In 1993, while Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur were smoking and talking, a cameraman got them to perform a freestyle for a video.
According to Hip Hop Hero, the footage, courtesy of Alamy, is now available to the public.
Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, the outlet adds, used to hang out all the time, and according to Snoop Dogg, the Brooklyn rapper was one of Shakur’s best industry friends.
These two artistes, with their affiliates, i.e. Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre, Suge Knight, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and Diddy, were ruling the rap charts and selling unfathomable amounts of records with their feud actually fuelling sales.
In an interview, Justin Tinsley explained how with regard to Shakur and Wallace, “They instantly hit it off. They were both Geminis, so they were Gemini twins in a way. These guys were incredibly close. Tupac would have Biggie over his house when he was in LA, even [have him] sleep on his couch.”
He continued, “Tupac respected that Big was really in the streets, and he was doing what he was rapping about. And obviously, he loved the fact that Biggie was such a gifted lyricist and wordsmith. Meanwhile, Biggie really appreciated the fact that Tupac came from a freedom-fighter lineage, and he always stood up for what he believed were the best interests of Black people.”
Hip Hop Hero points out that the infamous West Coast vs East Coast feud that plagued hip hop during the 1990s, as much as it may have entertained the culture, was an amalgamation of bloodshed and pure horror that ultimately ended with the deaths of two amazingly talented rappers: Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. However, the origin of the beef is complex and often misunderstood.
