following a lawsuit by Calvin Lockhart, who played the character “Biggie Smalls” in 1975’s Let’s Do It Again, the inspiration for Biggie’s moniker – joined Combs on the label. Biggie – having changed his name to The Notorious B.I.G. “And it had a lot of personality - like a light on his feet kind of big brother.” Erik Pendzich/Shutterstockĭiddy and Uptown Records had a falling out and in 1993, Combs launched Bad Boy Records, an imprint of Epic/Sony. “He had a voice that just sounded like it was heavy, funky and rhythmic,” Harrell recalled to The New York Times. Diddy – going under his “Puffy”/“Puff Daddy” moniker – was with the A&R department of Uptown Records, and shared the tape with his boss, Andrew Harrell. It all happened from there,” said Biggie. “Then the guy that organized that, Matty C, saw and asked him if he had some new n-s that had some hard sh-t. Biggie was profiled for their “Unsigned Hype” column and invited to record an album with other independent artists. The demo tapes were never intended to leave the Brooklyn neighborhood, but one of them found its way to The Source magazine. I used to just bug on the mike, and he would play instrumental beats and tape them,” he told Interview magazine in 1994. “Well, me and my DJ, 50 Grand, used to make tapes in the basement when we’d drink and get high. They knew where I lived they knew my moms.”Īfter getting out of jail, Biggie began to dabble in music. “My customers were ringing my bell, and they would come up on the steps and smoke right here. However, Biggie would drop out in 1989 at age 17.īiggie told The New York Times in 1994, sharing that he began selling drugs at age 12. Biggie transferred to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, a school that boasts Busta Rhymes, DMX, and Jay-Z as alumni. His father abandoned the family when Biggie was only two, and his mother, Voletta Wallace, worked two jobs to send her son to a private school. (Mark Lennihan/AP/Shutterstock) Biggie In Lifeīiggie Smalls, the Notorious B.I.G., was born Christopher George Latore Wallace, on May 21, 1972, at St. Now, more than two decades after he was killed, take a look back at Biggie’s life, his tragic death, and how his music continues to resonate throughout the halls of hip hop. On May 21, 2022, Biggie would have turned 50 years old, a milestone that many of his fans, friends, and family wish he would have lived to see. Sadly killed in the late ‘90s, Biggie Smalls was one of the largest and brightest stars of his generation, and his short but powerful life continues to influence hip-hop to this very day. One of the city’s most beloved sons is the late Notorious B.I.G. Image Credit: Mark Lennihan/AP/Shutterstockīrooklyn’s in the house – forever.
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