Notorious Big Biography

Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), also known as Biggie Smalls (after a stylish gangster in 1975's Let's Do it Again) and Frank White (from the film King of New York), but best known as The Notorious B.I.G. (Business Instead of Game and, since his death, Books Instead of Guns), was a popular rapper of the mid-1990s. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

His career was overshadowed by the Bad Boy/Death Row Records feud during his life, but following his untimely death in 1997, The Notorious B.I.G. has been celebrated as a hip hop legend. He is remembered for his storytelling ability, talented freestyling ability, and his easy to understand yet complex flow. He is widely regarded as being one of the, if not, the best rapper of all time.
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The 6'3", 300 pound (136 kg) rapper, was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City. B.I.G.'s Jamaican-born mother Voletta Wallace, a preschool teacher, claimed that Christopher lived a comfortable life. He would later profess otherwise on songs such as "Juicy". As an honor-roll student, he dropped out of school at 17 to work as a small-time crack cocaine dealer in his hometown. He would later traffic the drug into Virginia where it could be sold at a higher price. Even as a drug dealer, young Wallace was known for his charisma. He rapped as a hobby and was soon discovered by DJ Mister Cee (Big Daddy Kane's former DJ), with whom he released his demo tape.

The demo tape made by Biggie and Mister Cee found its way into the hands of then Uptown Records employee Sean "Puffy" Combs, who fell in love with the rapper and quickly arranged for a meeting with Biggie and Mister Cee. Combs and Wallace became instant friends, and their first appearance together was on the 1992 reggae song "Dolly My Baby" by Supercat.

Biggie first gained notice with "Party and Bullshit," his first single. His second mainstream appearance was on the remix to Mary J. Blige's smash hit "Real Love". He appeared on "One Million Strong" on a song called "RUNNIN'" with 2Pac & Dramacydal. He also made an appearance on a Trapp album called "Stop The Gunfight" on a track called "Be The Realist" with 2Pac & Trapp. This album also contained a remix of "RUNNIN'" called "Stop The Gunfight". All of these guest appearces built a sizeable buzz around Biggie's name leading up to his solo debut.

In 1994 he released "Juicy", his second (yet first mainstream) single. He also released Ready to Die, his debut album. Ready to Die is regarded as one of hip-hop's all-time classic albums, and is credited with revitalizing East Coast hip hop. The album features one of rap's most famous "playa anthems", the song "Big Poppa", which samples R&B singers, the Isley Brothers. On the track "Everyday Struggle", Biggie's album drew critical acclaim for its vivid story-telling and razor-sharp lyricism, such as "They don't know about the stress filled day/Baby on the way, mad bills to pay/That's why you drink Tanqueray/So you can reminisce and wish/You wasn't living so devilish." Another standout track is "Warning," wherein Biggie once again displays his story-telling ability. The album is considered by many to be one of the best and most hardcore hip-hop albums of all time.

In 1995, Biggie's clique Junior M.A.F.I.A. (Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes) released the album Conspiracy. That same year saw Biggie introduce to the mainstream his crewmates Lil' Kim and Lil' Caesar. That same year, B.I.G.'s single "One More Chance" debuted at #5 on the Pop Charts, at the time, tying Scream/Childhood by Michael Jackson as the highest debut single in music history, although this record has since been surpased by Michael Jackson's You Are Not Alone which debuted at number one. "One More Chance," which sampled the R&B song "Stay With Me," was a remix of the song by the same name that originally appeared on Ready to Die. "One More Chance" was also Biggie's highest selling single, as the single alone was certified Platinum.

By the end of 1995, The Notorious B.I.G. had become one of the most famous and popular rappers in the world. He was named Lyricist Of The Year by The Source, and many dubbed him the "King Of New York" (a play on his "Frank White" nickname, which stems from the movie with the same name).

On March 9, 1997, the events came full circle when Biggie was shot and killed in Los Angeles, where he had been attending a party by VIBE Magazine near the Peterson Automotive Museum. Neither murder has been conclusively solved, though theories abound as to the motives and identities of the murderers. Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight and the Mob Piru Bloods gang with whom he associated are among the prime suspects for involvement. In his book, LAbyrinth, LAPD officer Randall Sullivan probes the circumstances and figures involved in the shootings.

Additionally, Director Nick Broomfield and co-producer Dmitri Leybman have released an investigative documentary called Biggie & Tupac which implicates the LAPD and Suge Knight.

The Los Angeles Times ran an almost universally discredited article entitled "Who Shot Tupac Shakur?" by reporter Chuck Phillips, which concludes that Biggie Smalls was ultimately behind the Las Vegas shooting of Tupac. Evidence to the contrary, most notably a dated and timed excerpt from a recording that Biggie made in a studio in New York when he was supposedly providing the murder weapon to hitmen in Las Vegas has since surfaced. The fact that the article claims that Biggie checked in and out of a hotel without being noticed by a single individual, despite being a 6'3", 300 pound national celebrity also damages the credibility of these articles.

