The East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry

     

       
        Hip hop started back in the 1970's on the streets on South Bronx. It was first only known by a few people in the United States, during the 80's the forefront for rap music was at New York City. Home to numerous stars like Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Rakim, Salt-n-Pepa and others. In the early 1990's hip hop was a way for the black community to speak out to the world. Hip hop gained appeal within the black community because of the authentic and relatable nature of the lyrical content. Over time, hip hop and gangsta rap became a tool for competing record labels and associated gangs.

        The Emergence of the West Coast in 1986, Crenshaw, Los Angeles based rapper Ice-T released the song "6 in the Mornin'". It is considered by many critics as the very first gangsta rap song. the rap scene in the west was started to generate alot of fans since then. A young drug dealer named Eric Wright saw the potential profits and fame of the hip hop lifestyle, so he began recording songs in parents garage. Wright, going by the name Eazy-E , befriended two local artist named Dr Dre and Ice Cube. Along with locals DJ Yella and the Arabian Prince aka MC Ren, the group then became N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitude) as i posted in my first post about the birth of Gangsta Rap.

       The West Coast were doing good in the early days and also till now. Tha D.P.G.C (Tha Dogg Pound Gangsta Crips) were the reason hip hop touched many hearts in the West Coast during the 90's. But as hip hop was rising for the West, it was also rising for the East! during the revival of the East Coast, in April 1994, a 20 year old , Queens, New York based emcee by the name of Nas released an debut album called Illmatic. Five of the albums 10 tracks reached single status. It featured simple, menacing beats and dark street narratives. The release was vital in flipping the spotlight back for the east coast. facilitating the so-called East Coast Renaissance. A few months later, another New York rapper recorded one of the classic albums. The 22 year old Notorious B.I.G released Ready to Die. This album helped put Bad Boy Records on the map, following up on the success of Craig Mack's famous "Flava in Ya Ear". The growing popularity of The Wu-Tang Clan and their debut album also helped the east re-soar in popularity.

       The rivalry all started back when Tim Dog in 1991, disgruntled by the record companies' rejections of East Coast artist and the growing popularity of West Coast hip hop, Bronx rapper Tim Dog decided to voice his anger on the notorious diss track "Fuck Compton". It was disses straight to the entire LA rap scene but mostly to the platinum hitting N.W.A West Coast rap group. The music video to the song contained violent gestures to a Eazy-E and Dr Dre look-a-likes, as well as the legendary DJ Quik.

       In 1993, fledgling A&R executive and record producer "Puff Daddy" Sean Combs founded the New York-centered hip-hop label, Bad Boy Records. The next year, the label's debut releases by Brooklyn, New York-based rapper "The Notorious B.I.G" (also known as Biggie Smalls) and Long Island, New York-based rapper Craig Mack became immediate critical and commercial successes and seemed to revitalise the East Coast hip hop scene by 1995. This is where the conflict happened when New York born and California, Los Angeles-based rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur who was also coming up around the time era with Biggie Smalls. Tupac had publicly accused Biggie Smalls, Andre Harrell, and Sean Combs of involvement in the robbery and shooting on November 30th 1994. Tupac was heading to Biggie's studio that was in Manhattan, when he was in the lobby of Quad Recording Studios, he got shot 5 times (including once in the back of the skull). Shortly after the shooting and Tupac also being in confusion on who shot him, Biggie Smalls released a B-side track called "Who Shot Ya?" from BIG's "Big Poppa" single release. Although Puff and Wallace denied having anything to do with the shooting and stated that "Who Shot Ya?" had been recorded before the shooting. Tupac and the majority of the hip hop community interpreted it as B.I.G's way of taunting him.

       In August 1995, Death Row CEO Suge Knight was at the Source Award, he then dissed Puff on always dancing on his artist's videos and so the East Coast wasn't pleased with that and boos were coming from the crowd. Tensions escalated when Knight later attended a party for producer Jermaine Dupri in Atlanta, Georgia. During the bash, a close friend of Knight's (Jake Robles) was fatally shot. Knight then accused Puff (also in attendance) of having something to do with the shooting. The same year, Knight posted the $1.4 million bail of the then-incarcerated Tupac, in exchange for his signing with Death Row Records. Shortly after the rappers release for five counts of sex abuse in October 1995, he proceeded to join Knight in furthering Death Row's feud with Bad Boy Records.

      After the release of "Who Shot Ya?" which Tupac interpreted as a diss song mocking his robbery/shooting. Tupac appeared on numerous tracks aiming threatening and/or antagonistic insults at Biggie, Bad Boy as a label, and anyone affiliated with them from late 1995 to 1996. This caused fans from both scenes to take sides. Although an official retaliation record was never released by the Brooklyn MC in response to Tupac's Slurs, certain lyrics from Biggie's catalog of songs were interpreted by listeners as subliminal shots aimed at Tupac, in particular the track "Long Kiss Goodnight", But Puff however denied this theory, affirming that if Biggie were to diss Tupac, he would have called him out by name.

       On September 13, 1996, Tupac Amaru Shakur died after being shot multiple times six days earlier in a drive by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. A two-part 2002 article by journalist Chuck Philips called "Who Killed Tupac Shakur?" reported that: "the shooting was carried out by a Compton gang called the Southside Crips to avenge the beating of one of its members by Tupac a few hours earlier. Orlando Anderson, the Crip whom Tupac had attacked, fired the fatal shots. Las Vegas police discounted Anderson as a suspect and interviewed him only once, briefly. He was later killed in an unrelated gang shooting." Philips's article also implicated East Coast rappers including Biggie and unnamed East Coast music figures and criminals. Six months after Tupac's death, on March 9, 1997, The Notorious B.I.G was killed in a drive by shooting by an unknown assailant in Los Angeles, California. To this day, both murders remain officially unsolved, though many believe Suge Knight to be involved in the death of Tupac and Wallace.