The Greatest Rapper of All Time Died on March 9th

Everyone says hip-hop is dead. Well, it died for me on March 9, 1997. I couldn't believe it when I heard it, read it, or watch it on tv. It all hit me in the head like people in those Vonage commercials. Christopher Wallace a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G. dead and gone due to senseless violence. A night which was meant for celebration ended with a mother losing a son, a son losing a father, and hip-hop losing it's greatest MC.

I know you have to be like ummmm....Why are you taking this one personally? Well, for me he was more than the music. When he came out I was a chubby, ok, round, ok, thick, ok fat kid. I had been skinny all my life and one day I blew up. And I was uncomfortable with who I was at the time. Then came along the blackest, fattest, ugly rapper who was suave, charismatic, bold, and confident. I had my first example of whoever you are...like it and love it. And of course before he came along I was naturally called Big-E, well I had a style I could run with and make my own. And as time went on I slimmed down (way down) but I had a swagger that was pretty strong by this time. Then between all of that, he made music that you could dance to, chill with, and get hype with. He was a rapper's rapper and the best rapper lyrically. Even in his death a lot of today's rappers know if he was still alive they would not be doing what they do now. Biggie dropped lyrics and lines that to this day that are being stolen, borrowed, and honored. Tupac was a passionate MC that could make the ABC's sound good, but Biggie was the MC who could conceptualize the alphabet into a story about life's struggles and the hustle of the streets. But what made him the best, as he changed his lyrics and songs changed too. He was true to his himself and his environment. How many MC's can actually rap about the struggles of success? How many can turn violent overtures into thought provoking metaphors? None...

But what really saddens me, this didn't have to happen. A young man who turned in the life of the streets to find a better way, dead and gone, but never forgotten.
B.I.G. 4EVA



"My mind, my 9, my pen, my mack 10. My target? All you wack MC's that started rappin'."
-The Notorious B.I.G.-