Celebrating The Notorious B.I.G. | The Greatest of All Time | Black Excellence

Two and half decades have passed since The Notorious B.I.G. left us, so how is it his name is cemented in stone as one of the best rappers to ever grab a microphone?

In an iHeartRadio #BlackExcellence exclusive, we’ll unpack what makes #TheNotoriousBIG the illest.

Christopher Wallace AKA The Notorious B.I.G. was born May 21, 1972. Growing up as an only child, in a single parent household, Chris was exposed to Hip Hop among other things while growing up in Brooklyn New York. He was a standout student in school, excelling in English and this is where he’d catch the “BIG” moniker due to his weight.

He found his voice as an MC in school, along with some other rappers you may have heard of: DMX, Busta Rhymes & Jay Z.

While initially trying to balance school and the corner, it wasn’t long before the scale tipped towards hustling full. Biggie dropped out of high school at 17 and caught his first charge in that same year. He landed himself in jail for 9 months before making bail in 1990 and looking for a change.

Following his release, Big created a demo tape to shop to labels as an attempt to get his life on track. The tape landed in the hands of Big Daddy Kane’s DJ… Who consequently got it into the editor’s hands at The Source magazine. In the March edition of the magazine, coincidentally enough, Biggie was featured in the Unsigned Hype section. At the time, The Source magazine was one of the most reputable brands within the culture. If it made The Source… It made a difference!

Label executives & A&Rs would look to see who was in, meet and likely work on developing music. This is how The Notorious BIG ended up meeting the man that would change his life forever. Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs. Puff was an A&R for Uptown records, responsible for acts like Mary J Blige, Jodeci & now Notorious B.I.G.

1993 was in fact a Big year for Biggie… He appeared on the remix of Mary J Blige’s “Real Love” & “What’s The 411”. He also dropped his 1st song “Party & Bullshit” in 93, which was made for the “Who’s the Man” soundtrack.

Puff Daddy was actually fired from Uptown not too long after signing Big which meant… Puff was gone but Biggie was still there. One week after being fired, Puff started Bad Boy records and Biggie had a decision to make… Stay with Uptown, which had a history of success or take a leap of faith, roll the dice and go with Puff.

The Notorious BIG was now the 2nd act signed to Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy records. As ’94 rolled on, the momentum for Big kept getting stronger. Not only was he focused and ready to record his debut, he got married to Faith Evans, an R&B Singer and fellow Bad Boy recording artist.

Ready To Die was released Sept 13 1994. It featured hits like Big Poppa, One More Chance & Juicy giving him his first #1 on Billboard, his first platinum record and his first Grammy nomination in 1996.

By the end of the year, Big was the top selling male artist on the Pop & R&B charts.

While these milestones were being achieved, Biggie was in the studio working on his sophomore effort “Life After Death”.

Life After Death was completed as a double disc and featured hit records Sky’s The Limit, Mo Money Mo Problems & Hypnotize. The first single Hypnotize was released on March 1 1997…

The album was slated to be released on March 25… And The Notorious B.I.G. was taken from us on March 9.

At 24 years old, The Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down after leaving a party in Los Angeles.

It’s been 24 years since the death of The Notorious BIG… We’re here to celebrate the life of The Notorious BIG. We’re here to celebrate the fact that to many, he is the greatest rapper ever.

DJ Starting From Scratch and DJ Grouch have created an all Notorious BIG mix exclusively available on the iHeartRadio App. If you are unfamiliar… Take a listen to who everyone regards as one of the best ever… And if you are familiar… Enjoy the nostalgia and remember why Biggie Smalls is the illest.

Check out the mix HERE:

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