Remembering The Notorious B.I.G. 23 Years After His Death

Today we celebrate one of the most iconic figures in hip hop on the 23rd anniversary of his passing, Christopher Wallace a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G.

Biggie was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 21, 1972 to Voletta Wallace and Selwyn George Latore.  He grew up in the Clinton Hills section of Brooklyn and went to Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School.

Later, he transferred out of Loughlin and went to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School where he was classmates with other notable rappers including  DMX, Jay Z, and Busta Ryhmes as he mentions it in the video at the 7:04 mark.

In March of 1992, things started to change for Biggie as he was featured in The Source Magazine’s “Unsigned Hype” which showcased up and coming talent as he made a demo of his skills that landed on the desk of Sean Combs who was a producer at A&R for Uptown Records.

B.I.G. was signed immediately, but Combs was terminated from his position and started his own label Bad Boy where B.I.G. gained notoriety after being featured on a remix of Mary J. Blige’s single “Real Love” in 1993.

Biggie’s debut album “Ready To Die” was released on September 13^th, 1994 with the classic hits Juicy”, “Big Poppa”, a platinum selling single, and “One More Chance” with his wife Faith Evans.

Trouble soon followed the Notorious B.I.G. as he became involved in a rival with Tupac Shakur as he accused him and Sean Combs, of robbing him and shooting him five times in a Manhattan studio. He denied the allegations.

By the time of Biggie's second album "Life After Death", he traveled to LA in February and recorded to video for his single "Hypnotize."  On March 7th, he was presented an award at the Soul Train Awards, then attended the Vibe magazine after party.

On March 9th, around 12:30 (PST), Biggie was leaving the party and within 15 minutes later his car was shot up as he stopped at a red light on the corner of Wilshire Blvd and South Fairfax Ave.

Biggie was shot 4 times and was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as was pronounced dead at 1:15 (PST) just six months after Tupac Shakur was murdered in Las Vegas. Both murders are unsolved to this day.

As we pay homage to the life of Christopher Wallace, which album or song is your favorite of the slain rapper?

Leave your answers in the comments.