14 years ago on March 9th 1997 Brooklyn born rapper the Notorious B.I.G aka Christopher Wallace was gunned down while waiting at traffic lights in downtown Los Angeles as he left an after party for the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards. Rap Ireland takes a look back at the Bad Boy’s artist’s tragically short life.
Christoper Wallace was born on May 21st, 1972 and was raised in the Bed Stuy region of Brooklyn, New York, where he was given the nickname “Big” because of his size. Aged just 12 years, Wallace began selling drugs and by 17 Biggie had dropped out of high school and turned to music to try make a better life for himself and his mother. Having been arrested in North Carolina for dealing crack cocaine, the New York dealer-come-rapper spent nine months behind bars. Following his release on bail, Chris made a demo tape under the name “Biggie Smalls”, a name that would eventually ring through the halls of Hip-Hop history. The tape made the rounds and eventually came to the attention of, Uptown Records A&R and record producer Sean “P Diddy” Combs who signed him immediately. However, soon after putting pen to paper Combs was fired from Uptown, going on to start his own (now famous) label Bad Boy Records and brought Biggie with him.
Taking on the stage name of The Notorious B.I.G, the big break came in 1992, when Biggie jumped on the remix to Mary J Blige’s “Real Love”, which peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 100. In April 1993 “Party and Bullshit” his solo track appeared on the “Who’s the Man?” soundtrack.
The summer of 1994 saw the release of the classic hit “Juicy”, which was B.I.G’s first chart success as a solo artist and was also a double A-side with the track “Unbelievable”. A month later “Ready to Die” was released and reached 13 in the U.S albums chart, an album which was eventually certified four times platinum in a time when West Coast Hip-hop was dominating in the U.S charts. The album spawned classic hits such as “Big Poppa” and “One More Chance”
As Biggie’s star was rising, the Bed Stuy rapper put a group together called Junior M.A.F.I.A (Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes). The group consisted of childhood friends and included rappers such as Lil Kim and Lil Cease. The crew released “Conspiracy” in 1995 and enjoyed success of the singles “Players Anthem” and “Get Money”
While enjoying the successes that 1995 had to offer, The Notorious B.I.G became involved in a bitter, and what would become a deadly rivalry, between old friend Tupac Shakur. The relationship went sour when Tupac accused B.I.G of setting him up following his shooting in a Manhattan recording studio. Athough Biggie and his entourage were in the building at same time, they denied the accusation that 2 pac had made in a interview with Vibe magazine. As is their way, the media made this war of words into a East Coast vs West Coast rivalry, which pitted Biggie’s Bad Boy and 2Pac’s Deathrow on either side of the ring.
As we all now know, this escalating beef turned deadly on September 7th 1996, when 2 pac was gunned down in Las Vegas. Almost immediately after 2 pac’s death rumors were circulating that Biggie Smalls was involved. Wallace vehementely denied the accusations, stating he was in a New York studio working on his second album “Life After Death” at the time.
“Life After Death” was scheduled for release on March 25, 1997. To promote the album Biggie traveled to California where, he said in a radio interview, he “feared for his safety” and had hired security to roll with himself and his entourage. On March 8 1997 Biggie presented an award at the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles and was booed by some of the audience members. After the awards bash Diddy and BIG attended an after party that was to be their last together.
As the entourage were driving away from the party at 12.30am they stopped at a red light. This was to prove to be Biggie’s last fateful moment. A Cheverolet Impala pulled alongside the vehicle and a man dressed in a blue suit and bow tie appeared and drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol. Biggie was riddled with 4 bullets and was pronounced dead at 1.15 a.m.
Both this case and that of Tupac Shakur remain unsolved.
Fifteen days after his death “Life After Death” was released and hit the number one spot, with hits such as “Hypnotize” “Mo Money Mo Problems” and “Sky’s The Limit” becoming timeless classics.
In the time since the Brooklyn rapper’s passing, he has become a musical icon, respected and loved by fans the world over. Biggie’s legacy lives on through his music, and more recently through film, with the release of 2009’s biopic, Notorious. B.I.G is arguably one of the greatest emcee’s to ever grace the stage, a rapper whose effortless style, lyrical flow and story telling has influenced countless rappers. Biggie – We Salute You!
Notorious B.I.G – Bullshit And Party (Original Video 1993)
Notorious B I G -Hypnotize
REST IN PEACE THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G
MAY 21 1972 – MARCH 9 1997
