Tupac Shakur in the context of "Kool Moe Dee"

The East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry is a dispute between artists and fans of the East Coast hip-hop and West Coast hip-hop scenes in the United States, especially from the mid-1990s. A focal point of the rivalry was the feud between East Coast–based rapper the Notorious B.I.G. signed by Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label, Bad Boy Records, and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur signed by Suge Knight and their Los Angeles–based label, Death Row Records. Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were murdered in drive-by shootings within six months of each other, after which the feud entered a truce with a "peace" summit in 1997 at the behest of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Giovanni Maria "Gianni" Versace (Italian: [dʒoˈvanni maˈriːa ˈdʒanni verˈsaːtʃe]; 2 December 1946 – 15 July 1997) was an Italian fashion designer and businessman. He was the founder of Versace, an international luxury-fashion house that produces accessories, fragrances, make-up, home furnishings and clothes. He also designed costumes for theatre and films. As a friend of Eric Clapton, Princess Diana, Whitney Houston, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Madonna, Elton John, Tupac Shakur, Joan Collins and many other celebrities, he was one of the first designers to link fashion to the music world. He and his partner Antonio D'Amico were regulars on the international party scene. The place where he was born and raised, Reggio di Calabria, greatly influenced his career.

On 15 July 1997, he was murdered outside his Miami Beach mansion, Casa Casuarina, by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.