Originally a fairly easy rivalry between ‘East and West coast’ superstars Tupac and Biggie Smalls, the divide between the two artists has the unfortunate right to claim itself as perhaps the most harrowing of any rivalry across the history of music. Lighting the touch paper for the hip hop genre to take centre stage in the American market, both men would find themselves cut down before their peak because of their successes and positions on the hip hop divide.