The 1995 Source Awards were held at the Paramount Theater in New York City on August 3, 1995. The award show was one of the most infamous events in the history of hip-hop. The show escalated tensions between the East and West Side hip-hop communities, thereby likely catalysing the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls within the following two years. Televised nationally, the show also contributed to America’s moral panic about the influence of rap and hip-hop on its youth.

The East Coast hip-hop community was represented by Bad Boy Records, fronted primarily by its producer Sean Combs and its star talent Biggie Smalls, while the West Coast was represented by Death Row Records, fronted primarily by its producer Suge Knight and its star talent Tupac Shakur. However, Tupac was imprisoned at the time of the 1995 Source Awards, and (despite some prior tension) conflict was not particularly expected at the show.

After a mostly celebratory first hour, featuring long medleys from both Bad Boy and Death Row, the first serious blow was landed by Suge Knight, in his acceptance speech for Motion Picture Soundtrack of the Year, announcing: “Any artist out there wanna be a’ artist, and wanna stay a star, and don’t wanna – and won’t have to worry about the executive producer tryna be all in the video, all on the record, dancin’ – come to Death Row!” This was clearly a barb at Sean Combs’s tendency to ad-lib in his clients’ records and appear in their videos, and (the show being held in New York) it antagonised the mostly pro-East Coast theater audience.

John Singleton, one of the presenters for the next award, Producer of the Year, attempted to placate the murmuring and jeering crowd, declaring, “We gotta kill all this East Coast, West Coast, South, Midwest dissension in rap”, but to no avail. The West Coast’s Dr. Dre was announced as the winner, and was joined on stage by Snoop Dogg, but the audience’s hostility prompted Snoop to launch a furious, expletive-laden tirade: “The East Coast don’t love Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg?!”

With tension surfacing in various forms over the rest of the evening, some speakers attempted rapprochement, the most notable instance being from Combs himself, announcing, “Contrary to what other people may feel, I would like to say that I’m very proud of Dr. Dre, of Death Row and Suge Knight for their accomplishments… and all this East and West [conflict], that needs to stop. So give it up for everybody from the East and the West that won tonight. One love.” Snoop, later winning Solo Artist of the Year, was now pacific in his speech (“Oh we doin’ it like players now… now that we done made the East Coast-West Coast thing officially one love”), and Biggie, winning Album of the Year, avoided (at Combs’s request, it turned out) inflaming the situation further. At the after-party, Knight and Combs briefly sat down together and conversed on camera, and Knight denied that he had been referring to Combs in his original barb, claiming instead to have been referring to Jermaine Dupri. 

However, the 1995 Source Awards set off a causal chain of hostile events. Only a month after the show, in September 1995, Knight’s close friend, Jai “Big Jake” Robles, was shot dead at Dupri’s birthday party as Robles was entering a limousine, with Knight accusing Combs of involvement in the shooting. In October 1995, Tupac (released on bail) was known to have begun interacting with Biggie’s estranged wife, Faith Evans. In December 1995, Biggie seemingly incited his followers to target Death Row’s Tha Dogg Pound while the group was filming a music video in Brooklyn (and thus in East Coast territory), leading to shots being fired at the group’s trailer. Tupac released a few diss tracks aimed in various ways at Bad Boy, most notably Hit ‘Em Up in June 1996 targeted primarily at Biggie. Within two years of the 1995 Source Awards, both Tupac and Biggie had been murdered.

Winners and nominees
Winners are in bold text.

Artist of the Year (group)
 Wu-Tang Clan
 Salt-N-Pepa
 Gang Starr
 Heavy D & the Boyz

Artist of the Year (solo)
 Snoop Doggy Dogg
 Scarface
 Queen Latifah
 MC Eiht

New Artist of the Year (group)
 Outkast
 Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
 Ill Al Skratch
 Smif-N-Wessun

New Artist of the Year (solo)
 The Notorious B.I.G.
 Warren G
 Method Man
 Da Brat

Lyricist of the Year (group or solo)
 The Notorious B.I.G.
 Redman
 Nas
 Big Mike

Rap Album of the Year
 The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die
 Nas – Illmatic
 Outkast – Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
 Scarface – The Diary

Single of the Year
 Craig Mack – Flava in Ya Ear
 Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Thuggish Ruggish Bone
 The Lady of Rage – Afro Puffs
 Warren G featuring Nate Dogg – Regulate

Motion Picture Soundtrack of the Year
 Above the Rim
 Jason's Lyric
 Murder was the Case
 Poetic Justice

Acting Performance, Movie or TV
 Ice Cube – Higher Learning

R&B Artist of the Year
 Mary J. Blige
 TLC
 Brandy
 R. Kelly

Producer of the Year
 Dr. Dre
 DJ Premier
 Easy Mo Bee
 Pete Rock

Reggae/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year
 Mad Lion

Live Performer of the Year (group or solo)
 The Notorious B.I.G.

Video of the Year
 Dr. Dre and Ice Cube – Natural Born Killaz
 Craig Mack – Flava in Ya Ear
 Snoop Dogg – Murder Was the Case
 Coolio – Fantastic Voyage

Lifetime Achievement Award
 Eazy-E

Pioneer Award
 Run-DMC

Performances
 Craig Mack – "Flava in Ya Ear"
 Faith Evans – "You Used to Love Me"
 Total – "Can't You See"
 Junior M.A.F.I.A. featuring The Notorious B.I.G. – "Player's Anthem"
 The Notorious B.I.G. – "One More Chance"
 Da Brat – "Give It 2 You"
 Method Man – "Bring the Pain"
 Dr. Dre – "Keep Their Heads Ringin'"
 Tha Dogg Pound – "What Would You Do?"
 The Lady of Rage – "Afro Puffs"
 Sam Sneed – "U Better Recognize"
 DJ Quik – "Dollaz + Sense"
 Snoop Doggy Dogg – "Murder Was the Case"
 Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – "Thuggish Ruggish Bone"
 Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – "Foe tha Love of $"
 Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – "1st of tha Month"

References

External links

The Source Awards, 1995
1995 in American music
1995 awards in the United States
1995 in New York City