Hey everyone, Happy New Year and I hope all is well with you and yours!!! I apologize for the lack of content. My PC went south over the Holiday Break and it through a loop. While I'm working on some new work, I want to share something I wrote some time ago. There will be more stories and such VERY SOON. Until then Peace.
Today marks nineteen years since Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls was shot and killed in Los Angeles, California. In a short time Notorious B.I.G. made an Extinction Level Event impact on Hip Hop and Pop Culture. I have to admit that at first glance I dug the Brooklyn emcee, however I wasn’t a huge fan. “Party and Bullshit” was the jam and got regular rotation in my friend’s ride and 88.9 WEAA “Strictly Hip Hop.” I thought it was dope, however I was in an era where every week it seemed like a dope cut came out. Not bragging or anything, one of the benefits of being my age is that I have heard a lot, A LOT of dope music. So this Biggie Smalls cat was cool, but what was next? The jam with Super Cat was hot and I didn’t think he’d be “one hit wonder” or anything. As a spoiled Hip Hop Head, I wanted to see what old boy was going to do.
Then he dropped “Juicy.”
“Juicy.”
“It’s alright.” That was my only comment I’d give on the song. A classic cut, a song that defined a time and moment, a nearly perfect introduction to a emcee who ability to flip & bounce words so effortlessly… “It’s alright.” It wasn’t that I didn’t like the song. I thought it was pretty damn clever and anyone who drops videogame references was cool with me (I’d fight a panda back then to have both consoles..), my “issue” was that I heard it EVERY FIVE MINUTES. It became a song I would run from because it was all over the place. Rightfully so it got a ton of airplay, it was a dope jam. For me, it was an overplayed jam and I was tired of it. Perhaps it was the name, in my juvenile mind I couldn’t get over “Juicy.” A big dude rhyming on a song name “Juicy…” Yeah I was that juvenile…
Fast forward to the album release. I heard cats rant and rave over “Ready to Die.” I’d see the album cover and wondered what was the deal with the kid. Was it him? Was the child ready to die? Like any good music buyer I copped the tape and popped it in the Walkman. First song in I was rewinding back to hear it again. This album had one banger after another. This cat B.I.G. was telling stories. I wasn’t hearing a song, I’m being put into a middle of a story and the narrator was perfectly putting me through one scene to another. “Warning” became the song that I storyboard in my head a hundred ways and joined the list of my “get hype” jams. “The What” paired Biggie with one of my favorite emcees Method Man. The blend was peanut butter and chocolate, it was perfect. I always wanted an album with those two much like what Method Man and Redman have done. I returned to “Juicy” and it became a favorite. Yes I still was tired of the song, but I found a new appreciation for the song when listening to the whole album. “Suicidal Thoughts” was a song that was a somber reminder of how final suicide is. Listening to this, I would be able to transfer any negative feelings and urges on the tape and cd and move on. This track, like Ice Cube’s “Us” and “Bird in a Hand” and “Self Destruction” by the Stop the Violence Movement saved my life.
“Ready to Die” was in constant rotation with my discman when my best friend told me of the upcoming Biggie Smalls/Method Man concert coming to town. I was never a concert goer, however I had disposable income and this was a change I wasn’t going to pass up. We go down the Baltimore Civic Center (now known as the Royal Farms Arena) and get ready for a dope show. I didn’t realize I would be incredibly close to being Mufasa in “Lion King” and see one of the greatest shows ever.
Keith Murray’s hype men came out and kept requesting the audience to chant “Keith Murray.” After several prompts and no Murray, we got tired and gave his people the business. Maybe they thought we were some fanboys or fangirls, but this is Baltimore. Do what we paid for champ. After the hypemen left the stage and we booed, I suppose the promoter came out and asked us to chill and give it up for Murray. Keith came out and did his thing, cool. Next Redman came out and was Redman. Had he’d been the headliner I’d been happy with that. The intermission was extremely long and the crowd was getting restless. Along with the many variety of weed smoke going around (I honestly didn’t know how many smells one plant could have), there was murmurs of a group of “New York dudes” acting out of pocket. From where we were, we had nothing but peace and chill. Someone step on your shoes, you got an “excuse me,” everyone was offering a hit of their joint or blunt and no one was mad when you passed.
Then it happened.
