Biggie did not reply in turn, claiming that wasn’t his style. Tupac responded by releasing Hit Em Up, which targeted Biggie, Combs and members of Biggie’s Junior Mafia crew, as well as the prominent east-coast outfit Mobb Deep. Who Shot Ya? was written and recorded before the incident, but released as Big Poppa’s B-side afterwards, and Tupac believed it to be about him, although he’s not mentioned in the lyrics, which see BIG boasting about his criminal connections and threatening his opponents. The pair had once been very close friends, but this was the beginning of the heated west coast v east coast rivalry that cast a shadow over hip-hop for years. It’s never been confirmed who was behind the crime, but Tupac was adamant that Biggie was responsible. Following Biggie’s death in 1997, Puff Daddy and Faith Evans’s tribute to him, I’ll Be Missing You, went one better, debuting at No 1.Īt the end of 1994, on his way to visit Biggie at a recording studio in New York, Tupac was robbed and shot in the downstairs lobby. When it entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No 2, One More Chance (remix) became the joint-highest debuting single ever, tying with Michael and Janet Jackson’s Scream. Gone was the Jackson 5 sample of the album version this one is backed by DeBarge’s Stay With Me, while the chorus vocals are provided by Wallace’s wife, Faith Evans. Instead of censoring the song for a single release, however, Biggie put out a massively different remix. One More Chance was originally a Ready to Die album track, featuring lyrics so explicit that the song verged on the pornographic. His flow is amazing, and his ad-libs were brilliant. Biggie voices two alternating characters involved in a robbery plot, adapting different accents for each, giving the impression that an uncredited guest artist is playing one of the two roles. Gimme the Loot, however, is the most impressive track. Suicidal Thoughts – the album’s closer – delivered a call for help and a gunshot to end the album. Everyday Struggle’s theme is made clear in its title, while Ready to Die itself reflected Wallace’s desolate life choices. It is hardcore hip-hop, rooted in the New York streets, with a bleakness that is found throughout his 2004 album. Gimme the Loot is far more representative of Ready to Die than Juicy or Big Poppa. He boasts about his lavish lifestyle and namedrops luxury brands – which would become one of hip-hop’s predominant themes. Big Poppa – one of Wallace’s many nicknames – is also, against all odds, a ladies’ man, despite the fact that he was married. Big Poppa portrays a surprisingly lovable character, even if he does seem to be Hollywood’s idea of a Mafia kingpin.
It’s backed by a sample of Mtume’s Juicy Fruit that gives an uplifting touch to the rapper’s rags-to-riches tale.īiggie’s second single was an immodest introduction that was unnecessary, given the success of his Juicy debut single and his album, Ready to Die.
They were exaggerations, but they added drama to the tracks and revealed a gift for storytelling. His lyrics told of extreme struggle, near-starvation and missed Christmases. He began rapping as a teenager, and after leaving jail adopted the name Biggie Smalls and released a freestyle mixtape. He went on to have various run-ins with police and a stint in prison in 1991 for dealing drugs.
He was born on in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood of Brooklyn, where he lived with his mother.
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