DOIN' IT B.I.G.!!!!!!
I remember it like it was yesterday…me & bro were cruising the city…each one of us palming a St. Ides 40 oz. like it was Spalding basketball. The dopest hip hop at the time was bellowing thru the speakers & we were talking more shit than an episode of First Take! For whatever reason, we turned it on the radio & all I hear is the DJ say…next up…a new song by Biggie Smalls! You would've thought they just announced the lotto numbers & I had the winning ticket…I acted a damn fool in that moment! My bro looked at me & was like…nigga…what the fuck are you so excited about?!?! "That's him…Biggie Smalls…the dude I've been telling you about from New York! This dude hard as f*ck!!!" Bro looked at me like Cube looked at Regina King when she tried to hand him that empty 40 oz. bottle on 'Boyz n the Hood.' "Okay…okay…wait until you hear this sh*t!" The radio breaks back in from commercial & the DJ says…"alright…here it is…that new Biggie Smalls!!" and my eyes lit up like the 4th of July! I sat there as the anticipation kicked in & then I hear some of the whackest bullsh*t to ever pass thru my ears! What the f*ck is this?!?!?! My bro proceeded to go in on me like a heckler in the front row of a comedy show; talk about pie on the face…DAMN!
Fast forward….
Same scene…different day...me & my bro riding around….doing a whole lot of nothing, but doing everything! Turn on the radio…"It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up magazine/Salt & Pepa…Heavy D up in the limousine…!" "Oooooh sh*t that's him…that's him!" I went into a frenzy…breaking my neck to the beat…tossin' back my 40 oz. and explaining to my bro at the same time who was blaring thru the speakers!!! "It's Biggie Smalls, the rapper from New York that I was telling you about!" He couldn't say nothing, but I saw this beam in his eyes & that told me all I needed to know; now he knows I wasn't frontin' about that fat boy from Brooklyn! The DJ then made me look at the radio like he was standing in my presence as he said, "that's the new single 'Juicy' by the NOTORIOUS B.I.G.!" Wait…what the what?!?! Notorious B.I.G.? Now I knew in my heart of hearts that was him, but that's not his name….I only knew BIGGIE SMALLS! (I later learned that he had to change his name due to some legal issues). Oh well, after doing my research it was confirmed that Notorious B.I.G. was indeed the dude who I had been ranting about for the past2 years after hearing him on Heavy D's "A Bunch of Niggas" (from the Blue Funk album). He was the rapper whose voice resonated on that joint, which included some of hip hop's finest at the time (3rd Eye, GURU, Rob-O, & Busta Rhymes).
HE'S ARRIVED!
Soon thereafter, Ready to Die dropped & the rest was history! I remember being the only kid on the block who had it & dudes wouldn't let me walk out the door without that cassette tape in my hand! Now mind you…this was during the time when N.Y. had been raised from the dead thru the voices of Nas & Wu-Tang! Wasn't nothing hotter than them or at least that's what we thought! B.I.G came thru & gave us a glimpse of a N.Y.MC who was able to step outside of the burroughs & really captivate the ears of every hood USA…no matter where you dwelled! Rough, rugged, & raw but still smooth as a baby's bottom…big boy proceeded to turn hip hop on its ears! He had NY in a stranglehold & wasn't letting up no time soon! He proceeded to give us classic after classic…touching all emotions as flawless as Muhammad Ali dropped rhymes during his many pre-fight press conferences! You couldn't tell me he wasn't about to go on a 10 yr. run & give us some of the dopest music from the hip hop genre we'd ever heard….and in a blink of an eye…it was over! DAMN!
There's not too many who we can say gave us a CLASSIC album…then gave us another, but wasn't around to see it manifest, but 19 years later…we still knock his music like it was made last night! Today we celebrate the death of a hip hop MARTYR & it's only right…that on this day…we "Party and Bullshit" Rest In Love Christopher Wallace…because of you…we'll forever do it…B.I.G.!!!!!
WHO SHOT YA?!?!?!?
