Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap traditions, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laid back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics’ often grim content. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration.Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Wallace signed to Sean “Puffy” Combs’ label Bad Boy Records as it launched in 1993, and gained exposure through features on several other artists’ singles that year. His debut album Ready to Die (1994) was met with widespread critical acclaim, and included his signature songs “Juicy” and “Big Poppa”. The album made him the central figure in East Coast hip hop, and restored New York’s visibility at a time when the West Coast hip hop scene was dominating hip hop music. Wallace was awarded the 1995 Billboard Music Awards’ Rapper of the Year. The following year, he led his protégé group Junior M.A.F.I.A., a team of himself and longtime friends, including Lil’ Kim, to chart success.During 1996, while recording his second album, Wallace became ensnarled in the escalating East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. Following Tupac Shakur’s death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, speculations of involvement in Shakur’s murder by criminal elements orbiting the Bad Boy circle circulated as a result of Wallace’s public feud with Shakur. On March 9, 1997, while visiting Los Angeles, Wallace was murdered in a drive-by shooting. The assailant remains unidentified. Wallace’s second album Life After Death, a double album, was released two weeks later. It reached number one on the Billboard 200, and eventually achieved a Diamond certification in the US.With two more posthumous albums released, Wallace has certified sales of over 28 million copies in the United States, including 21 million albums. Rolling Stone has called him the “greatest rapper that ever lived,” and Billboard named him the greatest rapper of all time. The Source magazine named him the greatest rapper of all time in its 150th issue. In 2006, MTV ranked him at No. 3 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, calling him possibly “the most skillful ever on the mic”. In 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Christopher Wallace (his name at birth) grew up in the district of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. He soon graduated to a life of selling drugs and acting as a teenage lookout. He first rapped under the name Biggie Smalls, as part of the neighborhood group the Old Gold Brothers. He also made his own demo recording, a copy of which was eventually sent to Mister Cee, Big Daddy Kane’s DJ. The demo ended up at The Source, America’s best selling rap periodical, which gave it a great review.This attracted the attention of Sean “Puffy” Combs, who signed him. Having now adopted the stage name Notorious B.I.G., Wallace made his recording debut in 1993, backing Mary J. Blige on “Real Love.” He also made a guest appearance on Supercat’s “Dolly My Baby.” His first solo effort was “Party and Bullshit,” included on the soundtrack to the movie Who’s The Man. His debut album followed in 1994. “ Ready To Die” became a major hit thanks to the inclusion of singles such as “Juicy”, “One More Chance” and “Big Poppa”, the latter a US Top 10 hit which was voted Billboard “s rap single of the year. He received a number of end-of-year awards in The Source, as the album achieved platinum sales.B.I.G. went to the UK to support R. Kelly at Wembley Stadium in London, and also was a guest on Michael Jackson’s HIStory — Past, Present and Future Book 1. However, despite his elevation to such exalted company, Notorious B.I.G. never left his roots (the ghetto) behind. He formed M.A.F.I.A. with some of his former hustler colleagues, releasing an album, “Conspiracy,” in 1995. He was also involved in sundry episodes involving violence, such as a fracas with a promoter in New Jersey and his attempt to take a baseball bat to autograph hunters (for which he received a 100 hours” community service sentence). He was also involved in a running feud with rapper TuPac, who was convinced of B.I.G.’s involvement in a 1994 robbery in which he was injured.Their disagreement soon festered into a bitter feud between the east and west coast American rap scenes. When TuPac was murdered, B.I.G.’s non-attendance at a rap peace summit in Harlem was widely criticized. Instead, he began work on a second album, entitled, prophetically, Life after Death. Its cover featured the rapper standing next to a hearse with the license plate B.I.G. He never lived to see its official release. He was gunned down after leaving a party in California on March 9, 1997. Subsequent guess indicated that his murder was in retaliation for TuPac’s killing.Released three weeks later, “Life after Death” went straight to the top of the U.S. charts. In 1999, he was back in the charts with “Born Again,” a motley collection of unreleased material.
Written by Dianne Washington