"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," is a famous quote from the Godfather II which pretty much sums up the relationship between the late Tupac Shakur and Christoper hip hop legend, "Biggie Smalls" Wallace, who has also passed away.

Hip hop is predicated on beef (e.g. battle rapping), and many feuds have cropped up in the genre over the years (50 Cent and Ja Rule, for example). However, none compare to the Notorious B.I.G.'s feud with Tupac. Their dispute went from interviews and diss records to flaming bullets and funerals.

We're going to look back on the blood-stained conflict between Shakur and Wallace, and we're going to be reminded of grim details, heart-rending tales, and ghastly revelations. The beef lasted a little more than two years, though a lifetime of events transpired in that relatively short time period.

Walk down memory lane with us as we explore the fiercest rivalry in music history.

12 Tupac And Biggie Were Good Friends At First

Despite having presumably the biggest rivalry in the history of music, Tupac and Biggie began as good friends. In 1993, at a Los Angeles party, Wallace asked a drug dealer to introduce him to Shakur.

Dan Smalls remembered the meeting: "Pac walks into the kitchen and starts cooking for us. He's in the kitchen cooking some steaks. We were drinking and smoking and all of a sudden Pac was like, ‘Yo, come get it.’ And we go into the kitchen and he had steaks, and French fries, and bread, and Kool‑Aid and we just sittin’ there eating and drinking and laughing...that's truly where Big and Pac’s friendship started."

Related: 'Tupac Is Alive': Filmmaker Claims He Knows Where He's Hiding

11 Biggie Asked Tupac To Manage Him

Tupac and Biggie really hit it off. Shakur would always visit Wallace’s neighborhood in Brooklyn when he was in New York, and Wallace would crash on Shakur’s couch whenever he was in California. One time, Tupac even gifted Biggie a special bottle of Hennessy. In essence, they were practically BFFs...so much so, that Wallace actually asked Shakur to manage his music career.

Although flattered, Shakur informed Wallace that he didn’t mix friendship with business: “Nah, stay with Puff. He will make you a star.” Great move, because that's exactly what Sean "Puffy" Combs did.

10 The Two Rappers Recorded A Song Together

Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur recorded a song titled "Runnin' from tha Police" together in 1994, for Shakur's "Thug Life" album; however, it wasn't officially released until 2002. The track was produced by NYC producer, Easy Mo Bee, and featured rappers, Buju Banton, Stretch, and Dramacydal.

The song was later scrapped because of the heavy flak "gangsta rap" was getting at the time. The track was then set to be on Tupac's 'Me Against the World' album in 1995. The thing is, due to the rappers' falling out, it never happened. The song was the only official studio collaboration between Wallace and Shakur.

9 Big And Pac's Beef Began At Quad Studios

On the evening of November 30, 1994, while Biggie recorded upstairs, Tupac was robbed by three men and shot five times, at Quad Recording Studios' lobby in Manhattan. In a Vibe magazine interview in 1995, Shakur accused Jimmy Henchman, Sean Combs, and The Notorious B.I.G., among others, of fixing the Quad Recording Studios ambush.

Vibe magazine altered the names of the accused bandits upon publication. Later proof did not implicate Wallace in the studio attack. When Biggie's crew went downstairs to see what was going on, Tupac was being hauled out on a stretcher, flipping the middle-finger to those around him. This event eternally changed things between Wallace and Shakur.

8 The Beef Escalated After Tupac Heard "Who Shot Ya"

Biggie's classic song, “Who Shot Ya?”, was released a few months after Tupac was shot five times in the lobby of Quad Studios, by unknown assailants. When the track dropped, Shakur caught wind of it while incarcerated in Rikers Island. Tupac had been found guilty of sexual abuse.

Reportedly, Tupac was crushed and wary; he'd already wondered if Biggie and Diddy knew who’d assaulted him...or if they were perhaps involved. Now, Wallace was putting out a record named “Who Shot Ya?” in which he depicted himself as a hitman? Later, Puff and Biggie revealed that the song was absolutely not about Tupac, but to Shakur, the song was too coincidental.

Related: Mike Tyson Busts Into Notorious B.I.G.'s Tribute, Uninvited

7 Death Row Records Blew The Clash Out Of The Water

With Tupac already peeved at the Notorious B.I.G. and P. Diddy, there was one pivotal moment that ignited the rap rivalry into an inferno. In 1995, Suge Knight, CEO of Death Row Records, attended the Source Awards, hosted in New York City. While on stage, Knight took advantage of his moment and cold dissed Puff Daddy, without mentioning his name.

