Wallace was born and raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. His debut album Ready to Die (1994) made him a central figure in East Coast hip hop and increased New York City's visibility in the genre at a time when West Coast hip hop dominated the mainstream. The following year, he led Junior M.A.F.I.A.—a protégé group composed of his childhood friends—to chart success. In 1996, while recording his second album, Wallace was heavily involved in the growing East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. On March 9, 1997, he was murdered by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His second album, Life After Death (1997), released two weeks later, rose to No. 1 on the U.S. album charts. In 2000, it became one of the few hip-hop albums to be certified Diamond.
Wallace was noted for his "loose, easy flow"; dark, semi-autobiographical lyrics; and storytelling abilities, which focused on crime and hardship. Three more albums have been released since his death, and he has certified sales of over 17 million records in the United States, including 13.4 million albums.
Wallace was born at St. Mary's Hospital in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on May 21, 1972, the only child of Jamaican immigrant parents. His mother, Voletta Wallace, was a preschool teacher, while his father, Selwyn George Latore, was a welder and politician. His father left the family when Wallace was two years old, and his mother worked two jobs while raising him. Wallace grew up at 226 St. James Place in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill, near the border with Bedford-Stuyvesant. Wallace excelled at Queen of All Saints Middle School winning several awards as an English student. He was nicknamed "Big" because he was overweight by the age of 10. Wallace said he started dealing drugs when he was around the age of 12. His mother, often away at work, did not know of his drug dealing until he was an adult. He began rapping as a teenager, entertaining people on the streets, and performed with local groups the Old Gold Brothers and the Techniques. At his request, Wallace transferred from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, where future rappers DMX, Jay-Z, and Busta Rhymes were also attending. According to his mother, Wallace was still a good student but developed a "smart-ass" attitude at the new school. At age 17, Wallace dropped out of school and became more involved in crime. In 1989, he was arrested on weapons charges in Brooklyn and sentenced to five years' probation. In 1990, he was arrested on a violation of his probation. A year later, Wallace was arrested in North Carolina for dealing crack cocaine. He spent nine months in jail before making bail.
Wallace's lyrical topics and themes included mafioso tales ("Niggas Bleed"), his drug-dealing past ("10 Crack Commandments"), materialistic bragging ("Hypnotize"), as well as humor ("Just Playing (Dreams)"), and romance ("Me & My Bitch"). Rolling Stone named Wallace in 2004 as "one of the few young male songwriters in any pop style writing credible love songs".
Guerilla Black, in the book How to Rap, describes how Wallace was able to both "glorify the upper echelon" and "[make] you feel his struggle". According to Touré of The New York Times in 1994, Wallace's lyrics " autobiographical details about crime and violence with emotional honesty". Marriott of The New York Times (in 1997) believed his lyrics were not strictly autobiographical and wrote he "had a knack for exaggeration that increased sales". Wallace described his debut as "a big pie, with each slice indicating a different point in my life involving bitches and niggaz... from the beginning to the end".
Ready to Die is described by Rolling Stone as a contrast of "bleak" street visions and being "full of high-spirited fun, bringing the pleasure principle back to hip-hop". AllMusic write of "a sense of doom" in some of his songs and the NY Times note some being "laced with paranoia"; Wallace described himself as feeling "broke and depressed" when he made his debut. The final song on the album, "Suicidal Thoughts", featured Wallace contemplating suicide and concluded with him committing the act.
On Life After Death, Wallace's lyrics went "deeper". Krims explains how upbeat, dance-oriented tracks (which featured less heavily on his debut) alternate with "reality rap" songs on the record and suggests that he was "going pimp" through some of the lyrical topics of the former. XXL magazine wrote that Wallace "revamped his image" through the portrayal of himself between the albums, going from "midlevel hustler" on his debut to "drug lord".
AllMusic wrote that the success of Ready to Die is "mostly due to Wallace's skill as a storyteller"; in 1994, Rolling Stone described Wallace's ability in this technique as painting "a sonic picture so vibrant that you're transported right to the scene". On Life After Death, Wallace notably demonstrated this skill on "I Got a Story to Tell", creating a story as a rap for the first half of the song and then retelling the same story "for his boys" in conversation form.
