Words: Adedosu 'kenzy' Adekunle
Fourteen years gone now.It has been a decade and four years since the late Christopher Wallace better known as Notorious B.I.G, the acclaimed ‘King of New York’ shockingly passed away. If my memory does not fail me, I can vividly remember that I was having breakfast with my folks on March 9, 1997 when suddenly the news about a shooting at the Vibe Magazine after party of the Soul Train Awards that took place in California, came on the TV.
Biggie as he was fondly called by his fans had travelled to California to promote his upcoming sophomore effort ‘Life After Death’ and was partying at the Vibe Magazine after party. He decided to go back to his hotel and jumped into the passenger’s seat of a GMC suburban vehicle.
On their way home, Biggie and his entourage stopped to observe a traffic red light. They were attacked by a gunman who had apparently been trailing them from the awards show. Biggie was shot four times in the chest. He was rushed to the hospital but died an hour later. His killer was never found.
I was shocked, this was Biggie! I was only 11 years old but I had been watching this fat chubby black dude in his videos with Diddy (Puff Daddy as he was called back then) dancing all around. I had not gotten my head into the hip-hop culture back then, but I could relate in some way. I wanted to know more, but they wasn’t anywhere I could get information about his death apart from what I had just watched on the TV. It was 1997, no internet, no mobile phones, i was stuck in temporary ignorance.
Over the years, Biggie’s death which was barely 6 months after his former friend and rap rival Tupac Amaru Shakur was shot in similar fashion, has come to play an influential role in hip-hop. The thing about Biggie’s death that fascinates me is that he had themed his debut work ‘Ready to Die’ around his death. Even though he made it look as if he was taking his own life, it was still scary. His follow up work ‘Life After Death’ which was to continue with the theme suddenly blended with his death.
Biggie died at the age of 24. Yes, he was that young! With all that talent, dark mind state and character personification, it’s hard to believe but the streets of Brooklyn had played a very strong role in his growing up as he was exposed to hard drugs that hit most US ghettos in the late ‘80s. This was the same period hip-hop was introduced into the streets of New York. Biggie made a mash up of the streets and the art as he just kept pouring his mind out through his lyrics
Singed to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records in 1993, things looked bright for the young fat kid as he concentrated more on making music than selling drugs or involving himself in other criminal activities. His first break was the release of ‘Juicy’, the first single of the ‘Ready To Die’ album. It reached #27 on the billboard charts and was good enough for the hitherto little-known Brooklyn MC to gain prominence and start his dominance as the East Coast’s frontline MC.
The album debuted and turned the heads of hip-hop critics, as it immediately became a template for most rappers to create a rap album, even up till now, 14 years later. The Source Magazine, which was at that time referred to as the ‘Hip-hop Bible’ reviewed it as a classic, awarding it the highly craved-for ‘five mics’.
So, a sophomore which would see Biggie champion his cause and finally place him way above his rivals would have just been the perfect recipe but unfortunately, he never lived to see it. ‘Life After Death’ a double-disc album which was also reviewed as a classic was released 15 days after his death and hit #1 on the Billboard Charts selling over 10,000,000 (ten million) units.
Just last month, news came about a witness testimony that might finally shed light on the controversial, long-rumoured link between the Biggie’s death and the LA Police Department. In a 14-year unsolved murder case, which has had many hip-hop activist scream for justice, this is considered as a big break. In 2005, Voletta Wallace, B.I.G’s mother, filed a lawsuit against the L.A police department for suppressing evidence but it yielded nothing.
Recently, it was found out that LAPD officers, David Mack and Rafael Perez less than a year after Biggie’s death, were revealed to have been on Death Row‘s payroll as security for Suge Knight (Death row, owned by Marion ‘Suge’ Knight is a record label that housed 2pac as an artiste). David and Peter were found out to be involved in an $800,000 cocaine heist, which eventually ended their careers in law enforcement. This saga continues…
Notorious B.I.G is considered to be the greatest MC who ever stepped into the studio. This is quite arguable. Nevertheless, before I round this up, here are 10 things the ‘Black Frank White’ did, that made him spectacular:
1. B.I.G made looking fat and ugly cool; he rapped about ladies loving his overly chubby physic and yes, they did.
2. B.I.G popularized Coogi tops; he wore them all the time, in the heat or cold.
3. B.I.G ‘out-boned’ Bone Thugs ‘N’ Harmony on ‘Notorious Thugs’, as he trashed the group, using their tongue twisting rap style.
4. B.I.G used the expression ‘uh’ in all of his songs; we can see today almost everybody does that.
5. B.I.G easily created and/or adopted characters, which he personified through his lyrics; he employed the style of ‘Mafioso Rap’, which was very new as at that time.
6. B.I.G found Lil’ Kim. Nuff said.
7. He is the only rapper to have claimed the King of New York and was never challenged by a notable rapper.
8. B.I.G was known to enter the recording studio without a pen and paper, he always rapped off the top. Unrehearsed.
9. B.I.G rocked tailor made suits, creating a persona for himself; with hats, scarves and polished shoes.
10. He married one of the hottest chicks that was on the rise as at that time – Faith Evans.
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