The Notorious B.I.G.别名Biggie Smalls，Frank White，全称Christopher G. L. Wallace。毋庸置疑，The Notorious B.I.G.是美国说唱史上最为杰出的歌手之一，影响了后代一大批的说唱歌手。但可惜的是，The Notorious B.I.G.作为美国东海岸说唱的旗帜性人物，在1997年不幸遭枪杀去世，成为继死对头Tupac Shakur之后又一位在东西海岸的绑匪说唱团体的斗争的牺牲品。尽管Notorious B.I.G.辉煌的时间极为短暂，但他却对当今的说唱音乐有着深远的影响。
原名Christopher Wallace的The Notorious B.I.G.出生于1972年5月21日，是这个单亲家庭中唯一的孩子。据母亲回忆，Christopher很小的时候就与众不同，还不会走路的时候就已经会说话和唱歌了。Christopher的童年跟随母亲在Brooklyn的Bedford Stuyvesant度过，而此时的Christopher已经开始表现出了极高的音乐天赋，并开始跟随当地的乐团演出。后来，少年Christopher就是跟随当地一支音乐组合the Techniques第一次走进了录音室。正是从这时候开始，Christopher Wallace开始使用Biggie Smalls作为自己的艺名。
17岁那年，尽管当时学习成绩优秀，但被金钱所吸引的Christopher选择了退学，开始在街头混日子的生活，这其中当然也包括一些非法的“生意”。但此后的一次意外失手使他被判入狱九个月。好在出狱之后的Christopher并没有放弃音乐，他在出狱之后用朋友的设备录制了一张小样并把小样寄到了The Source杂志参加一个说唱音乐的比赛。也许连他自己都没想到，这盘曝光的小样就成了Christopher事业上的最大的转折点。因为当时身为Uptown Records公司的制作人Sean "Puffy" Combs听到了这盘小样并深深被其吸引，之后便毫不犹豫的签下了这位天才说唱歌手。在签约之后不久，Sean "Puffy" Combs就离开了Uptown Records，建立了自己的唱片公司Bad Boy。当然，Biggie Smalls也一同被“吹牛老爹”带到了Bad Boy。
来到Bad Boy之后，Christopher Wallace将艺名正式改为The Notorious B.I.G.。1993年，The Notorious B.I.G.首次正式录音是在Mary J. Blige重新混音的单曲《Real Love》中。随后，The Notorious B.I.G.发行首支个人单曲《Party and Bullshit》，并被选入到电影《Who's the Man?》的电影院声碟中。1994年9月13日，The Notorious B.I.G.发行首张个人专辑《Ready to Die》。主打单曲《Juicy》很快便破金，而随后的《Big Poppa/Warning》在说唱单曲榜中轻松夺冠。第三支单曲《One More Chance》首周上榜便排在Pop单曲榜第五位，追平了流行之王Michael Jackson的《Scream》成为首周上榜排名最高的单曲，并且在说唱，Hip-Hop/R&B单曲榜双双称霸。而在《Ready to Die》发行之后不久，The Notorious B.I.G.与同在Bad Boy公司的R&B女歌手Faith Evans喜结连理。之后，随着《Ready to Die》的销量逐渐达到多白金，The Notorious B.I.G.开始名声大噪。
1994年，西海岸说唱歌手Tupac Shakur在纽约的录音室遭到了两名歹徒的枪击。之后，他控告吹牛老爹（Sean "Puffy" Combs），the Notorious B.I.G.制造了这起枪杀事件，并扬言复仇。这无疑激化了东西海岸绑匪说唱间的矛盾，为日后的悲剧事件埋下了伏笔。随后的1995年是The Notorious B.I.G.最为成功的一年，他不仅成为当年销量最大的说唱歌手，而且是当年流行，R&B届表现最为出色的男歌手。
1996注定是值得铭记的一年。曾挑衅声称与Faith Evans有染的彼岸死敌Tupac在9月遭枪击身亡，人们纷纷猜测Tupac的死是否与由来已久的东西海岸说唱帮派之间的斗争有关。“果不其然”，在1997年3月9日早上，the Notorious B.I.G.在参加过“灵魂列车奖”晚会之后回酒店的路上也遭到不明身份枪手的袭击，在被保镖送往医院的途中身亡，而此时距Tupac的死仅有半年。这次的枪杀事件再次震惊了整个美国音乐界。
在the Notorious B.I.G.死后，他生前已经录制好的第二张专辑按原计划在3月底发行。这张名为《Life After Death》的双CD专辑似乎专门就是用来对抗生前死敌Tupac的双CD专辑《All Eyez on Me》的。不出所料，《Life After Death》在发行第一周已近70万张的销量登顶Billboard专辑榜，并连续四周蝉联冠军。首支单曲《Hypnotize》很快成为Pop单曲榜中的冠军单曲，而随着另一支单曲《Mo Money Mo Problems》的再度折桂，the Notorious B.I.G.成为首位在离世之后还能两夺单曲榜冠军的歌手。随后，另一支单曲《Sky's the Limit》也顺利破金。《Life After Death》在发行不到两年内销量就达到了1000万张。
1997年，吹牛老爹和Faith Evans合作了一首缅怀the Notorious B.I.G.的单曲《I'll Be Missing You》，成为当年最受欢迎的单曲之一。1999年，the Notorious B.I.G.去世之后的首张精选集《Born Again》发行，收录了他生前未发表过的一些歌曲。专辑再次获得Billboard专辑榜冠军，并最终成为双白金唱片。2005年底，the Notorious B.I.G.去世之后的第二张专辑《Duets: The Final Chapter》发行。
In just a few short years, the Notorious B.I.G. went from a Brooklyn street hustler to the savior of East Coast hip-hop to a tragic victim of the culture of violence he depicted so realistically on his records. His all-too-brief odyssey almost immediately took on mythic proportions, especially since his murder followed the shooting of rival Tupac Shakur by only six months. In death, the man also known as Biggie Smalls became a symbol of the senseless violence that plagued inner-city America in the waning years of the 20th century. Whether or not his death was really the result of a much-publicized feud between the East and West Coast hip-hop scenes, it did mark the point where both sides stepped back from a rivalry that had gone too far. Hip-hops self-image would never be quite the same, and neither would public perception. The aura of martyrdom that surrounds the Notorious B.I.G. sometimes threatens to overshadow his musical legacy, which was actually quite significant. Helped by Sean Puffy Combs radio-friendly sensibility, Biggie re-established East Coast raps viability by leading it into the post-Dr. Dre gangsta age. Where fellow East Coasters the Wu-Tang Clan slowly built an underground following, Biggie crashed onto the charts and became a star right out of the box. In the process, he helped Combs Bad Boy label supplant Death Row as the biggest hip-hop imprint in America, and also paved the way to popular success for other East Coast talents like Jay-Z and Nas. Biggie was a gifted storyteller with a sense of humor and an eye for detail, and his narratives about the often violent life of the streets were rarely romanticized; instead, they were told with a gritty, objective realism that won him enormous respect and credibility. The general consensus in the rap community was that when his life was cut short, sadly, Biggie was just getting started.
