Notourious B.I.G.

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The Notourious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls (b. Christopher Wallace, 1973 ) was raised in a rough neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Dropping out of high school at the age of 17 to sell crack, (the fastest way for a young black man in the ghetto areas to make money) he was often in trouble with the police which collimated in a nine-month jail sentence.

Wallace whilst serving his sentence reflected on his life style and after his release attempted to enter into the music business. Borrowing a friend's four-track tape recorder, he recorded a basic rap demo. The tape attracted the attention of Sean "Puffy" Combs who at the time was working for Andre Harrell, at Uptown Records. Signing Wallace, "Puffy" arrange for him to make a guest appearance on a Mary J. Bilge re-mix of "What's the 411?". His 1994 debut release "Ready to Die" quickly went platinum and was described by Rolling Stone as the best rap debut since Ice Cube's "Amerikkka's Most Wanted". The album was said to differ from other gangsta rap recordings, in its matter-of-fact storytelling of life on the street, with B.I.G. acting as a kind of omniscient narrator. The entire album was held together by his unique perspective; rather than glamorizing violence with the telltale first-person bravado of many rappers, B.I.G. sought to tell the truth, and his deep voice and deeper tales earned him the respect of his fellow artists.

Although a successful rap artist and named by Billboard as the Rapper of the Year for 1995, Wallace was continually surrounded by controversy. Several violent and criminal incidents culminated in the rapper being charged with assault, fire arm and drug offences. These charges included the 1995 alleged assault of a promoter, the assault of several autograph-hutters in New York and the 1994 allegation by Tupac Shakur of involvement in his November shooting/robbery.

Six months after Tupac's murder, the Notorious B.I.G. was also shot and killed in a drive-by shooting on March 1997 in Los Angeles. He had been promoting the upcoming release of his second album, entitled "Life After Death...Til Death Do Us Part". Wallace had been attending a Vibe magazine's post-Soul Train Awards party, and was shot as his car waited at a set of traffic lights after leaving the event.

B.I.G.'s murder thrust the so-called "rap war" in to the public eye. Rappers from both coasts, including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Chuck D, and Doug E. Fresh attended a summit held by Louis Farrakhan in Chicago, pledging their support for a call for peace which would include a joint peace tour and an album.

Russel Simmons cited in Rolling Stone, said after the shooting,

We're doing Newt Gingrich's job for him, killing ourselves....I think the fact that no one has been arrested for anything is the scariest thing in the world. That says a lot about the community and how unprotected we are when you realize that these are very famous people. If they can't find out who killed them, how are you going to find out who killed someone in the street?

A week after B.I.G's murder his double-CD Life After Death hit the streets, reaching the top of the charts, where it remained for three weeks.

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