Biography
Born Christopher George Latore Wallace on May 21,1972, he became to be known professionally as The Notorious B.I.G,Biggie Smalls or Biggie.He was son of Jamaican immigrant Voletta Wallace and Selywin George Latore.
Wallace grew up at 226 St.James Place in Brooklyn.He was nicknamed ‘Big’ because he was overweight by the age of 10.
He got his name Biggie Smalls from a character of the same name in the 1975 film “LETS DO IT AGAIN.”
Wallace attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School,where future rappers DMX,JayZ and Busta Rhymes were also attending.
Career Beginnings/ Early Life
In March 1992 Wallace was featured in The Source’s Unsigned Hype Column,dedicated to aspiring rappers.Sean Combs heard Biggie’s demo tape,and arranged for a meeting with Wallace.
Wallace was signed to Uptown Records by Sean Combs,later Combs was fired from Uptown Records,so he started Bad Boy Records and Wallace followed and signed in the label in mid-1992.
On August 8,1993 Wallace got his first child with longtime girlfriend T’yanna.During this time he gained musical exposure after featuring ona remix to Mary J Blige’s single “Real Love” and landed on the Billboard Hot 100 at no.7
On August 4,1994 Wallace married R&B singer Faith Evans after they met at a BadBoy photoshoot.They got their first child Christopher “C.J.” Wallace Junior on October 29,1996.
His first studio album “READY TO DIE” was released on September 13,1994, eventually certified four time Platinum.At the time of the album release the West Coast had dominated the charts and so Wallace’s Ready To Die shifted attention back to the East Coast.
Around the time of the release of the album Wallace became close friends with fellow rapper named Tupac Shakur.
Wallace also befriended basketball player Shaquille O’neal and Daz Dillinger,a West Coast rapper and producer whom they smoked weed together.
In 1995,Wallace’s protégé group,Junior M.A.F.I.A (Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes) released their debut album while Wallace continued to work with R&B artists,topping many charts and winning Rap Artist of the Year on the Billboard Awards.
FEUD WITH SHAKUR & DEATH ROW RECORDS
In his year of success,Wallace became involved in a rivalry between the East and West Coast hiphop scenes with Shakur,now his former friend.The rivalry stemmed from a Nov 30,1994 robbery and shooting where Shakur was robbed and shot five times at the Quad Studios.Shakur accused Wallace and BadBoy Records of having prior knowledge of the robbery but Wallace denied any prior knowledge.
Shakur signed with Death Row Records on October 15,1995,this made Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records business rivals,and thus intensified the quarrel.
Shakur was shot and died on September 13,1996.Rumors of Wallace’s involvement in Shakur’s murder spread,but Wallace’s family refuted the rumor claims.
DEATH
On March 9,1997 after leaving a party at 12am,a black Chevy Impala pulled up alongside Wallace’s truck.The driver of the impala fired at fired Wallace’s truck.Four bullets hit Wallace.He was pronounced dead at 1:15am March 9,1997.
His funeral was held at the Frank E.Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan.His body was cremated and ashes were given to the family.His mother Voletta kept the ashes.
POSTHUMOUS RELEASES
Sixa days after his death Wallace’s double-disc second album “LIFE AFTER DEATH“was released.It hit no.1 on the Billboard 200.
MUSICAL STYLE/ARTISTRY
Wallace used onomatopoeic vocables and multi-syllabic rhymes.
Wallace rapped in a deep tone described as “thick,jaunty grumble”
AllMusic descibes Wallace as having “a talent for piling multiple rhymes on top of one another in quick succession”
Wallace was known to compose lyrics in the head rather than write them down,in a similar way to Jay Z.
Wallace would occasionally vary from singing in a slow-falsetto to a rapid rhyme flow.
LEGACY
AllMusic considers him as “the savior of East Coast hip-hop”.
In 2006 MTV ranked him no.3 on their list of The Greatest Mcs Of All Time.
His lyrics have been sampled and quoted widely by a variety of hiphop,R&B and pop artists like Jay Z,50 Cent,Alicia Keys,Usher,Eminem,Game etc
The Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation holds an annual black-tie dinner to raise funds for children’s schools.
A biopic film on Wallace was releases in 2009, it stars Jamal Woolard as Wallace.
Source : Tha Spectacular Virtual Library 2019(An affiliate of MMG Kenya🇰🇪)
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