How did notorious b.i.g. die
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Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), known professionally as The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or Biggie, was an American rapper. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.
Wallace was born and raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. His debut album Ready to Die (1994) made him a central figure in East Coast hip hop and increased New York City's visibility in the genre at a time when West Coast hip hop dominated the mainstream. The following year, he led Junior M.A.F.I.A.—a protégé group composed of his childhood friends—to chart success. In 1996, while recording his second album, Wallace was heavily involved in the growing East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. On March 9, 1997, he was murdered by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His second album, Life After Death (1997), released two weeks later, rose to No. 1 on the U.S. album charts. In 2000, it became one of the few hip-hop albums to be certified Diamond.
Wallace was noted for his "loose, easy flow"; dark, sem
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Biggie Smalls
(1972-1997)
Who Was Biggie Smalls?
Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls and the Notorious B.I.G., lived a short life. He was 24 years old when he was gunned down in 1997 in Los Angeles, a murder that has never been solved. Smalls was from New York and had almost single-handedly reinvented East Coast hip hop — overtaken in the early 1990s by the West Coast "g-funk" sound of Dr. Dre and Death Row Records. With his clear, powerful baritone, effortless flow on the mic and willingness to address the vulnerability, as well as the harshness, of the hustler lifestyle, Smalls swung the spotlight back towards New York and his label home, Bad Boy Records. He styled himself as a gangster and although he was no angel, in reality he was more of a performer than a hardened criminal. In this regard, he was similar to Tupac Shakur, his one-time friend turned bitter rival — a contest that spiraled horrifyingly out of control leaving neither man alive to tell the tale.
Early Life
Christopher George Latore Wallace was born on May 21, 1972, in Brooklyn, New York. His
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How Biggie Smalls' Early Life Defined His Rap Career
Christopher Wallace, also known as the Notorious B.I.G. and Biggie Smalls, was at the vanguard of 1990’s rap music and his fame would burn glaringly bright, if only briefly in life. Lauded as one of the greatest rappers of all time by peers and within the recording industry, Small’s legacy, influence and success would go on to almost eclipse what he achieved in life ahead of his shocking 1997 murder at age 24.
Born May 21, 1972, in Brooklyn, New York to Jamaica-born parents, his father left the family when Smalls was 2 years old. His mother, Voletta, taught preschool and worked other jobs in order to give her son a solid education. He attended the Roman Catholic Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School before transferring to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School where his skill with words helped him excel in English studies.
Growing up in and around the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Smalls was witness to and immersed in street life from a young age, entering adolescence during the cra
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