10 Most Important Beefs In Hip-hop History

The most highly publicised beef of all time, the story of 2pac and Biggie's friendship is one of hearsay and friendship gone terribly awry. Prior to the massive divide between East and West coast rap factions that largely resulted from their rivalry, the two MC's that would soon take their places among the greatest of all time were aspiring artists and close confidants.

However, this would all irreversibly change in 1994 when 2pac was shot five times at New York's Quad Recording Studios. Known for his acute paranoia as his fame increased, Biggie's 'Who Shot Ya?' was deemed to be making a mockery of the situation by his former friend and led Shakur to suspect the Brooklyn rapper and his affiliates at Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records to be involved in the attack.

Causing an all encompassing divide between the East and West, the two warring factions continued to fire shots at each other in both a lyrical and literal sense as the rivalry escalated into the most volatile feud in music history. With Tupac as adamant as ever that Biggie's entourage were involved in the shooting and subsequent robbery in New York, the feud reached its zenith when he released 'Hit Em' Up', one of the most infamous diss records of all time and one which lambasts everyone associated with his nemesis and featured 'pac' claiming to have had sex with Biggie's wife Faith Evans.

Despite the flagrantly inflammatory track, the rapper also known as The Notorious B.I.G never dedicated an entire track to the ongoing rivalry but certainly never shied away from it in tracks that would follow. Tragically both rappers would never squash this beef and lost their lives in unsolved drive-by shootings within six months of one another.