Biggie Smalls Died 15 Years Ago Today. Feel Old

As a massive fan of Christopher Wallace (AKA The Notorious BIG, AKA Biggie Smalls) that came to appreciate his work more than a decade after his death, I remember the passing of Biggie Smalls in a rather laissez faire way- I’d woken up stunningly early on a weekend and signed on to AOL, where every chat room title referenced the news that Wallace had been murdered..

The rapper who shot to prominence on the East Coast scene and then nationally in the mid-90’s only to be gunned down on a Los Angeles trip at the increasingly young-seeming age of 24 left a rather large imprint on the genre of hip hop, and I think many fans would agree Biggie Smalls doesn’t only remain a fixture in the rap world due to his violent and untimely demise. Big was shot to death at a gas station only months after his best friend turned rival Tupac Shakur was killed in a similar fashion on the Vegas strip, also at 24.

15 years on, both crimes remain unsolved, and both killers ostensibly walk free. Both artists left a large legacy after their deaths, but as a New Yorker, it was only when I moved to Brooklyn I really began to appreciate Biggie Smalls’ tracks- and for me, they tipify that era in hip hop. A lengthy post on Jay-Z’s Life and Times today marks the anniversary of Big’s murder, noting:

“The Notorious B.I.G.’s epochal contributions to hip-hop in a seemingly short period of time are still felt to this day. While hip-hop will always carry a torch for Big, knowing that varied musicians worldwide are deconstructing his masterpieces and finding ways to make them their own is symbolic of Biggie’s affect on all music. It’s the reason why Fytch was born when Biggie died, yet he still knows he is. From a stoop in Brooklyn to a nightclub in the Netherlands, the Notorious B.I.G. has posthumously traveled around the world…in 5,482 days.”

The post, worth a read, can be found here. Were you a fan of Biggie Smalls, before or after his death?