#Think 🅱️
One of the years many hip-hop fans like ourselves will never leave, is 1996. Today, we’re acknowledging the death day for one of the greatest musicians ever, in Biggie Smalls. Today marks the 24th anniversary for the passing of The Notorious B.I.G.; when he was also just 24 years of age before passing. However, 6 moths prior to the tragedy of the east coast, one happened in the west, with his friend 2pac.
At the time, Biggie took Pac’s death harder than most people, considering the two were once friends. One of his biggest regrets, was not having a sit-down to clear the air with Pac. BIG loved him so much, that he brought his gun to a hospital for Pac, just so he would feel comfortable after the original Quad Studios shooting. However, miscommunication and a street situation with Suge Knight and Puff Daddy hindered their communication from happening again with serious events.
Following Tupac’s death, most of the music game was at a standstill; including Bad Boy Records, who were originally readying to release Life after Death around the holidays. Those plans were delayed by three months, as Biggie wanted to allow grieving for his friend. This led to him making the entire city of New York pay homage to Pac, by not releasing music.
With the exception of Lil Kim and Mobb Deep, who had albums turned in months prior; Frank felt releasing something after Pac’s death would be distrustful. Two months after the Las Vegas shooting, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released in November. It quickly became the second-best selling rap album year, behind All Eeyz on Me. So, that marked the first time a rapper had ever debuted no. 1 on the charts with two albums.
More so, after his car crash, where he almost lost a leg, Biggie played the Makaveli album almost everyday before his own death. We wanted to pay homage to Biggie on March 9th; by him essentially forcing the entire NY to have a moment of silence, musically. This is something we’ll never see again, since this is the age of social media and most people move on with their lives after a few days.