The Age Old Question – Who was a better rapper: Biggie or Tupac?

Source: I spent 2 years diligently studying these two in my sudden manic-obsession with Rap and its historical roots.

I think the most clear distinction we can make between these two is that Biggie is, in just about all sense of the word, is a “rapper,” whereas Tupac was a “writer.”

Clear Example:

The above video very quickly shows the difference between Tupac’s approach to rap and Biggie’s approach.  When you listened to Big, you didn’t need a beat in the background—he was the beat.  I’d argue this comes from his beginnings with beatboxing.  His rhymes and his delivery was tighter, his syllables more pronounced, and as Ben Peters said, he approached stories more through metaphor and imagery.




Tupac, on the other hand, at least in the above scenario, sounds like a novice rapper.  His flow isn’t as tight, it is off-rhythm at certain points (he even admits it in the first few lines), and his rhymes are simple and lacking of any heart we see in many of his legendary songs.  The reason is because Tupac didn’t thrive or approach rap the same way as Big because Tupac was not a rapper.

Stories have been told of how Tupac used to go to the bathroom between studio sessions and return back with pages upon pages of raps written, and he would just say, “Put me in the booth and let’s go.”  His raps were a sort of jazz, prewritten moreso as prose and then spontaneously fit to the beat however they came out.

It wasn’t until later that he started to approach his raps with a Shakespearian twist.  He wrote some songs in Iambic Pentameter and other more formal poetic schemes—the deeper message here being that he was using a “white writing style” to convey his black message, a theme of his since the beginning.  It was this sort of over-your-head intelligence Tupac was best known for, sneaking in cultural messages wherever he could.

The question posed here however, I think has less to do with the formal definition of a “rapper” (who was the better “rapper?”) and more to do with who was more skilled?  Possibly who was more influential?  Who made better music?




It’s hard to say, since both Biggie and Tupac relied on each other and each other’s participation in the beef to springboard their careers to legendary historical heights, but I can say from my own listening of the two over however many years, that I have always kept Tupac as number 1.  Reason being, he was aiming for the heart and he rarely ever missed.  If we’re judging based on who painted a better picture of what growing up in Bed Stuy Brooklyn was like, one could argue Biggie, but then I’d point you to something like Tupac’s “Mama’s Just A Little Girl” and ask if your mind isn’t filled with vivid imagery through that entire song—and more so, if it doesn’t hit you in the center of your heart.

On a final note:

Both Biggie and Tupac, in various interviews over the course of their careers, talked about their true colors.  Biggie often said things like, “I just want to be able to feed my daughter” or “I want to make something of myself,” whereas Tupac was notorious for saying things like, “I want to change the world.  And if the world kills me in the process, so be it.”

That’s all the distinction you need to see that one was “a rapper” and the other was “a writer.”

Biggie for flow.

Pac for content.

Both had awesome flow, both had good content.

Pac was a different cat though, largely representing “THE WEST COAST” but he was born in NYC (where the haterz at now?) and “right outta the box” he was sort of “marked” for being a revolutionary.

Named after a revolutionary who was executed.

and both of his parents were members with the ‘Black Panthers.’

Pac was basically your average hipster in today time. He made social commentary, was into plays and poetry, dance.

So what happened?

He got pissed off is what happened. Just like the average hipster today. Social inequality, dumbasses in power, bureaucratic “due process”, an arrest here and there, a little bit of exposure to street life … and boom.

What do you have now?

I highly intelligent person who sees his people being oppressed.

Enter: Thug Life

Pac was not an grimey, no good, thieving, olde english sipping, average ‘hood rat.’ He was an intelligent black person who was exposed to the good and the bad. He chose to help his people and pursue the finer things in life.

Thug Life was a way of life, it meant a lot more than your local politician or television would have you believe (as always).

However, most people viewed him as a grimey, no good, thieving etc etc…which I think is the point.

Pac is screaming THUG LIFE in your face, rapping, making money, having sex with white guys wives and referring to them as bitches and hoes, bringing up his people, calling out bullshit, smoking reefer…he is choosing to live right up to the stereotype while demonstrating inequality.

In a way he was an elected official of the people, chosen to shed light on social inequality and stereotypes while also encouraging people to “do what is necessary” to bring yourself up…

or something like that.

Biggie on the other hand was selling crack on the corner in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn … and was good at rhyming (hello NYC!)  and he had the flow like BP … unstoppable even after Suge Knight or Puffy plugged him up.

Even today you would be hard pressed to walk around Midtown for a couple of days without hearing some NOTORIOUS BIG bumping from somewhere.