The Notorious B.I.G. was born Christopher Wallace on May 21, 1972, and grew up in Brooklyns Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. He was interested in rap from a young age, performing with local groups like the Old Gold Brothers and the Techniques, the latter of whom brought the teenaged Wallace his first trip to a recording studio. He had already adopted the name Biggie Smalls at this point, a reference to his ample frame, which would grow to be over six feet tall and nearly 400 pounds. Although he was a good student, he dropped out of high school at age 17 to live his life on the streets. Attracted by the money and flashy style of local drug dealers, he started selling crack for a living. He got busted on a trip to North Carolina and spent nine months in jail, and upon his release, he made some demo recordings on a friends four-track. The resulting tape fell into the hands of Mister Cee, a DJ working with Big Daddy Kane; Cee in turn passed the tape on to hip-hop magazine The Source, which gave Biggie a positive write-up in a regular feature on unsigned artists. Thanks to the publicity, Biggie caught the attention of Uptown Records producer Sean Puffy Combs, who signed him immediately. With his new daughter in need of immediate financial support, Biggie kept dealing drugs for a short time until Combs found out and laid down the law. Not long after Biggies signing, Combs split from Uptown to form his own label, Bad Boy, and took Biggie with him.
Changing his primary stage name from Biggie Smalls to the Notorious B.I.G., the newly committed rapper made his recording debut on a 1993 remix of Mary J. Bliges single Real Love. He soon guested on another Blige remix, Whats the 411?, and contributed his first solo cut, Party and Bullshit, to the soundtrack of the film Whos the Man? Now with a considerable underground buzz behind him, the Notorious B.I.G. delivered his debut album, Ready to Die, in September 1994. Its lead single, Juicy, went gold, and the follow-up smash, Big Poppa, achieved platinum sales and went Top Ten on the pop and R&B charts. Biggies third single, One More Chance, tied Michael Jacksons Scream for the highest debut ever on the pop charts; it entered at number five en route to an eventual peak at number two, and went all the way to number one on the R&B side. By the time the dust settled, Ready to Die had sold over four million copies and turned the Notorious B.I.G. into a hip-hop sensation — the first major star the East Coast had produced since the rise of Dr. Dres West Coast G-funk.
Not long after Ready to Die was released, Biggie married R&B singer and Bad Boy labelmate Faith Evans. In November 1994, West Coast gangsta star Tupac Shakur was shot several times in the lobby of a New York recording studio and robbed of thousands of dollars in jewelry. Shakur survived and accused Combs and his onetime friend Biggie of planning the attack, a charge both of them fervently denied. The ill will gradually snowballed into a heated rivalry between West and East Coast camps, with upstart Bad Boy now challenging Suge Knights Death Row empire for hip-hop supremacy. Meanwhile, Biggie turned his energies elsewhere. He shepherded the career of Junior M.A.F.I.A., a group consisting of some of his childhood rap partners, and guested on their singles Players Anthem and Get Money. He also boosted several singles by his labelmates, such as Totals Cant You See and 112s Only You, and worked with superstars like Michael Jackson (HIStory) and R. Kelly ([You to Be] Happy, from R. Kelly). With the singles from Ready to Die still burning up the airwaves as well, Biggie ended 1995 as not only the top-selling rap artist, but also the biggest solo male act on both the pop and R&B charts. He also ran into trouble with the law on more than one occasion. A concert promoter accused Biggie and members of his entourage of assaulting him when he refused to pay the promised fee after a concert cancellation. Later in the year, Biggie pled guilty to criminal mischief after attacking two harassing autograph seekers with a baseball bat.