Considered one of the best rappers of all time, Wallace was described by AllMusic as "the savior of East Coast hip-hop". The Source magazine named Wallace the greatest rapper of all time in its 150th issue in 2002. In 2003, when XXL magazine asked several hip hop artists to list their five favorite MCs, Wallace's name appeared on more rappers' lists than anyone else. In 2006, MTV ranked him at No. 3 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, calling him possibly "the most skillful ever on the mic". Editors of About.com ranked him No. 3 on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007). In 2012, The Source ranked him No. 3 on their list of the Top 50 Lyrical Leaders of all time. Rolling Stone has referred to him as the "greatest rapper that ever lived". In 2015, Billboard named Wallace as the greatest rapper of all time.
Since his death, Wallace's lyrics have been sampled and quoted by a variety of hip hop, R&B and pop artists including Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Fat Joe, Nelly, Ja Rule, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Game, Clinton Sparks, Michael Jackson and Usher. On August 28, 2005, at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Sean Combs (then using the rap alias "P. Diddy") and Snoop Dogg paid tribute to Wallace: an orchestra played while the vocals from "Juicy" and "Warning" played on the arena speakers. In September 2005, VH1 held its second annual "Hip Hop Honors", with a tribute to Wallace headlining the show.
Wallace had begun to promote a clothing line called Brooklyn Mint, which was to produce plus-sized clothing but fell dormant after he died. In 2004, his managers, Mark Pitts and Wayne Barrow, launched the clothing line, with help from Jay-Z, selling T-shirts with images of Wallace on them. A portion of the proceeds go to the Christopher Wallace Foundation and to Jay-Z's Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation. In 2005, Voletta Wallace hired branding and licensing agency Wicked Cow Entertainment to guide the estate's licensing efforts. Wallace-branded products on the market include action figures, blankets, and cell phone content.
The Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation holds an annual black-tie dinner ("B.I.G. Night Out") to raise funds for children's school equipment and to honor Wallace's memory. For this particular event, because it is a children's schools' charity, "B.I.G." is also said to stand for "Books Instead of Guns".
There is a large portrait mural of Wallace as Mao Zedong on Fulton Street in Brooklyn a half-mile west from Wallace's old block. A fan petitioned to have the corner of Fulton Street and St. James Place, near Wallace's childhood home renamed in his honor, garnering support from local businesses and attracting more than 560 signatures.
A large portrait of Wallace features prominently in the Netflix series Luke Cage, due to the fact that he served as muse for the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of Marvel Comics character Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes.
Running
The Notorious B.I.G. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Where Brooklyn at? Where Brooklyn at?
Where Brooklyn at? Where Brooklyn at?
Where Brooklyn at? Where Brooklyn at?
Where Brooklyn at?
1, 2, 3, and...
Now they say you ain't never suppose to envy no man
Can't tell that to a dingy old man
Who see a young nigga getting plently dough man
Icy Audemar, hendy gold band
With a mean girl like Lindsay Lohan
That's why I keep the 9 in the Bently door pan
Trust it's gon' bust you roll on us
Know it's gon' blow for my dough
Why would you try with that guy
Scene told u he keep it G
We can bang like the two chains on my neck
The hood is Iraq I'm Hussein in the 'jects
The coup's up take the new Lame for a sec
12" up, new cane in the deck nigga
Right now with a squeezer and a coozie
And Im goin out like Keyshia with the uzzi
[Chorus]
They talk about it, we all about it
They making plans, we sit and counting
Our cheddar stack it's just like a mountain
You heard about it cause she running her mouth
She want's to ride, and she's trying to hide it
I'm cool as ever, she's too excited
Her man look like, he want to fight
But he ain't doing nothing, but running his mouth
[Notorious B.I.G.]
Fuck around and feel the fury of a high nigga
When I get busy throw your hands in the sky nigga
I got the illest of the ill mentality, niggas be grabbing me
Knowing that they'd rather be stabbing me
All up in my back trying to take my track
When I used to sell crack I ain't had problems like that
Street rules, watch your pockets and your jewels
A nigga front, throw the gat to the fool
Necks wanna move but's getting blasted
Streets to a flows from the ill ghetto bastard
As I release masterpieces like adhesive
Stuck to your ass, like tissue when your wiping fast
MC's have a hard time believing
I mark with death, hard to kill like Steven
When Jake come I'm leaving, the black man's motto
You got a better chance playing lotto
What you want nigga?
