Biggie Smalls

Who Was Biggie Smalls?

Christopher Wallace, widely known as Biggie Smalls or the Notorious B.I.G., had a profound yet tragically brief impact on the music industry before his untimely death at the age of 24 in 1997. He was murdered in Los Angeles, a crime that remains unsolved to this day. Hailing from New York, Biggie played a pivotal role in revitalizing East Coast hip hop, which had been overshadowed in the early 1990s by the West Coast “g-funk” sound popularized by Dr. Dre and Death Row Records. His distinct, powerful baritone, combined with an effortless flow, enabled him to address both the harsh realities and vulnerabilities of hustler life, redirecting attention back to New York and his label, Bad Boy Records. While he cultivated a persona as a gangster, in reality, Biggie was more of a performer than a hardened criminal. This complexity mirrored that of his former friend-turned-rival Tupac Shakur, whose rivalry tragically escalated, resulting in both artists’ premature deaths.

Early Life

Christopher George Latore Wallace was born on May 21, 1972, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of Jamaican immigrants: his mother, Voletta, was a preschool teacher, while his father, Selwyn, was a welder and a local politician. Selwyn abandoned the family when Biggie was just two years old, leaving Voletta to support her son through two jobs. Her dedication allowed Biggie to attend the prestigious Roman Catholic Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, which counts notable figures such as Rudy Giuliani among its alumni. However, he later transferred to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, where he would share the halls with future rap icons like DMX, Jay-Z, and Busta Rhymes.

Biggie excelled in English but struggled with attendance at Westinghouse, ultimately dropping out at the age of 17 in 1989. Nicknamed “Big” due to his considerable size, he began selling drugs at the age of 12, as he recounted in a 1994 interview with the New York Times, operating in the vicinity of his mother’s apartment on St. James Place. Voletta, often working long hours, was unaware of her son’s illegal activities. After leaving school, Biggie intensified his drug dealing and soon faced legal troubles. In 1989, he was sentenced to five years of probation following a weapons possession arrest. However, he violated that probation the following year and was subsequently arrested again. In 1990, he was charged with cocaine distribution in North Carolina, during which he reportedly spent nine months in jail awaiting bail.

Bad Boy Records and The Rise of The Notorious B.I.G.

Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, began his journey in music as a teenager, performing in his Brooklyn neighborhood. Following his release from jail, he recorded a demo tape under the name Biggie Smalls— a moniker inspired by a gang leader from the 1975 film Let’s Do It Again, as well as a nod to his childhood nickname. Initially, he did not have serious ambitions to pursue a music career; as he remarked in a biography by Arista Records, “It was fun just hearing myself on tape over beats.” However, his demo caught the attention of The Source magazine, which featured him in their Unsigned Hype column in March 1992. This exposure led to opportunities to collaborate with other unsigned artists, ultimately bringing his work to the notice of Sean “Puffy” Combs, an A&R executive at Uptown Records.

Combs, who had begun his career as an intern at Uptown in 1990, recognized Biggie’s potential and arranged a record deal for him. Shortly after, Combs left Uptown due to a falling out with his boss, Andre Harrell, and subsequently founded his own label, Bad Boy Records. By mid-1992, Biggie had joined Combs at Bad Boy, although before his official release, Uptown issued music he had recorded during his brief tenure there. This included a remix of Mary J. Blige’s “Real Love,” which featured a guest verse from The Notorious B.I.G. Due to a lawsuit, he was compelled to change his stage name, but he continued to be popularly recognized as Biggie. In June 1993, Uptown released his first single, “Party and Bullshit.”

Friendship with Tupac Shakur

In the same year, while working on his debut album, Biggie met Tupac Shakur for the first time at a party hosted by a Los Angeles drug dealer. Their meeting, described in Ben Westhoff’s Original Gangstas, involved camaraderie over food and drink, culminating in Tupac gifting Biggie a bottle of Hennessy. As a more established artist, Tupac took on a mentor role, advising Biggie to stay with Puff (Combs) for management, assuring him that he would become a star. At that time, Biggie was grappling with financial pressures after becoming a father to T’yanna, his daughter with high-school sweetheart Jan. Reports suggest that he briefly returned to drug dealing to make ends meet, a situation Combs quickly intervened in upon discovering.

‘Ready to Die’ and Its Impact

Biggie’s debut album, Ready to Die, was released under Bad Boy in September 1994, following the release of his first single “Juicy.” The album achieved significant commercial success, going gold within two months and eventually quadruple-platinum. “Big Poppa,” the second single, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance. Ready to Die revitalized East Coast hip-hop, showcasing Biggie’s storytelling ability through semi-autobiographical narratives of his tumultuous youth. While radio-friendly tracks like “Juicy” displayed a playful side, Biggie also presented a raw and unfiltered view of street life, notably in the album’s haunting final track, “Suicidal Thoughts.” Combs noted the emotional complexity in Biggie’s work, stating, “In street life you’re not allowed to show if you care about something…The flip side of that is this album. He’s giving up all his vulnerability.”

In a pivotal moment for his personal life, Biggie married R&B singer Faith Evans, his label-mate, on August 4, 1994, shortly after their first meeting at a photoshoot. Evans later appeared on the album’s fourth single, “One More Chance,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum. They welcomed their son, Christopher “CJ” Wallace Jr., on October 29, 1996.

