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Facts and Information
Biggie Smalls first became known to the world of hip hop when he
appeared in the "Unsigned Hype" section of Hip Hop magazine
'The Source'. This magazine was, and still is the largest hip hop
distributed magazine since the early 1990's.
Biggie was an "A" grade student before his run-in's with the
street. There was also talk that Biggie himself wanted to become a
dentist or a graphic artist. And Biggie had the grades to get there. But
the streets kept on calling Biggie and his school grades were put aside
to make room for his street credibility!
Biggie, Jay-Z and
Busta Rhymes attended the same high school in downtown
Brooklyn.
Notorious B.I.G. first signed to Uptown Records which was his first
recording deal back in 1993.
Biggie first started gaining alot of attention as he appeared on the
remix of Mary J Blige's hit single "Real Love".
Biggie had two children including one daughter and one son. The first
child was his daughter from his girlfriend 'Jan' in his old
neighborhood. The second child was a boy who was born through B.I.G.'s
wife Faith Evans.
Before biggie was famous, him and Tupac Shakur were good friends,
Tupac
would often let Biggie appear on stage with him, to help get Biggie's
talents noticed.
Notorious B.I.G. had the ability to write songs in his head and then
freestyle them to make tracks right on the spot. Biggie used this
ability especially on his first debut album "Ready to Die. It's a
strong fact that Biggie died with five songs in his head which he never
got the opportunity to drop them for us to hear.
B.I.G.'s first DJ was 50 Grand back from his old neighborhood in BK and
his other Dj was Mr. Cee who was Ol' skool rapper Big Daddy Kane's Dj.
Tupac was incarcerated whilst his then friend, Biggie, was working on
his debut album Ready To Die, as soon as the album dropped Tupac
claimed, and did until the day he died, that biggie stole alot of his
lyrcis and idea's from Tupac's upcoming album.
Tupac re-wrote his whole
album, and it dropped soon after entitled "Me Against The
World"
Tupac also stated many times that Biggie never came to visit him in
jail, and never came to give him thanks for helping him get his career
in rap going. These two factors are highly likely why the 2pac vs biggie
beef started.
In 1995 Biggie debuted at number five in the pop singles chart with the
single "One More Chance", tying Michael Jackson's
"Scream" as the highest-debuting single of all time? (The
previous record holders at the time were "The Beatles").
Biggie was asked to work with the 'king of pop' Michael Jackson on his
album "History - Past Present & Future Book 1" on the
infamous track "This Time Around", were Mike even cursed on
the track!
B.I.G. made an appearance on the top rated urban show "New York
Undercover" playing as himself on a talk show next to rapper M.C.
Lyte and Sticky Fingaz.
Biggie appeared in the top rated T.V. show "Martin", playing
as himself as an old friend of Martins looking for a backup singer for
his tour.
B.I.G. is an acronym that stands for "Books Instead of Guns."
The acronym itself used to stand for "Business Instead of
Game" but since his death, his foundation gave it a new meaning
which now helps benefit the CWMF Inc., a foundation in memory of B.I.G.
which helps bring in books & computers for impoverished schools NY
& Atlanta.
Biggie Smalls has his own clothing line which he started in '96 called
"Brooklyn Mint Inc"? Biggie wanted to start a clothing line
that would cater to "Big" men like himself, seeing as though
it was hard to find the quality of clothing he admired in his size and
style. To this day, the company is still up, and was recently
re-launched by his mother, and has a new line, in B.I.G.'s memory. For
more information on Brooklyn Mint, visit them online at:
BrooklynMint.com
The Notorious B.I.G.'s second album "Life After Death" is
certified Diamond. This means that it has sold more than 10 million
copies. Which also made it the first hardcore rap album to hit Diamond
status, and also that biggie was the first East Coast rapper to hit
Diamond as well.
Biggie was going to open a fast food chain called "Big
Poppa's" which would serve soul food and would be open 24 hrs a day
to serve the community in which he lived in. Biggie never got the chance
to see another of his idea's come to reality!
BiG was asked to appear in a movie with Robert De Niro and Christopher
Walken and the concept of the movie was to play a role as a New York
City drug lord. Unfortunately BIG never got the chance...
Why did Biggie referred to himself as
"Frank White"?
There is a movie entitled "King Of
New York" starring Christopher Walken who plays the role of
"Frank White," a drug lord who's just been released from a
long stint in prison. Frank has become determined to give something back
to the city, and he hatches a scheme to build a multimillion-dollar
public hospital in one of Brooklyn's worst ghetto neighborhoods. Needing
the assistance of his fellow criminals to pull it off, Frank encounters
a wall of resistance from every faction. Frank's do-gooder efforts
ultimately result in a Mob war and in a bloody showdown between the
city's various ethnic criminal actions. This is where B.I.G. obtained
the alias "Frank White" and referred to him as the "Black
Frank White".
Where did the alias "Biggie
Smalls" come from?
In 1975 there was a movie released
entitled "Let's Do It Again" starring Sidney Poitier and Bill
Cosby who while their characters are trying to hypnotize a boxer named 'Bootney
Farnsworth' into thinking he's a champ by winning fights. This attracts
the attention of a group of gangsters lead by Biggie Smalls (played by
Calvin Lockhart) who wants a piece of the action. This is where the
alias "Biggie Smalls" originated which B.I.G. made famous. In
Biggie's neighborhood, his peers gave him this name seeing as though he
was Bigger in "height" and "size" than most of the
people around him.
In the diss track 'Hit Em Up', which is aimed directly at Biggie Smalls
and his Bad Boy crew, biggie's arch rival Tupac claims that he had slept
with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans!
When Tupac was first shot five times, Biggie and his fellow Bad Boy
Records artist, were upstairs in the same hotel the shooting took place
in. After Tupac was shot, he dragged himself into an elevator and got
out on the floor biggie was on. Tupac said he recieved no help from BIG,
and the look on biggie's face was one of suprise, as if Biggie was
shocked to see Tupac alive. To the day of his death Tupac believed
Biggie was invloved in the shooting in some way or another.
At the height of Biggies beef with Tupac
Shakur, Biggie put out a track
called "Who Shot Ya?" which is thought to be a reply to the
many diss tracks Tupac was hitting at Biggie , such as 'Hit Em Up', in
which Tupac reveals he slept with BIG's wife.
2pac then believed, due to
the title of the track, that Biggie was claiming the his earlier
attempted murder!
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