The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher Wallace (May 21, 1972 - March 9, 1997), also known as Biggie Smalls but best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was a popular Brooklyn-born rapper of the mid 1990s. In his lyrics, Biggie also referred to himself under the alias Frank White.
He first gained notice for working with Mary J. Blige on What's the 411?, then released Ready to Die, his debut album, in 1994. Ready to Die is regarded as one of the few classic hip-hop albums, including one of the best hip-hop "hustlers"/"playas"/"pimps" anthem of all time: "Big Poppa." This was considered brilliant because of the story-telling style and sharp lyrics: hood lines, political lines, and clever punch lines, such as "I am seeing body after body & our mayor Guiliani ain't tryin to see no black man turn to John Gotti."
In 1995, following the "Junior M.A.F.I.A." shouts in Ready to Die, Biggie released Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s album Conspiracy that included some of B.I.G.'s verses, and introduced Lil' Kim and Lil' Caesar to the mainstream. That same year, One More Chance debuted at #5 on the Pop Charts, tying Scream/Childhood as the highest debut single in music history. "One More Chance" was a remix that sampled the R&B song "Stay With Me".
Ready to Die brought massive fame to Biggie, and he soon became involved in a heated feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers. Specifically, Biggie was a rival of Tupac Shakur, a Los Angeles rapper. Tupac was murdered in Las Vegas while Biggie was working on his second album. Rumors of a possible Biggie involvement in the murder cropped up almost immediately. On March 9, 1997, Biggie was shot and killed in Los Angeles. Neither murder has ever been solved and at present no-one has ever been charged in connection to them. However, Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight and his crew of rap artists are under high suspicion.
Life After Death, Biggie's second album, was released posthumously and debuted at #1 on the charts. The album was released only two weeks after Biggie's murder. It hit number one on the Billboard charts with several hit singles in the United States. The album sold 10 million copies and it is still the biggest selling hip-hop album of all time.
At the end of 1997, Puff Daddy released his debut album "No Way Out" with some Biggie verses and even Biggie singing the "Been Around the World" hook 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 1998 MTV Video Music Awards
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 year 1999 saw another release of a posthumous Notorious B.I.G. album. Puff Daddy released Biggie's third album Born Again. It had a hit single called "N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S" (interpolation to the Duran Duran's song of the same name) that wasn't a tribute, but was a "shout out" to the slain rapper. It featured guest raps from Biggie's friends, Lil Kim and P. Diddy. The video for the song also featured appearances by 98 Degrees and Fat Joe.
In 2003, Puff Daddy gave 50 Cent rights to sample Biggie's verses from "Niggas" (song from "Born again" album) into a song called "To All My Niggas". It got out as a single and hit New York radio stations as a big hit. It was also released on some "Rocafella Records" B-sides and some street "mixtapes" by Eminem's "Shady Records" and other mixtapes made by street DJs.
Discography
- Ready to Die (Bad Boy Records, 1995)
- Life After Death (Bad Boy Records, 1997)
- Born Again (Bad Boy Records, 1999)