[Chorus]
[Busta Rhymes]
Ah, Yo
Now watch me dip-dip-di-dive all over the beat
Now watch me drip-drip-dri-di all over the street
The general consensus is you'll be the dominating fleet
Bitch raw, and let me continue to bring the heat
You know who been the kings of the block, the kings of the drops
The kings of the crap music and the kings of the cross
Niggas fire then drop shit like the purest of powder
That's why most of these niggas little song be sounding like ours
Couple years ago, niggas probably thought I was dieing
Now same niggas are idolizing put our face in the shrine
Yeah I took a little time to cook and show you what's really hot
How the fuck any of you niggas think you feeling my spot
Why you niggas getting mad at us, we shit on your floors
All in your house nigga, our strategies is different from yours
Listen, you come you can do it while I continue to preach
Snoop, fam, bigger Bust of the stand if you can't reach
[Chorus]
Uhhh, uhhh
Fox then B.I.G.
Who fucking with Fox, who want it with I
Bust a shot for me and Big from the villfredo sky
Got my joan fross shit on, hop off my dick
Canary bangle-round I ain't gon' 20 carrots on this bitch
Pull up the Phantom, show 'em how we switch
From the Bentley blinds spur kill 'em with the six
Bedstuy what up y'all, what up with your girl
How she leave dude broke tell them boys on work
I'm in the G5 jedi, Brooklyn what's your chrome
Cause that niggas lieing home if the tutti with the dead-eye
My nigga Neck got hit up in his truck
And no Stranel ain't the same since Homo got touched
Nasty with the pistol, nasty with the clit
See I'm a beast with it, fucking 'til I'm crippled
Ill nuns squeezing the lhama
Bog roll dutty, Fox and Poppa
[Snoop Dogg]
Run for your gun you suckers
B.I.G. I'm a get them motherfuckers
Don't you worry about a thing, bang-bang-boogie
I got a few chickens that's gon' work that noggie
In the lack with a sack go and put it on the mat
What it do nephew (Where Brooklyn at?)
Uh, turning it out, run in your house
Gun in your mouth, motherfucker quit running your mouth
[Chorus]
What you really want from a nigga?...
The song "Running Your Mouth" by The Notorious B.I.G. is a rap song featuring guest artists, Fabolous, Busta Rhymes, Foxxy Brown, and Snoop Dogg. The song opens in typical New York fashion with Biggie asking "Where Brooklyn at?" and repeating it several times. The song's themes center around bragging, dealing with enemies and haters who run their mouths, and boasts about their street credibility. The lyrics contain a lot of violence and aggression, with Biggie referencing his days selling crack and the "street rules" he follows.
Fabolous's verse talks about not being envious and bragging about his wealth, with references to expensive watches and his car's hidden weapon. Busta Rhymes boasts about dominating the rap industry and how he's influenced other rappers. Foxxy Brown and Snoop Dogg both discuss taking down their enemies and asserting their dominance.
Overall, the song is a typical example of the hardcore rap genre that Biggie helped to popularize in the 1990s. It portrays a world of violence, aggression, and street life, with a heavy emphasis on the machismo and bravado that defined this type of music.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@apblolol
"Why am i dying to live, if im just living to die." Hits me every time
@CrackZulu
Not alone
@Smash896
Word up
@lauriecook7128
Same here
@user-wg1bj6mi4c
Сложно брат
@krystalford300
@@CrackZulu sssssssss
@haloskaterkid
A friendship destroyed by media intervention. Two poets gone before their time like many others that came before them. RIP pac and big, your influence and message lives on
@quest6264
adrift dam that got me thinking KINGS RESTING NOW
@omgman2248
Brad favor with Tupac Shakur
@MHWRESTLIN
quest 626 no the friendship was destroyed by Pac getting shot and rumours that bad boy set it up and biggie knew but never warned him