The Notorious B.I.G. Biography

The Notorious B.I.G. Biography

In just a few short years, the Notorious B.I.G. went from a Brooklyn street hustler to the savior of East Coast hip-hop to a tragic victim of the culture of violence he depicted so realistically on his records. His all-too-brief odyssey almost immediately took on mythic proportions, especially since his murder followed the shooting of rival Tupac Shakur by only six months. In death, the man also known as Biggie Smalls became a symbol of the senseless violence that plagued inner-city America in the waning years of the 20th century. Whether or not his death was really the result of a much-publicized feud between the East and West Coast hip-hop scenes, it did mark the point where both sides stepped back from a rivalry that had gone too far. Hip-hop's self-image would never be quite the same, and neither would public perception. The aura of martyrdom that surrounds the Notorious B.I.G. sometimes threatens to overshadow his musical legacy, which was actually quite significant. Helped by Sean "Puffy" Combs' radio-friendly sensibility, Biggie re-established East Coast rap's viability by leading it into the post-Dr. Dre gangsta age. Where fellow East Coasters the Wu-Tang Clan slowly built an underground following, Biggie crashed onto the charts and became a star right out of the box. In the process, he helped Combs' Bad Boy label supplant Death Row as the biggest hip-hop imprint in America, and also paved the way to popular success for other East Coast talents like Jay-Z and Nas. Biggie was a gifted storyteller with a sense of humor and an eye for detail, and his narratives about the often violent life of the streets were rarely romanticized; instead, they were told with a gritty, objective realism that won him enormous respect and credibility. The general consensus in the rap community was that when his life was cut short, sadly, Biggie was just getting started. The Notorious B.I.G. was born Christopher Wallace on May 21, 1972, and grew up in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. He was interested in rap from a young age, performing with local groups like the Old Gold Brothers and the Techniques, the latter of whom brought the teenaged Wallace his first trip to a recording studio. He had already adopted the name Biggie Smalls at this point, a reference to his ample frame, which would grow to be over six feet tall and nearly 400 pounds. Although he was a good student, he dropped out of high school at age 17 to live his life on the streets. Attracted by the money and flashy style of local drug dealers, he started selling crack for a living. He got busted on a trip to North Carolina and spent nine months in jail, and upon his release, he made some demo recordings on a friend's four-track. The resulting tape fell into the hands of Mister Cee, a DJ working with Big Daddy Kane; Cee in turn passed the tape on to hip-hop magazine The Source, which gave Biggie a positive write-up in a regular feature on unsigned artists. Thanks to the publicity, Biggie caught the attention of Uptown Records producer Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed him immediately. With his new daughter in need of immediate financial support, Biggie kept dealing drugs for a short time until Combs found out and laid down the law. Not long after Biggie's signing, Combs split from Uptown to form his own label, Bad Boy, and took Biggie with him.

Biggie started rapping from a young age, performing with local groups, the Old Gold Brothers and the Techniques. After being released from imprisonment, he made a demo tape under the name Biggie Smalls, a reference to his childhood nickname and to his stature; he stood at 6'3" (1.90 m) and weighed between 300 and 380 pounds (between 136 and 172 kg) by differing accounts. The tape was reportedly made with no serious intent on getting a recording deal, but was promoted by New York-based DJ Mister Cee, who had previously worked with Big Daddy Kane, and was heard by the editor of The Source magazine. In March 1992, Biggie featured in The Source's Unsigned Hype column, dedicated to aspiring rappers and was invited to produce a recording with other unsigned artists, in a move that was reportedly uncommon at the time. The demo tape was heard by Uptown Records A&R and record producer, Sean "Puffy" Combs, who arranged for a meeting with Biggie. He was signed to Uptown immediately and made an appearance on label mates, Heavy D & the Boyz' "A Buncha Niggas" (from Blue Funk). Biggie (shown alongside Combs) performed the first verse on the remix of "Flava in Ya Ear", which reached #9 in the Hot 100 in 1994. It marked Biggie's first appearance in a music video by Hype Williams. Soon after signing his recording contract, Combs was fired from Uptown and started a new label. Biggie followed and in mid-1992, signed to Combs' new imprint label, Bad Boy Records. On August 10, 1992, Biggie's long-term partner gave birth to his first child, T'yanna. Biggie continued selling drugs after the birth to support his daughter financially. Once this was discovered by Combs, he was made to quit. Biggie gained exposure later in the year on a remix to Mary J. Blige's single "Real Love", under the pseudonym The Notorious B.I.G.; the name he would record under for the remainder of his career after finding his original moniker was in use. "Real Love" peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was followed by a remix of Blige's "What's the 411". He continued this success, to a lesser extent, on remixes with Neneh Cherry ("Buddy X") and reggae artist Super Cat ("Dolly My Baby", also featuring Combs) in 1993. In April 1993, his solo track, "Party and Bullshit", appeared on the Who's the Man? soundtrack. In July 1994, he appeared alongside LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes on a remix to label mate Craig Mack's "Flava in Ya Ear", reaching #9 on the Hot 100. In the same year, Biggie collaborated on "Runnin'" and other songs with rapper Tupac Shakur, a New Yorker who he met in Los Angeles, California.

Biggie started recording his second record album in September 1995. The album, recorded in New York, Trinidad and Los Angeles, was interrupted during its 18 months of creation by injury, legal wranglings and the highly publicized hip hop dispute in which he was involved. On March 23, 1996, Biggie was arrested outside a Manhattan nightclub for chasing and threatening to kill two autograph seekers, smashing the windows of their taxicab and then pulling one of the fans out and punching them. He pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and was sentenced to 100 hours community service. In mid-1996, he was arrested at his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, for drug and weapons possession charges. In June 1996, Tupac Shakur released "Hit 'Em Up"; a diss song in which he explicitly claimed to have had coitus with Biggie's, at-the-time estranged, wife Faith Evans, and that Biggie copied his style and image. Biggie acknowledged the former, referring to it in regards to his wife's pregnancy on Jay-Z's "Brooklyn's Finest" ("If Fay' had twins, she'd probably have two-Pac's/Get it? .. Tu-pac's") but did not directly respond to the record, stating in a 1997 radio interview it is "not [his] style" to respond. Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 7, 1996. Shakur would die of complications as a result of gunshot wounds six days later on September 13, 1996. Rumors of Biggie's involvement with Shakur's murder were reported almost immediately, and notably in a two-part article by Chuck Philips in the Los Angeles Times in September 2002. Biggie denied the allegation claiming he was in a New York recording studio at the time. Following his death, an anti-violence hip hop summit was held; Biggie did not attend and received criticism. On October 29, 1996, Faith Evans gave birth to Biggie's first son, Christopher "CJ" Wallace, Jr. The following month Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Kim released her debut album, Hard Core, under Biggie's direction while the two were involved in an apparent love affair.