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-- by Shaheem Reid
"Ain't no other kings in this rap thing/ They siblings, nothing but my chil'ren/ One shot, they disappearin'." — Notorious B.I.G., "Kick in the Door"
March 9 marks five years since Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace was murdered, robbing the world of one of music's great artists and changing the rap game forever. While he may not be here in physical form, Big remains embedded in the hearts of the hip-hop community.
How could any of our loved ones be forgotten? For fans of his music, he was like family; we felt like we were right there beside him as he made his "ashy-to-classy" climb from MC on the streets of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, to King of Rap.
The Black Frank White, as he called himself (Frank White was Christopher Walken's character in "King of New York"), not only locked his hometown down with his barrage of club bangers, 'hood-loved tales of hustler dos and don'ts and smooth game-spitting at the ladies; his music was universally embraced.
His secret weapon? Not his mastery of flows, not the way he conveyed his laugh-out-loud humor and not even how unabashed he was that he referred to himself as fat and ugly as easily as he would speak of his clout as an MC — it was the voice. The same husky, Jamaican-tinged one that could make the most elementary of phrases, such as "I Poppa freaks all the honeys, dummies, Playboy bunnies ... " seem Shakespearean. The same one that would make love to tracks and all his fans would be listening voyeurs.
We're still listening today as his influence reigns. You can often catch Jay-Z quoting Big's lyrics, as he does on the first few lines of his monster single "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)": "When the Remy's in the system, ain't no telling, will I f--- 'em, will I dis 'em/ That's what they be yellin'/ I'm a pimp by blood, not relation, y'all be chase-un, I replace them, huh?/ Drunk off Crist ..." These lines practically mirror Big's opening from his track "World Is Filled." Fat Joe borrows a line from Big on "We Thuggin'," Nas' video for "Got Ur Self A..." is centered on the deaths of Big and Tupac Shakur, and vocalists from Usher to Ashanti to Michael Jackson have used Big's lyrics or his voice on their own tracks. It's because of this kind of lasting influence that the Notorious B.I.G. is among the first inductees into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, along with such rap luminaries as Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J and Run-DMC.
On this fifth anniversary of his death, some of the people who worked with, were touched by, and were closest to Biggie speak on why we'll always love Big Poppa ...
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Photo: Retna
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