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I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars.

The fight between Death Row and Bad Boy Records lasted less than a decade. A mere blip of time in the over 50-year history of hip-hop music.

But the impact of that conflict and its aftermath is still felt today. The notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur were the most high-profile casualties of this music industry brawl.

But it damaged the lives of those that survived, too, in particular Faith Evans, notorious B.I.G.'s widow and the subject of salacious, unsubstantiated rumors that the rift between the rap icons was in part due to Evans having an affair with Tupac.

Those rumors put Evans in the middle of a deadly rivalry and speculation about her involvement follows her to this day. Perhaps that's because of the lingering questions around the investigations into the murders.

Or maybe there's something more. Something about how women are treated both in the hip-hop community and the music industry as a whole.

For more, I'm joined by Naima Cochran. She's a music and culture journalist and former industry executive who's worked behind the scenes shaping the careers of Beyonce, John Legend, Juicy J and other major artists.

We'll explore how the rivalry between Death Row and Bad Boy Records changed the rap game and look at the rivalry from the perspective of the female superstar caught in the middle. All that's coming up next.

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Naima Cochran, welcome to Business Wars. Thank you for having me.

We know how important the music of this era was but what kind of impact did the gangster rap movement have on the business of hip hop?

The most immediate impact on the business side was that hip hop which had become a very welcomed commercial commodity was in danger of being marginalized again.

In the early days of rap, it was difficult for an all rap tour to get venues, you know, for promoters to take it on, for venue owners to want to do it.

There were some issues in the late 80s where there was a lot of violence at different shows and concerts.

So there was we went through almost a decade of not being able to get massive venues for all hip hop bill right.

So just as we're coming into an era where, you know, after your MTV wraps and after rapid starting to go mainstream.

You know, I think that's why I think it's a really important thing to be able to recognize that they need to be in this business.

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