Up front a fight broke out. It wasn’t much of a fight, more like a explosion. There was a wave, a tsunami of people coming at us from the front of audience. My friend and I started making our way back and navigating through all the people also moving. Kofi being Kofi, I stumbled trying to avoid a young lady also running back. I landed on my side and I could only think that my mother was going to get a phone call telling her I got stomped out like that damn lion. I was going out before my life really got rolling. I’d never meet Janet Jackson and sing “Funny How Time Flies” to her as I leave her after our whirlwind trip around the world…. Thankfully a good brother extended me a hand and helped me up. As soon as the scuffle started, the scuffle was over with. It seemed like “two white kids in white button ups” got into with the “New York dudes.” Whatever it was, the event gave us better seats. We were able to move up a dozen plus rows up to the stage. I suppose it was a win, in a weird way….
Method Man came out and ripped it. Scratch that, the Wu-Tang Clan came out and ripped it. There was no sign of any trouble, everyone was jamming and it was like the fight never happened. The Brothers from Shaolin did a medley of jams and Method Man was more energetic than that bunny advertising batteries. Then Biggie came on stage. White suit, looking sharper than a katana with +10 sharpness. I still wasn’t the “biggest” Biggie fan, but I was looking forward to his performance. After Redman and Method Man, I am thinking how is he going to top these two? Then he started to rhyme.
Biggie barely moved, he stood in one spot (he may have moved once or twice), he stood there and ripped the mic. Every line was crisp and clear, there was none of the “stage voice” you get from some performers. The crowd responded by chanting every line and chorus. The crowd moved like the ocean. The high tempo songs the crowd was more amp, “Big Poppa” had the crowd moving a slow rhythm. The dope boys bobbed their heads, the weed heads vibed off the jams, every woman moved and gyrated the pace to whatever song Biggie was on. Puffy was the perfect counterpiece to Biggie. As Biggie was a colossus of emceeing, Puffy was a kinetic ball bounce off the crowd and Biggie. This is when I saw what everyone talked about. Biggie Smalls is the illest.
Fast forward to March 9th 1997. A Sunday. I’m sitting in my apartment in Pittsburgh, Saturday Night Live just went off. Maybe I had finished playing a game or drawing, I wasn’t sure. I know I looked up when the local news broke the word, “Rapper Notorious B.I.G was shot and killed in Los Angeles.” Six months ago I had the same dry throat and knot in my stomach when news came that Tupac Shakur was shot. It was too late for me to go over one of my friend’s apartments. Maybe I didn’t move because I didn’t want to have an outburst of emotion. After a few minutes, I cried and popped in “Ready to Die.” I didn’t have the “Hypnotize” single yet, but I made a joke that I was “tired of hearing it already” after a couple of days. The one thing I noticed in the “video movie” was Biggie looked hella happy. Biggie smiled more in that video than I can remember in any other video.
Later that day I went to friend’s place, living in the school’s apartment meant I had near instant access to my “fam.” We talked about Biggie and discussed our favorite songs and such. People who weren’t into his music were respectful of “our moment.” Then a friend of a friend came out with “Well that’s what he get. He was a gangster and was shot.” The air left the apartment like a explosive decompression on the ISS or Starship Enterprise. I am not much for “stargazing” and being a stan. While Biggie was my dude, it wasn’t like I caped up for him like a Stevie Wonder, Prince, or the like. I am “big” (all pun intended) on being respectful. Wishing death or cheering the death of a cat who just made music, because your right-wing sensibilities gives you the “right” to look down on others, that doesn’t fly. Then I remember this was the same cat who had the big ass Confederate flag in his room and I left his party because I’m not the man who parties under the flag of hate.
I don’t know what I said to him. Not sure if it was a long statement or just a word. I do know I said something and it clearly got his attention. Perhaps it was my balled up fist that also alerted him that THIS was not the day for it. He left shortly afterwards and I went on with my day. I didn’t get “Life After Death” until much later. Part of it was Biggie’s death left me a little “meh” on the idea of getting the album. Part of was the whole “shiny suit era.” Biggie videos with Ma$e and Puffy prancing around in shiny suits… Naw. I dug the songs, but I didn’t get the album until later. In the time of double albums (who started that mess?!), I thought “Life After Death” would have been much stronger with just being one album. But it was dope and it was also very somber. Even today it’s a mixed bag of emotions listening to the album.
I’d like to think that had Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. had lived, they would have hashed out their issues and moved on. We could have had an album with them both rhyming at the height of their skill. I don’t go into the whole “the game would be different” talk, the game will be the game. I don’t bang with a lot of “current/popular” stuff because it’s not for me. It’s not for my demographic and that’s cool. Again, a benefit of growing up with Hip Hop Culture. I have the memories and I’ll always have the jams to listen to. Nineteen years has been a long time, most people “know of” Biggie. Thankfully I was able to bare witness to the greatness of the Notorious B.I.G. Peace.