"Any artist out there that want to be an artist and stay a star, and don't have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the record, dancing… come to Death Row!" said Knight.

From that point, every time Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records crossed paths, there was some sort of confrontation.

6 Their Feud Caused The Infamous East Coast-West Coast War

The East Coast-West Coast rivalry was an American, mid-1990s quarrel between fans and artists of the West Coast hip hop and East Coast hip hop scene. At opposite ends of the dispute were Tupac Shakur (a West Coast-based rapper on Death Row Records) and The Notorious B.I.G. (an East Coast-based rapper on Bad Boy Records).

Technically though, it was Tim Dog who set off the East Coast-West Coast rivalry. In 1991, the New York-based rapper elected to release the diss record, "Fu** Compton", because he was upset at record companies' refusals of East Coast artists, due to the rising prominence of West Coast hip hop. The track included crass shots at the Los Angeles hip hop scene.

5 Tupac Was Shot To Death In Las Vegas

Tupac was mortally wounded in a drive-by shooting on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas, Nevada. At 11:15 p.m., PST, the shooting took place at East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, when the BMW hauling Shakur was stopped at a red light. Tupac was hit by four .40 caliber rounds: one in the thigh, one in the arm, and two in the chest. He succumbed to his injuries six days later.

Prior to the shooting, Shakur approached Orlando Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand and asked if he was a Southside Crip, then punched him in the face, dropping him on the floor. Tupac and Suge Knight's entourage jumped Anderson, kicking and punching him while down on the ground. The brawl, which was broken up by hotel security, was recorded by MGM Grand's video surveillance team.

Related: Jada Pinkett Smith’s Friendship With Tupac Made Will Jealous

4 Biggie Was Gunned Down In Los Angeles

The murder of the Notorious B.I.G. went down in the early hours of March 9, 1997, in Los Angeles, California. The rap star was shot four times in a drive-by shooting, while sitting in a rented Suburban, after attending an after-party hosted by Qwest Records and Vibe magazine. The part venue was the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Following the gunfire, Wallace's entourage hurried him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where physicians performed an emergency thoracotomy. Despite intensive medical care, the hip hop star was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.

Following the slaying, a procession carrying Wallace's body was hauled through his Brooklyn neighborhood, Bed-Stuy, to allow fans and those that knew him to pay their last respects.

3 Biggie Almost Survived His Shooting

Biggie was hit by 4 bullets out of a 9mm handgun, but did you know that it was the fourth bullet that killed him? According to Wallace's autopsy report, the first bullet struck his left forearm and journeyed down to his wrist; the second hit his back, missing every vital organ, and departed through his left shoulder. The third struck his left thigh and went out his inner thigh.

The final bullet entered through Wallace's right hip and struck numerous vital organs, including his heart, liver, colon, and left lung upper lobe. It halted in his left shoulder and proved to be fatal.

2 Tupac Foresaw Biggie's Death, Possibly

Tupac recorded a track titled, "God Bless The Dead," which was officially released in November 1998. At the beginning of the song, Shakur recites: "Rest in peace to my motherfu**** Biggie Smalls, that's right, bwoy, it's goin' on, right here thug life, God bless the dead."

Okay, wait....what? Shakur died six months before Biggie, so why would he say "rest in peace to my motherfu**** Biggie Smalls" in the intro of his song? Spooky, to say the least. This particular lyric, along with Tupac's last album being named after Niccolo Machiavelli, convinced many fans and conspiracy theorists that Shakur faked his death and is still alive. What do you think?

1 Both Of Their Murders Are Still Unsolved

The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder remains unsolved to this day. One theory is that Marion "Suge" Knight was behind Wallace's murder, as a direct reprisal for Tupac's slaying.

Voletta Wallace, Biggie's mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles in 2002, alleging investigators had covered up info about the LAPD's participation in her son's death, which concluded in a mistrial in 2005. A judge ordered L.A. to pay Biggie's family $1.1 million. Wallace's mom filed again in 2006 and that lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice.

Regarding Tupac's killing, it's been reported that the Crips murdered Shakur as payback for him ambushing one of their members in a Las Vegas casino lobby; Keefe D claims he and 3 other men were in the vehicle that shot at Suge's BMW, and that Orlando Anderson is the one that fired the fatal bullets at Tupac. Another rumor is that Sean Combs ordered the hit on Tupac months in advance, supplied the murder weapon, and promised the shooters $1 million.

Both homicide cases remain officially unsolved.

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Sources: EOnline, Genius, Billboard, Slate, Vice, Pop Sugar