LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: A recent raid by police in the Las Vegas area on Monday once again brought the theory of East Coast versus West Coast hip-hop rivalry to the fore with respect to Tupac Shakur’s murder in 1996. Police unearthed copies of a book written by the uncle of the prime suspect in Shakur’s murder, Orlando Tive ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson. Anderson’s uncle, Duane Keith Davis, 60, known as Keffe D wrote in his 2019 book ‘Compton Street Legend’ that he is “one of the only living eyewitnesses to Tupac’s killing.”
The home where the police raid happened on Monday, July 17, belongs to Davis’ wife Paula Clemons in Henderson, Nevada, as per New York Post. While Davis did not mention the shooter’s name, he did mention that he was riding the car with the shooter when the shots were fired.
Compton Detective Timothy Brennan, who was investigating the rapper Biggie Smalls’ death in 1997, suspected gang war to be a primary cause in both the rappers’ deaths and Anderson as a suspect in Shakur’s death. Anderson later died in another unrelated gang shootout. The “East Coast vs West Coast” rap rivalry between Biggie and Shakur was thought to be the root cause of the shootouts. As per the news outlet, Biggie had the service of Southside Crips for protection and Shakur used Mob Piru for his security.
What was the East Coast and West Coast rap rivalry?
The rap or hip-hop rivalry was a conflict between artists and fans of the East Coast and West Coast hip-hop networks. It started during the mid-1990s. As per National Geographic, hip-hop originated from the South Bronx of New York. While New York-based East Coast rappers, therefore, felt entitled and began to feel superior to their other regional counterparts, West Coast rappers initially developed an inferiority complex.
The much-debated feud was headlined by the likes of East Coast-based rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy with their New York City-based label Bad Boy Records and West Coast-based rapper Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight with their Los Angeles-based label, Death Row Records. The beef initially started with the development of hip-hop culture on the West Coast, which was initially only in the city of Compton and surrounding areas.
In 1991, the Bronx-based rapper Tim Dog released the album ‘Penicillin on Wax’ slamming the hip-hop scene of Compton including derogatory tracks about N.W.A and Dr Dre. Dr Dre responded to the attack with his own debut album ‘The Chronic’.
A Compton native and member of the gang ‘Blood’, Suge Knight co-founded Death Row Records in Los Angeles with Dr Dre, Dick Griffey and The D.O.C in 1991. In 1993, the West Coast retaliated back with the formation of ‘Bad Boy Records’ by New York-based Sean 'Puff Daddy' Combs. Bad Boy Records produced hit albums by the likes of The Notorious B.I.G. (also known as Biggie Smalls) and Craig Mack. Tupac Shakur, at the time, was rising into prominence with his high volume of work in music.
The rivalry which initially was an artistic one soon escalated into a full-fledged bloodied gang war. In 1994, Shakur was shot at the Quad Studios in New York and he believed it was the work of the Bad Boys. After the death of Jai 'Big Jake' Robles, the beef between the two groups heated up, with both the groups hurling diss tracks at each other.
In 1996 and 1997 came the two final blows that finally laid the foundation of peace between the two groups. While Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in September 1996, Biggie was killed in March 1997. After the two murders, peace summits and meetings were organized to finally resolve the rivalry between the two groups.
'Orlando Baby Lane Anderson shot Tupac'
As the controversy now resurfaced, a fan firmly declared, "BET chronicles Deathrow told us Orlando Baby Lane Anderson shot Tupac., this case is closed according to the streets.." Another commented, "Pac was shot by Orlando Anderson, aka Baby Lane, a South Side Compton Crips member who was jumped by Pac, Suge Knight and his entourage in the MGM casino lobby after leaving the Seldon vs. Tyson fight, as retribution for Anderson stealing a Death Row necklace days earlier." Another theorized, "Tupac involved himself in some Compton gang beef that he had no business involving himself with (south side Compton Crips/Mob Piru). He jumped Baby Lane at the Tyson fight over some gang stuff that happened in LA (Orlando Anderson robbed a Mob Piru of his death row chain allegedly). Also at least one person (Keefe D) claims that there was a million dollar hit on Tupac and Suge Knight."
Someone else opined, "He got killed by Baby Lane (Orlando Anderson) a compton crip as retaliation for tupac and his crew stomping and beatibg on him hours earlier." "2Pac was killed by Orlando Baby Lane Anderson. This is well documented. Conservatives are so outside of urban street culture and always talk about it like it's something super foreign to everyone else. It's a bad look. Doesn't help on getting loud voices on board," said another.
