Brooklyn is often considered the origin of hip hop music. Everyone from MC Lyte to the Beastie Boys has walked the streets of the borough the neighbored Manhattan. However, one artist has always been the representation of Brooklyn hip-hop. Notorious BIG, known as Biggie to his millions of fans, grew up in the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant and rapped about his experiences of running the streets and selling drugs just to survive.
Before becoming the Notorious BIG, he was just Christopher Wallace; raised in a tough section Brooklyn. His father left his mother when Wallace was just two years old, forcing her to get two jobs to support her only son. Wallace admitted it was not easy growing up in Bed-Stuy and he eventually got caught up with the wrong crowd. He said in an interview, Growing up in the streets of Bed-Stuy, it was hard, yo. Being on the corners in Brooklyn in January and having to sell drugs? Come on. I hustled, that was my game.”
Wallace went to school with fellow rappers Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z at George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School. He never finished high school; instead dropping out to focus on his career as a street hustler. He was arrested three times shortly after and decided to become a lyricist. Wallace has rapped as a teenager, but decided to make a demo tape after his third arrest. He never intended to become a rapper, but with a lot of help from his friend, rap DJ Mister Cee, his music started making it way around New York City. It fell into the hands of the Source Magazine who featured the unknown rapper in their “Unsigned Hype” section.
BIG’s close friend, Damion “D-Roc” Butler spoke about those days when BIG was still unsigned, We would make the tapes for us to listen to and Mister Cee got ahold of one of them and put it out. Big was upset Cee got the tape. He wasn't looking for no deal like that. If you put Big on the spot like he could rhyme, he was like, ‘Nah, man." Big was shy. He would say, "I ain't one of them dudes looking for no deal.’”
That demo was heard by an up-and-coming producer at Uptown Records named Sean Combs. He was immediately signed, but Cobs lost his job not long after. This started Bad Boy Records and Big’s debut album, Ready to Die. That album featured hits like “Juicy”, “Big Poppa”, and “One More Chance”. The album was a massive hit with his clever metaphors and infectious beats. BIG says the album is about what he knows, which is living in Brooklyn. “In Brooklyn, I see hustling, I see killing, I see girls, I see cars — that's what I rap about, what's in my environment. Everything I did on the album was all about me. Me and Brooklyn. My Brooklyn representees know that. All that everyday struggle, waking up, check-cashing place, it's 9 o'clock in the morning, that's all Brooklyn, baby. That's all real,” he said.
Unfortunately, Ready to Die was the only album he ever put out while he was alive. BIG was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1997. He was taken far too soon from us, but his memory will forever live on. He has inspired almost every notable rapper currently on the radio, including Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, a fellow Brooklyn native. “There was a vow in that song about Big. So doing that was my way of always keeping him fresh and keeping his music fresh on everyone's mind,” he said. Carter speaking about his song “What More Can I Say” off his album “The Black Album”. BIG’s lyrics will forever live on as Jay-Z and many more continue to pay homage the late rapper.
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