Parallel Lives: Exploring the Similarities of Tupac and Biggie in Music and Tragic Ends

In the nineties, the rap music industry grew immensely. It has grown from a couple of little known groups to the multibillion dollar business it is today. Rap music is more popular today than it has ever been in the past. Two reasons for that are Tupac Shakur and Christopher "Biggie" Wallace. Tupac and Biggie are two of the most famous rappers ever to be involved in the game. Together, they have sold over Forty million albums, and that number continues to grow each day. Both Tupac and Biggie were very popular rappers, but there were many differences between the two of them. Even though they had differences, many aspects of their lives were the same. They both were in trouble with the law and they both had a criminal like background. Their similarities even carried over to their deaths sadly. Although Tupac Shakur and Christopher "Biggie" Wallace were two entirely different people, there were many similarities in their lives and deaths.
Both Tupac and Biggie were very popular artists in the rap game.

Tupac released his first album, 2Pacalypse Now in 1991. It didn't catch on at first, but his appearance in the movie Juice sparked everybody's interest in this up and coming phenomenal superstar. He released his second album in 1992, and it sold over two million copies. He was rapidly becoming the most popular artist on the west coast. He began starring in movies such as Poetic Justice and Above the Rim. There was something about him that made a person stop what they were doing just so they could listen to him rap or watch him act. This quality did wonders for his career. His third album, Me Against the World, sold over five million copies. He had finally made his mark in the music industry. His next two albums sold a combined total of over twelve million copies. Since his death in 1996, three more albums have been released by his label. He has also been in three movies since his death.

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Like Tupac, Biggie was also a very popular and successful artist. His first album, Ready to Die, was released in 1994. It was an immediate hit, selling over a million copies in the first two months of its release. Today, it has sold around seven million copies. Biggie was an amazing writer and poet. Just like Tupac, a person was drawn into Biggie's songs just by the words he used. There was something about the way he wrote that made a person want to drop everything and listen. Biggie's second album, Life After Death, was released just two weeks after his untimely death in 1997. It has sold over eight million copies to this day. Just as Tupac was the most popular artist on the west coast, Biggie was the best in the east. These are a few of the ways that the careers of Tupac and Biggie are similar.

Yet another similarity between Tupac and Biggie was shown in their deaths. Tupac was shot on September 7, 1996, after attending the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas. He was in the passenger seat of a car on his way to his club for an after party when a car pulled up next to his and started firing. He was shot four times. He died on Friday the 13th, just one week later, in a hospital in Las Vegas. Just before Tupac and his friends left the fight, they got into a fight of their own with a guy who tried to steal Tupac's necklace. Many believe this is the same person who killed Tupac, but the case is still unsolved.

Like Tupac's death, Biggie's had many of the same situations. On March 7, 1996 Biggie was attending an after party for the Soul Train Music Awards in New York. He was sitting in his Explorer waiting for his friend Sean "Puffy" Combs to come out when somebody came up to the vehicle and started shooting. Biggie, like Tupac, was shot four times, but he was not lucky enough to make it to the hospital. He died about 15 minutes later on the scene. It was exactly six months to the day of when Tupac was shot in Las Vegas. To this day, the Biggie murder case, just like the Tupac murder case, remains unsolved. It is highly unlikely that either one of them will ever be solved.

The lives and deaths of Tupac Shakur and Christopher "Biggie" Wallace were almost mirror images of each other. They both were popular artist who got in trouble with the police, and they both were shot and killed at the pinnacle of their short lived careers. The similarities are so many that sometimes a person could wonder if it all was not meant to happen that way. Tupac and Biggie were the biggest rivals in the world, but they were so much alike at the same time. With all they accomplished in their short careers and lives, a person can not help but wonder what they would be like if they were still alive today. Although Tupac Shakur and Christopher "Biggie" Wallace were two entirely different people, there were many similarities in the way they lived and in the way they died.

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