2pac and Notorious B.I.G

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac (or simply Pac) and Makaveli, was an American rapper. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide,making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. Rolling Stone Magazine named him the 86th Greatest Artist of All Time.
In addition to his status as a top-selling rap artist, he was a promising actor and a social activist. Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in the society and conflicts with other rappers during the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry. Shakur was initially a roadie and backup dancer for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground.
Violence was a theme, not only in his art, but in his life. In November 1993 he was indicted on charges of sexual assault and subsequently sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison.In September 1996, Shakur was shot in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada. He was taken to the University Medical Center, where he died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest 6 days later.


Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997) was an American rapper. He was popularly known as Biggie Smalls (after a character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again) or simply Biggie, Frank White (after the main character of the 1990 film King of New York), and by his primary stage name The Notorious B.I.G..
Raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, Wallace grew up during the peak years of the 1980s United States crack epidemic; he started dealing drugs at an early age. When Wallace released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he was a central figure in the East Coast hip hop scene and increased New York's visibility at a time when West Coast artists were more common in the mainstream. The following year, Wallace led his childhood friends to chart success through his protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A.. While recording his second album, Wallace was heavily involved in the East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud, dominating the scene at the time.
On March 9, 1997, Wallace was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His double-disc set Life After Death, released 15 days later, hit #1 on the U.S. album charts and was certified Diamond in 2000 (one of only 3 hip hop albums to receive this certification). Wallace was noted for his "loose, easy flow",dark semi-autobiographical lyrics and storytelling abilities. Since his death, a further two albums have been released. MTV ranked him at #3 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time.He has sold 17 million albums in the United States.

East coast and West coast Rivalry

The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry was a feud in the early-mid 1990s between artists and fans of the East Coast and West Coast hip-hop scenes. Seeming focal points of the feud were West Coast-based rapper 2Pac (and his label, Death Row Records), and East Coast-based rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (and his label, Bad Boy Records), both of whom were murdered.

2Pac vs. The Notorious B.I.G.
“ Who shot me? But ya punks aint finish now you 'bout to feel the wrath of a menace… Nigga, I hit ‘em up! ”
—2Pac, “Hit 'Em Up”
“ Who shot ya? Separate the weak from the obsolete, hard to creep them Brooklyn streets. ”
—The Notorious B.I.G., “Who Shot Ya?”