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The Hip-Hop community will forever remember the day we lost one of the greatest rappers to touch the mic.
On March 9, 1997, The Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, was shot and killed in the streets of Los Angeles. He was in L.A. to promote his upcoming second album Life After Death and attended an array of events at the time. While he was on his way to an after-party with his entourage, Biggie stopped his SUV at a red light on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and South Fairfax Avenue when someone pulled up next to his car and opened fire. The rapper was struck with four bullets.
After he was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, doctors tried to save him with emergency surgery but he didn't make it. He was only 24. According to his autopsy report, which wasn't released to the public until December 2012, three out of the four bullets that hit Biggie were non-fatal. He was shot in his left forearm, his back (which missed all his vital organs and exited through his left shoulder), and his outer left thigh. The fourth bullet, which ultimately led to his death, entered his through his right hip and tore through several vital organs including his colon, liver, heart and the upper lube of his left lung.
Biggie was laid to rest nine days later in his hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y. Thousands of fans flocked to the Bad Boy rapper's neighborhood in Clinton Hill to watch a hearse transported his casket for the prolific MC's final ride in the streets of Bed-Stuy, New York City. Artists like Diddy, Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim, Lil Cease, Junior M.A.F.I.A, Busta Rhymes, JAY-Z and others attended the funeral at the Campbell Funeral Home.
The question that still plagues the minds of police and fans everywhere to this day is "who killed Biggie?" While some people suspected his and 2Pac's murders were connected, one man, Amir Muhammad, was once considered a prime suspect thanks to tips from Biggie's circle and an FBI informant. Muhammad was even named in a $400 million civil lawsuit for wrongful death the Wallace estate filed in 2002. The lawsuit was later dismissed in 2010. Since then, no other suspects have been named.
The Notorious B.I.G. was survived by his mother, Violetta, and his two children, T’yanna and CJ Wallace. In the years after his death, they've done so much to honor his life, music and legacy. Last year, the Wallace Estate honored the rapper's 50th birthday with a series of events in New York City. They even brought to life in the Metaverse and the NFT space. 27 years after his death, his daughter T'yanna Wallace opened 'The Biggie Experience' in the late rapper's hometown of Brooklyn. Watch her and Lil' Cease talk about the event with Angela Yee below.