Life After Death, Biggie's second album, debuted at #1 on the charts. The album was released only two weeks after Biggie's murder. Its lead single was "Hypnotize", which was also the last video Biggie would take part in. Life After Death hit number one on the Billboard charts and spawned several hit singles in the United States. The album sold 18 million copies (worldwide), and, as of 2005, is the best selling hip-hop album of all time. Biggie's biggest chart hit was with the song "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems," an upbeat number featuring rappers Mase and Puff Daddy, and sampling the disco song "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross for the beat. The video is noted for having started the "Shiny Suit" era in hip hop. The last video single from Life After Death was "Sky's The Limit" featuring 112. The video for this song, directed by Spike Jonze, was noted for the use of children portraying a day in the life of Biggie.

During the summer of 1997, Puff Daddy released his debut album "No Way Out," which featured Biggie on a number of songs, notably in the chorus of the single "Been Around the World" over David Bowie's sample ("Let's Dance"). However, the single that carried this album to the top was "I'll Be Missing You", a tribute and a massively successful single dedicated to Biggie. The song featured Puff Daddy, Wallace's widow Faith Evans and R&B group 112. The song sampled the melody of The Police's hit song "Every Breath You Take." All these artists performed the song with (former Police vocalist) Sting during the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards.

The year 1999 saw another release of a posthumous Notorious B.I.G. album. Puff Daddy released Biggie's third album, Born Again. It had two hit singles called "N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S." featuring Puff Daddy and Lil' Kim (interpolation to the Duran Duran's song of the same name), and "Dead Wrong" a single that later was remixed with a verse from Eminem. The video for "N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S." also featured appearances by 98 Degrees and Fat Joe, and is also the last Notorious B.I.G. solo video to date (as of 2005).

In 2002, Puff Daddy gave 50 Cent rights to sample Biggie's verses from "Niggas" (a song from the Born Again album) into a song called "The Realest Niggas". It got out as a single and hit New York radio stations as a big hit. Many have attributed that song as a major key to the rise of 50 Cent, who is now one of hip-hop's biggest superstars. The song (which also featured and was produced by Eminem) was later put on the soundtrack for the 2003 hit movie Bad Boys 2 with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. Later on in 2003, Biggie appeared on "Runnin' (Dying To Live)" along with 2Pac. The song was produced by Eminem.

On August 28, 2005, at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Biggie was paid tribute to by host P Diddy, and Snoop Dogg. The setup had an orchestra playing while the lyrics from "Juicy" and "Warning" played on the arena speakers. It was a well-received tribute for that evening. In September 2005, VH1 had its second annual hip hop honors, with a tribute to Biggie headlining the show. The long awaited The Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter album was released December 20, 2005.

Fans will still have one last chance to hear unreleased Biggie material, as he will be featured on Busta Rhymes' highly anticipated Aftermath debut, The Big Bang.

Big was notorized early in his career mostly for his lyrical content, which included hardcore gangsta-rap lyrics at a time when that style dominated the West Coast, and most of his native New York was dominated by the jazziness of A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr and the blend of Five Percenter/far East-influenced stylings of MCs like Afu Ra, Jeru the Damaja and the Wu-Tang Clan.

His tales of street exploits (selling crack, robbing, shootouts, etc.) coupled with witty expressions permeated his first album and the freestyle appearances he made on radio stations, but his reputation for rawness didn't detract from his diversity. On Juicy he opens up and reminisces about his early life, and Me & My Bitch sees him expressing his deep feelings for his female companion, while songs like Big Poppa and One More Chance are a flawless switch to odes to the opposite sex. To top it all off, his flow (or ability to place words squarely and melodically on the tapping and thumping of the beat) was always immaculate.

He was also respected for his storytelling ability, which was not fully realized until his second album. During his hiatus he had developed his wordplay and structure, honing the technical side to his verses. Kick in the Door saw him moving flawlessly from an "A-A-B-B" rhyme structure to "C-C-D-D", all while sprinkling his bars with clever turns of phrase, metaphors and punchlines, on top of a perfect flow. It is because of this versatility that Notorious B.I.G. is considered by many the greatest rapper of all time.

Biggie's lyrics have been sampled by many of today's rappers, such as Jay-Z, Fat Joe, 50 Cent, Fabolous, Foxy Brown and Busta Rhymes. In 2001, hip hop magazine The Source crowned Biggie as the greatest MC (Master of Ceremony) of all time. During Canibus's 1998 feud with LL Cool J, Canibus responded to LL Cool J's claim to be the greatest rapper of all time on the song Second Round K.O. by saying "the greatest rapper of all time died on March 9th.", which was the day Biggie died. Biggie's lyrics have been sampled in many songs, including Akon's "Ghetto", Jay-Z's "A Dream" and Ashanti's "Foolish".

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NOTORIOUS BIG BIOGRAPHY