Today is the 19th death anniversary of American rapper, Notorious B.I.G.
Here are 19 interesting facts many people especially young entertainment enthusiasts are oblivious of…
- He was born in Brooklyn on May 21, 1972 to Voletta Walace, a Jamaican pre-school teacher while his dad was a welder.
- He attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School which was also attended by DMX and Busta Rhymes.
- He dropped out of school at the age of 17 and got involved in crime.
- By the time he was 18, he had been arrested over three times for crimes ranging from dealing in drugs, illegal weapon possession and violation of probation.
- Although he started rapping on the streets much earlier, Biggie developed himself musically while in jail.
- He dropped his first demo tape in 1991 after his release from jail which got him a little buzz back then.
- A year later, he was featured by Source Magazine on its Unsigned Hype column which got the attention of Uptown Records which had as a staff, Sean Combs also known as Diddy.
- The duo formed a bond so it was less of a surprise when they both went on to form Bad Boy Records after Diddy who was then known as Puff Daddy got sacked by Uptown Records.
- Before falling out, Biggie and Tupac were close pals who travelled and shared ideas with one another. They however fell apart after a robbery incident which had Tupac being shot 5 times while he also lost some cash and jewelry. He later claimed the incident occurred with prior the knowledge of B.I.G and Diddy.
- Biggie released just one album, ‘Ready to Die’ during in his lifetime.
- Bad Boy Records dropped two other albums, ‘Life after death’ and ‘Born Again’ posthumously.
- He was married to Faith Evans who is remembered for delivering the hook on the hit single, ‘I ll be missing you’, a tribute to the fallen rapper.
- Following the release of his debut album, Biggie formed a New York based rap group, Junior M.A.F.I.A which had as members Lil Kim, Lil’ Cease and others.
- The group released its debut album in 1995, ‘Conspiracy’ which went on to be certified Gold in the US.
- Although he has been nominated 4 times, B.I.G has never won a Grammys (during his lifetime and after his death).
- He however won other awards including MTV Video Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards and Soul Train Music Awards.
- The rapper is survived by two kids, 22-year-old T’yanna who was born by the rapper’s ex-girlfriend and Christopher ‘CJ’ Wallace Jr who was delivered by Faith Evans on October 29, 1996.
- In 2009, a biopic titled ‘Notorious’ was released telling the story of the life and murder of the rapper.
- Last year, he was named the Best Rapper of all time by Billboard in a controversial list of 10 which left out Tupac.
