On May 21, 1972, Christopher Wallace was born. He grew up in Brooklyn and from a young age took on the nickname Biggie Smalls because of his six foot three and almost 400-pound frame. Biggie dropped out of school by the time he was 17 years old and began to live his life on the street, selling crack. After serving time in jail for selling drugs, Biggie made some demo recordings on a tape, which eventually reached Uptown Records producer Sean Combs. Combs signed Smalls immediately and they started making music together for Combs’s label Bad Boy Records. In 1994, Biggie came out with his first album titled Ready to Die. The album was incredibly successful and sold over four million copies. Several songs reached the top ten on the pop and R&B
…show more content…
Several responses were made from West Coast rappers, including “Fuck South-Bronx” by Tweedy Bird Loc. The conflict continued to escalate gradually. Meanwhile, West Coast rap, through Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, continued to grow in popularity and became the focus of rap music. When Bad Boy Records and Biggie released Ready to Die, the East Coast got back into the spotlight. However, just two months after the release, Tupac was shot at the New York studio and blamed Biggie, Combs, and Bad Boy Records. This was when the feud took off. Both sides went back and forth with songs and accusations. As Adam Bradley and Andrew Dubois explain, “The West Coast’s gangsta aesthetic clashed with the emerging ‘mo’ money, mo’ problems’ ethos of East Coast Flash.” This clash heated up even further when Tupac joined forces with Suge Knight and Death Row Records. The battle quickly became about Suge Knight with Death Row Records and Sean Combs with Bad Boy Records. At the Source Awards in 1995, Knight took a shot at Combs by saying, “Any artist out there that want to be an artist and stay a star, and don’t have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos ... all on the records ... dancing, come to Death Row.” At the same Source Awards, in another example of the contempt that existed, West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg was booed off the Madison Square Garden stage. A year later, the anger that had been built through this rivalry ended with death. On September 7th, 1996, Tupac was shot and killed. On March 9th, 1997, Biggie was shot and killed. Police originally thought that the rivalry that existed was related to the
Several responses were made from West Coast rappers, including “Fuck South-Bronx” by Tweedy Bird Loc. The conflict continued to escalate gradually. Meanwhile, West Coast rap, through Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, continued to grow in popularity and became the focus of rap music. When Bad Boy Records and Biggie released Ready to Die, the East Coast got back into the spotlight. However, just two months after the release, Tupac was shot at the New York studio and blamed Biggie, Combs, and Bad Boy Records. This was when the feud took off. Both sides went back and forth with songs and accusations. As Adam Bradley and Andrew Dubois explain, “The West Coast’s gangsta aesthetic clashed with the emerging ‘mo’ money, mo’ problems’ ethos of East Coast Flash.” This clash heated up even further when Tupac joined forces with Suge Knight and Death Row Records. The battle quickly became about Suge Knight with Death Row Records and Sean Combs with Bad Boy Records. At the Source Awards in 1995, Knight took a shot at Combs by saying, “Any artist out there that want to be an artist and stay a star, and don’t have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos ... all on the records ... dancing, come to Death Row.” At the same Source Awards, in another example of the contempt that existed, West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg was booed off the Madison Square Garden stage. A year later, the anger that had been built through this rivalry ended with death. On September 7th, 1996, Tupac was shot and killed. On March 9th, 1997, Biggie was shot and killed. Police originally thought that the rivalry that existed was related to the