East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry participant Death Row Records
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry was a dispute between artists and fans of the East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop scenes in the United States, especially from the mid-1990s. Focal points of the feud were East Coast–based rapper The Notorious B.I.G. with Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label, Bad Boy Records, and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur with Suge Knight and their Los Angeles–based label, Death Row Records. The feud culminated in the murders of both rappers in drive-by shootings. Although several suspects have been identified, both murders remain unsolved.Rivalry
Background
Hip hop music and hip hop culture is widely considered to have originated on the East Coast of the United States in New York City. As a result, New York rappers were often perceived as feeling their hip hop scene was superior to other regional hip hop cultures whereas those on the West Coast of the United States had developed an inferiority complex.By the late-1980s, however, West Coast hip hop was flourishing, led by acts such as Compton, California's N.W.A. On November 12, 1991, Bronx rapper Tim Dog released the album Penicillin on Wax. It contained several skits which mocked West Coast artists and a diss track directed at the members of N.W.A including Dr. Dre entitled "Fuck Compton." Dr. Dre would respond a year later on his debut solo album, The Chronic. Although Tim Dog would not figure into the later stages of the feud, his diss track presaged what was to come. This was also the same year that Uncle Luke came out with the album In the Nude which also dissed Dr. Dre. In 1991, Suge Knight co-founded Death Row Records in Los Angeles alongside Dr. Dre, Dick Griffey and The D.O.C. Knight, a native of Compton, California and a Blood, was among those in the West Coast hip hop scene irritated by the East Coast's perceived condescension toward the West.