March 27 [16:00 EST] -- The Notorious B.I.G.'s new album "Life After Death" would have been a big seller anyway, but when it hit stores Tuesday (just 16 days after Biggie was murdered in Los Angeles) its sales went through the roof.

Tower Records in downtown New York City says that it sold 700 copies Tuesday, which is 100 more than U2's new "POP" album did its first day out.

Tower Records in Los Angeles sold over 400 copies Tuesday, which the store calls an "extraordinary" amount.

The Best Buys chain, with 272 stores nationwide, says Biggie sold over 16,000 copies in its stores Tuesday, more than the new Aerosmith album "Nine Lives" did all of last week.

While Biggie's fans honored his memory by rushing out to record stores, his colleagues in the rap world continued to discuss how Biggie's loss affects the hip-hop community.

"Myself, you know I do the West Coast and the East Coast thing," MC Lyte recently told MTV News. "So, I think it's all according to the company you keep, you keep your profile low. It's bigger than all of us, the problem."

Warren G added, "I want to say is that it's a cold thing, with Mr. Shakur and Mr. Biggie. You know what I'm sayin', it's a sad thing, because I knew both of 'em, you know. It's sad to see things like that in this day and time when we struggled for so many years. You know a long time ago, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, people like that struggled so hard. It's sad to see things like that. I just hope everybody can get together and, you know, let's do this hip-hop nation together."

Warren G Has just released a new album called "Take A Look Over Your Shoulder," while MC Lyte has just released "Rock A Party," the third single from her album "Bad As I Wanna Be."