The Death of The Notorious B.I.G In the early hours of March 9th, 1997, a Chevrolet Suburban idled at a stoplight. In the front passenger seat sat Christopher Wallace. Wallace, who most knew as Biggie Smalls, the Notorious BIG, or Big Poppa, was returning to his hotel after a party at the Peterson Automotive Museum. The Suburban containing the New York rapper was part of a convoy of security personnel and other music industry legends; Sean Combs, also known as P. Diddy, being the most notable. At the red light, a black Chevy Impala pulled up beside Wallace’s car. A black male wearing a blue suit and bow-tie rolled down one of Impala’s windows, pulled out a 9MM pistol, and fired multiple shots into the Suburban. Four shots hit the Notorious …show more content…
He left behind his wife, singer Faith Evans, and two young children. He was only twenty-four years old. Twenty-one years later, his murder remains unsolved. Almost immediately after his death, fans of Biggie and fans of music in general began formulating theories on who killed Biggie. Many labelled Christopher Wallace as another casualty of the infamous East versus West hip-hop feud. Numerous media sources believed the murder to be a retaliatory attack in the killing of West-Coast rapper Tupac Shakur, who died in an almost identical fashion in Las Vegas, Nevada nearly 6 months earlier. At one point, Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace were good friends. Introduced by a mutual friend, the two immediately hit it off. In the early days of Biggie’s career, Shakur, a platinum-selling artist and movie star, acted as a mentor to Biggie. When in California, Biggie would sleep on Tupac’s couch. “I trained the *****, he used to be under me like a lieutenant,” Tupac later asserted. As his debut album, Ready to Die, prepared to release, Biggie asked Tupac to manage his career. Wallace was signed to Bad Boy Records, which was headed by Sean Combs and had not yet taken off. Tupac declined the offer.