1996 proved to be an even more tumultuous year. More legal problems ensued after police found marijuana and weapons in a raid on Biggies home in Teaneck, NJ. Meanwhile, Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil Kim released her first solo album under Biggies direction, and the two made little effort to disguise their concurrent love affair. 2Pac, still nursing a grudge against Biggie and Combs, recorded a vicious slam on the East Coast scene called Hit Em Up, in which he taunted Biggie about having slept with Faith Evans (who was by now estranged from her husband). What was more, during the recording sessions for Biggies second album, he suffered rather serious injuries in a car accident and was confined to a wheelchair for a time. Finally, in September 1996, Tupac Shakur was murdered in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip. Given their very public feud, it didnt take long for rumors of Biggies involvement to start swirling, although none were substantiated. Biggie was also criticized for not attending an anti-violence hip-hop summit held in Harlem in the wake of Shakurs death.
Observers hoped that Shakurs murder would serve as a wake-up call for gangsta rap in general, that on-record boasting had gotten out of hand and spilled into reality. Sadly, it would take another tragedy to drive that point home. In the early morning hours of March 9, 1997, the Notorious B.I.G. was leaving a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, thrown by Vibe magazine in celebration of the Soul Train Music Awards. He sat in the passenger side of his SUV, with his bodyguard in the drivers seat and Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil Cease in the back. According to most witnesses, another vehicle pulled up on the right side of the SUV while it was stopped at a red light, and six to ten shots were fired. Biggies bodyguard rushed him to the nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but it was already too late. As much as Shakur was mourned, Biggies death was perhaps even more shocking; it meant that Shakurs death was not an isolated incident, and that hip-hops highest-profile talents might be caught in the middle of an escalating war. Naturally, speculation ran rampant that Biggies killers were retaliating for Shakurs death, and since the case remains unsolved, the world may never know for sure.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the release of the Notorious B.I.G.s second album went ahead as planned at the end of March. The eerily titled Life After Death was a sprawling, guest-laden double-disc set that seemed designed to compete with 2Pacs All Eyez on Me in terms of ambition and epic scope. Unsurprisingly, it entered the charts at number one, selling nearly 700,000 copies in its first week of release and spending a total of four weeks on top. The first single, Hypnotize, went platinum and hit number one on the pop chart, and its follow-up, Mo Money Mo Problems, duplicated both feats, making the Notorious B.I.G. the first artist ever to score two posthumous number one hits. A third single, Skys the Limit, went gold, and Life After Death was certified ten times platinum approximately two years after its release. Plus, Combs — now rechristened Puff Daddy — and Faith Evans scored one of 1997s biggest singles with their tribute, Ill Be Missing You. In 1999, an album of previously unreleased B.I.G. material, Born Again, was released and entered the charts at number one. It eventually went double platinum. Six years later, Duets: The Final Chapter (studio scraps paired with new verses from several MCs and vocalists) surfaced and reached number three on the album chart.
In the years following Christopher Wallaces death, little official progress was made in the LAPDs murder investigation, and it began to look as if the responsible parties would never be brought to justice. The 2Pac retaliation theory still holds sway in many quarters, and it has also been speculated that members of the Crips gang murdered Wallace in a dispute over money owed for security services. In an article for Rolling Stone, and later a full book titled Labyrinth, journalist Randall Sullivan argued that Suge Knight hired onetime LAPD officer David Mack — a convicted bank robber with ties to the Bloods — to arrange a hit on Wallace, and that the gunman was a hitman and mortgage broker named Amir Muhammad. Sullivan further argued that when it became clear how many corrupt LAPD officers were involved with Death Row Records, the department hushed up as much as it could and all but abandoned detective Russell Pooles investigation recommendations.
Documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield used Labyrinth as a basis for 2002s Biggie and Tupac, which featured interviews with Poole and Knight, among others. In April 2002, Faith Evans and Voletta Wallace (Biggies mother) filed a civil suit against the LAPD alleging wrongful death, among other charges. In September of that year, the L.A. Times published a report alleging that the Notorious B.I.G. had paid members of the Crips one million dollars to murder 2Pac, and even supplied the gun used. Several of Biggies relatives and friends stepped forward to say that the rapper had been recording in New Jersey, not masterminding a hit in Las Vegas; the report was also roundly criticized in the hip-hop community, which was anxious to avoid reopening old wounds.