The
Brooklyn-born "gangsta'," whose given name was
Christopher Wallace but who also went by the stage name Biggie
Smalls, was gunned down in March 1997 in a still-unsolved Los
Angeles drive-by shooting.
(Handout Photo)
The Notorious
B.I.G., also known as Biggie Smalls, surrounded by neighborhood residents, walks down Fulton Street in Brooklyn after signing autographs at Birdel's Records.
(Newsday File Photo), Sep. 14, 1994
Janet
Jackson and Michael Jackson accept the Best Dance Video award
during 1995 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New
York. MTV VJ Bill Bellamy, left, and rapper Notorious B.I.G.,
second from left, presented the award.
(AP Photo) Sep. 7, 1995
Notorious
B.I.G. clutches his awards at the podium during the Billboard
Music Awards in New York.
(AP Photo) Dec. 6, 1995
Notorious
B.I.G sits in his Los Angeles hotel room on Feb.25 ,1997. He was
in the city to promote his new rap C.D and was killed in a drive
by shooting on March 9,1997.
(L.A. Times File Photo)
Notorious
B.I.G., nee Christopher Wallace, appears alongside producer Sean
"Puffy" Combs and an unidentified artist of Bad Boy
Entertainment in Los Angeles at a party at the Petersen Automotive
Museum held in celebration of the 11th annual Soul Train Music
Awards. Wallace, 24, was gunned down as he left the party, police
said, and was later pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center.
(AP Photo) Mar. 8, 1997
This
is the passenger door, with five bullet holes in it, of the GMC
Suburban in which rapper Notorious B.I.G. was riding when he was
shot in Los Angeles. The 24-year-old rap star, born Christopher
Wallace, was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly after the
shooting.
(AP Photo) Mar. 9, 1997
A
sidewalk memorial for slain rap star Biggie Smalls is set up on
St. James Street in the Bedford Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn.
(AP Photo) Mar. 18, 1997
Rapper
Flavor Flav stands with other mourners following the funeral for
rapper Notorious B.I.G. at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in
New York.
(AP Photo) Mar. 18, 1997
Sandi
Denton of the group "Salt N' Pepa" stands outside the
Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in New York, where the Notorious
B.I.G. was mourned.
(AP Photo) Mar. 18, 1997
Mourners
lean from their limousine windows as they pass a building where
slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. once lived on St. James Place in
Brooklyn.
(AP Photo) Mar. 18, 1997
Images
of the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. appear at the end of the video
"I'll Be Missing You," a musical tribute to Notorious
B.I.G. in New York. More than 200 radio stations across the
country participated in a moment of silence in honor of Notorious
B.I.G. followed by the world premiere of two tribute tracks
"I'll Be Missing You" and We'll Always Love Big
Poppa."
(AP Photo) May. 14, 1997
Faith
Evans, wife of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G., at a news conference
in Los Angeles with her lawyers, Robert Frank, left, and Perry
Sanders Jr. The rapper's family has filed a federal wrongful death
lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses the Los Angeles Police Department of
covering up a former officer's alleged involvement in his March
1997 murder.
(AP Photo) Jun. 20, 2005
Voletta
Wallace, the mother of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G., at a news
conference in Los Angeles with her lawyer Perry Sanders Jr. The
rapper's family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit. The
lawsuit accuses the Los Angeles Police Department of covering up a
former officer's alleged involvement in his March 1997 murder.
(AP Photo) Jun. 20, 2005
Kevin
Hackie, a former FBI informant, departs the federal building in
Los Angeles after testifying in the wrongful death lawsuit filed
by the family of slain New York rapper Notorious B.I.G., formerly
known as Christopher Wallace, against the city of Los Angeles and
its police department. Hackie was slain rapper Tupac Shakur's
bodyguard for three years.
(AP Photo) Jun. 22, 2005
Voletta
Wallace, left, and singer Faith Evans, the mother and wife,
respectively, of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G., whose real name
was Christopher Wallace, depart the federal building in Los
Angeles. The parents of Wallace have filed a wrongful death suit
against the Los Angeles Police Department. It accuses officials of
ignoring the practice of off-duty officers moonlighting as Death
Row security men.