The Feud with Tupac Shakur

A significant turning point in Biggie’s career occurred on November 30, 1994, when Tupac was shot five times during a robbery in a New York recording studio. Surviving the attack, Tupac believed that Biggie and Combs were involved, a perception fueled by the release of Biggie’s B-side track, “Who Shot Ya?” shortly after the incident. Tupac interpreted this as a taunt, leading to the creation of his notorious diss track, “Hit ‘Em Up,” in which he claimed to have had an affair with Biggie’s wife. Evans later addressed this incident in a 2014 MTV interview, revealing that while Tupac had made advances towards her, she had no intention of engaging in such behavior.

The dynamic between Biggie and Tupac, initially one of mentorship and friendship, had transformed into one of rivalry, setting the stage for one of the most infamous feuds in hip-hop history.

Biggie and Michael Jackson: A Legacy of Challenges

The Notorious B.I.G., also known as Biggie Smalls, released his next album on August 29, 1995, as part of the group Junior M.A.F.I.A. (an acronym for Masters at Finding Intelligent Attitudes). He established this group to mentor emerging talents, including Lil’ Kim, with whom he later had a romantic involvement. In a significant collaboration that year, Biggie worked with Michael Jackson on the track “This Time Around.” Notably, during this session, Biggie was accompanied by his Junior M.A.F.I.A. protégé, Lil Cease, who was just 16. Cease later recounted that Biggie refused to introduce him to Jackson, citing concerns about his trustworthiness around young people. Additionally, Biggie contributed to R. Kelly’s self-titled album on the track “(You to Be) Be Happy.” By the end of 1995, Biggie had solidified his status as the best-selling solo male artist on the Billboard charts across all genres, including hip hop, pop, and R&B.

In September 1995, Biggie began work on his second studio album, a process that would extend into the following year. However, his life was soon marred by legal troubles. In March 1996, he was arrested after brandishing a baseball bat while pursuing two autograph seekers in Manhattan, resulting in a sentence of 100 hours of community service. Later that year, police conducted a raid on his New Jersey residence, uncovering 50 grams of marijuana and four automatic weapons. In the summer, he faced charges for allegedly assaulting and robbing a friend of a concert promoter at a nightclub in New Jersey. By fall, he was again arrested, this time for smoking marijuana in his car in Brooklyn.

The Death of Tupac

Tragedy struck on September 7, 1996, when Biggie’s former friend, Tupac Shakur, was shot and killed in Las Vegas. The murder remains officially unsolved, but the ongoing East Coast/West Coast rap rivalry, which Biggie and Tupac epitomized, fueled speculation that East Coast rap figures were implicated in Tupac’s death. This tension was further exacerbated by Tupac’s public accusations against Biggie and Puff Daddy for a prior shooting incident in 1994. In the wake of Tupac’s murder, Biggie expressed a poignant realization about their rivalry, stating to interviewer Jim Bean, “One man against one man made a whole West Coast hate a whole East Coast. And vice versa.” He acknowledged his own influence in the feud and expressed a desire to change its narrative, reflecting, “I gotta take the weight on both sides.”

Biggie’s Murder

Unfortunately, Biggie would not live to see the peace he hoped for. He was murdered in the early hours of March 9, 1997, shortly after departing a Vibe magazine party at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. While his SUV was stopped at a red light, a vehicle pulled up alongside, and a gunman opened fire. Despite being rushed to the hospital by his bodyguard, it was too late.

Like Tupac’s, Biggie’s murder remains unsolved, leaving a void without closure. However, just weeks after his passing, Biggie’s posthumous double album, Life After Death, was released on March 25, 1997. This album featured collaborations with various artists, including Puff Daddy, Jay-Z, 112, Lil’ Kim, and R. Kelly, and received three Grammy nominations, including Best Rap Album. The album achieved diamond certification in 2000, selling over 10 million copies.

The lyrics of the album’s track “Long Kiss Goodnight” seemingly continued the rivalry with Tupac, referencing an earlier incident when Tupac was shot and survived. However, it is suggested that the song was recorded before Tupac’s death. Regardless, Biggie’s untimely demise marked a significant turning point in the East Coast/West Coast feud, which had spiraled out of control, leading to the deaths of two of hip hop’s most influential figures.

On March 18, 1997, a memorial service for Biggie was held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan, attended by 350 guests, including prominent artists like Lil’ Kim, Mary J. Blige, and Queen Latifah. Biggie lay in an open mahogany casket, dressed in a white suit, before his remains were cremated.

Legacy

Biggie Smalls’ impact on the music industry did not end with his death. He was featured on five tracks of Puff Daddy’s 1997 album, No Way Out, including the Grammy-winning single “I’ll Be Missing You,” a tribute to Biggie that ironically overshadowed his own nominated track “Mo Money Mo Problems.” Two additional posthumous albums, Born Again (1999) and Duets: The Final Chapter (2005), showcased unreleased material and featured a variety of guest artists, further cementing his legacy.

The 2009 biopic featuring actor and rapper Jamal Woolard as Biggie grossed $44 million worldwide, reigniting discussions around his life and legacy. This film also sparked a public dispute between Faith Evans and Lil’ Kim over their portrayals, although they later reconciled. In 2016, Kim expressed the importance of unity, stating, “At the end of the day we’re family, whether we like it or not.”

Biggie’s influence transcended hip hop, as evidenced by his 2017 A&E documentary, Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G., and his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in January 2020, solidifying his status as a cultural icon.