Today marks the 20th anniversary of Biggie's death. Regarded as one of the best rappers to ever did it, I've decided to stretch(don't really know much) 20 things I know or have heard about the man. Without further ado...
1. BORN.
May 21, 1972, and raised by his mums.
2. SCHOOL.
Biggie is said to have excelled in school, specially in English. It’s kinda funny tho, considering his writing. Won’t get much into that.
3. THE BLOW UP.
Biggie came into the rap mainstream scene through his verse on the remix of Craig Mack’s
new flava in ya ear. It’s said that Big never wanted to get on that song, but Puffy made him. Apparently Big felt Craig wasn’t all that, and he let him have his thoughts on his own song, how disrespectful. Sick verse that was btw.
4. TUPAC & FRIENDSHIP.
Yup! They was cool, before they wasn't. Biggie used to open up for Tupac, and peeped the game from him. According to Pac, its him who advised Big to loosen-up and embrace ladies more in his songs, cos
'b!cthes will buy your records, and n!ggas will want what the b!cthes want'. Biggie bit a few thing from Pac, including his death talks style which forced Pac to change his album(
Me against the world) to accommodate Big. Tupac loved Biggie.
5. FRIENDS TO FOES.
Biggie and Tupac problems started after Tupac was shot 5 times in New York. Tupac blamed Big for not handling the situation like he was supposed to. Rest is history.
6. COLLABO WITH TUPAC
The 2 former friends recorded one song together,
Runnin from tha police. The song was never released after they fell out. It would later be re-produced by Eminem and released as
Runnin’.
7. BITING OFF NAS'.
When Biggie’s
Ready to die album came out, there were talks of him copying Nas’
Illmatic album cover. Such accusations were thrown by some members of Wu-Tang, Rae and Ghostface Killah. Interestingly, one of the Wu-Tang, Method Man featured in one of the songs in Ready to die.
8. HEART-THROB..? NEVER.
Before he blew up, Biggie is said to have been struggling with women to the point Tupac had to beg women to lay his homeboy. Big sorta confirmed that through his
One more chance remix where he said…
Heart-throb? Never, black and Harmorapa as ever / However, I stay coogi down to the sox / rings and watch filled with rocks../.
9. NOT READY TO DIE.
How ironic that Big had an album called
Ready to die, but later would be forced to plead for his life. Its said that Big had made some disrespectful remarks regarding E-40. Apparently, Big was asked to rate West Coast Rappers in an interview with Source(?) magazine, and he gave 40 a 0.
When 40 and his boys heard that, they weren’t happy. So it happened that Big was performing in Sacramento, the show flopped, and Big decided to leave after people started throwing things at him on stage. Outside, Bigge and his people were held by armed boys who let him know it was for his comments on 40. Eventually Biggie apologized to E-40, and was let go unharmed.
10. WRITING NO MORE.
One of Biggie’s strongest points was him not writing down his lyrics, but practice them in his head. Big learned that particular skill from none other than Hov. DJ Clark Kent who was producing for Big, introduced both men upon Hov’s request, and when they got in the studio Big was surprised that Hov had no pad no pen, and he coped that ever since.
11. DIRTY's INCIDENT.
According to Cappadonna, Ol’ Dirty Bastard once got on stage where Biggie was performing, grabbed the mic from Big and started doing his thing. It was so lit, Big ended up being his hype-man for a minute.
12. WHAT IF..?
Biggie is said to have impregnated Lil Kim, but she aborted it. Imagine if she hadn’t, and the kid turned out to be a rapper....
13. MAMA SAID CHECK YOU OUT.
In his records, Juicy in particular, Big was talkin' about how he was from rags to riches. He's heard telling how a proper meal was an issue they had to settle for sardines for dinner at times. His mums said that was never true, and he was only exaggerating to get street and rap credit.
14. ....??.....
In
Me and my b!cth, Biggie had a line that goes '
you look so good huh, I suck on your Daddy’s dick.' You figure what that means.
15. BIGGIE JUNIOR
Christopher Wallace Jr, Biggie's son with Faith Evans was blasted with gay allegations after he posted his High School graduation photo with 'a friend’. He denied the allegations.
16. CAMRON.
Big was set to sign Camron. Cam impressed Big after he was introduced to him by his old friend, Mase who was signed with Biggie in Bad Boy. Big died soon after, and Cam would go on to be helped by Big’s partner Un Rivera.
17. LO SIENTO VATO..! NO HABLO ESPANOL.
In his
Ten Crack Commandments, Biggie thought ‘Nombre’ meant number when he said ‘
Rule nombre uno’. It was a terrible mistake.
18. FAT JOE THE FIRST PROMOTER.
Joe claims to have set up Biggie's first performance before Big was big. He paid him less than a grand, and a bottle of Moet. Biggie was introduced to Joe by Puffy.
19. FAMILY.
Biggie in his time of death was married to Faith Evans. Biggie has 2 kids(?), a boy and a girl.
20. DEATH.
Biggie was gunned down on March 9, 1997, in a drive-by shooting while in L.A promoting his upcoming album. RIP.