THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G

On the two studio albums, Ready to Die (1994) and Life After Death (1997) that the Notorious B.I.G. recorded before his death, he crafted brutally honest lyrics that depicted his city just as he saw it, speaking of both the good and the bad. Still, unlike the tales of "gangsta rap" coming from the West Coast, Biggie's lyrics were simultaneously laced with laughter and tears.

The do or die world of Bed-Stuy ("the place where my head rest"), that B.I.G. observed while snapping and squatting on the stoop of his St. James Place apartment, would soon become world renown. With his deep voice gritty as broken glass and urgent as a siren, B.I.G.'s streetwise poetics and cinematic eye put East Coast rap back in the spotlight, having temporarily lost its shine to the new West Coast MCs dominating the airwaves.

Following in the giant steps of '80s icons Rakim and Big Daddy Kane, two of his favorite rappers, B.I.G. was determined to stay true to his block and become famous at the same time. After winning the Unsigned Hype (March, 1992) competition in the pages of the hip hop magazine, The Source, rapping over an old Kane beat courtesy of his homeboy Mister Cee, a tape of the massive rapper was sent to A&R rebel and chief conceptualist Sean "Puffy" Combs at Uptown Records.
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