in the mood to party, when he was sad, happy, frustrated or even somewhat undecided. He never censored himself, everything that he spoke of in his lyrics and even in his interviews was coming straight from the heart, it was real. The hardest of gangsters even harmonized with the MC because he was able to ' paint a perfect picture' as he himself said, of real life struggles. Brenda's Got A Baby, Keep Ya Head Up, Resist The Temptation, Unconditional Love, They Don't Give a F*ck About Us, Shed So Many Tears etc. are all perfect displays of 2pac's loyalty to his surroundings. He wanted to let anyone listening to his music know that just because he was on television doing interviews, making videos and money, that didn't mean that he forgot where he was from. He remained firmly planted in the struggle & the history of Our people til the very end. That type of faithfulness was more than deserving of total respect.
But not even five and a half months after the passing of Tupac - on March 9, 1997, we were hit even harder when Bed-Stuy born rapper The Notorious B.I.G was gunned down on the streets of Los Angeles, California eerily enough in the same exact manner as 2pac himself. The only difference is the fact that way before 2pac's murder, the MC had spoken and given visual to his own death with songs such as; If I Die 2nite, Shed So Many Tears, Life Goes On & I Ain't Mad At Cha. The Notorious B.I.G, however had talks of the future, not even seeing anything fatal coming his way, which made his murder at the age of 24, more of a shocking situation. But what was more heartbreaking about their deaths was the fact that they had once upon a time been very, very close friends. But the friendship soon faded out, after Tupac's ambush style shooting took place at Quad Studios in 1994 at the same place that B.I.G and members from his Junior M.A.F.I.A clique were recording, shortly after Lil Cease had invited 2pac upstairs to hang out. He would later go on to accuse both The B.I.G and Bad Boy CEO Sean "P. Diddy" Combs of having the whole thing set up, which lead to an investigation and a beef so heavy in Hip-Hop it caused rappers and fans alike to begin taking sides.
The East Coast vs. West Coast beef was born; with any rapper in the game situated in New York and the surrounding 'East' areas, baring teeth at any rapper in the game situated in California and the surrounding 'West Coast' areas. This ushered in the protest against 'Gangsta Rap' music which originated in Los Angeles & Compton, California with artists like - N.W.A, Ice-T, South Central Cartel, Young Murda Squad and others, but spread like wildfire. 2pac, Snoop Dogg and the Cali based record label Death Row were all in the midst of the West Coast and 2pac had absolutely no problem with making his affiliation to 'The Westside' known. While a lot of the feuding became highly played out in the media and with magazines like 'The Source' and others, it also was speculated to come from people in both rappers' entourages. People in B.I.G's ear getting him to be riled up to throw shots at 2pac, while people in 'Pac's circle were getting the already highly energized rapper to show even more aggression, adding fuel to the fire.
Whatever was most accurate about what made The East Coast vs. West Coast beef thrive, things couldn't of been made any better when 2pac dropped 'Hit Em Up' which has been considered the most wicked diss track in music history. In the song, 2pac throws cruel insults at a B.I.G look - a - like and then with even more confidence and boasting alleged he slept with R&B singer Faith Evans, who at the time was married to The Notorious B.I.G - Whether that accusation was really true or not, it caused the final ignition to the flame and afterwards, there was NO turning back. Even though 'Hit Em Up' was meant not just as a vicious bullying to B.I.G it was also considered a deadly invite into something that ended up being much bigger than Hip-Hop itself. Biggie never personally responded with a diss track of his own, though a lot of people speculated that his anthem 'Who Shot Ya?' was his response, in which many people speculated the lyrics suggested that Biggie either knew more, or was involved somehow with the shooting in the very beginning. But in every interview he denied any involvement and instead seized the camera time to try and diffuse the set bomb and reflect on the friendship he had once shared with 'Pac. But it was already too late.
With all genuineness, I don't believe that The B.I.G had any involvement with the Quad Studios shooting, but that's just personal opinion. As far as the 'Who Shot Ya?' track is concerned, B.I.G himself stated the track had been written several months before the shooting even took place. But of course, at an inflamed time like it was, who really believed him? Almost anyone who followed 2pac as an artist and who was a dedicated fan, believed in their hearts that B.I.G and P. Diddy were responsible for his shooting, while of course there were some who like B.I.G himself, wanted to reflect more on the friendship they had and keep hope alive that it would soon be fixed. Shortly before 2pac's death, he had at one point spoke of doing an East Coast / West Coast truce album, which was rumored to feature The Notorious B.I.G after 2pac was quoted as saying "All East Coast rappers will be put on the album." Unfortunately the truce album never came to be, but what the feud did manage to bring to the industry was a realization of how important and much needed love and unity is to the game. And that a person can only be pushed so far, before they go over the ledge.
I feel that this feud could of definitely been prevented and it's sad that it had to end up with two of the greatest storytellers in music leaving way too soon. Reluctantly, we are still able to cherish their music, the thing that made these two so timeless in the first place. They have been frozen in time, in their youth, in what is considered the glory years of Hip-Hop. When there were no gimmicks, no publicity stunts - It was just the artist and the microphone.
R.I.P
2pac
1971 - 1996
&
The Notorious B.I.G
1972 - 1997
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