The tape was reportedly made with no serious intent of getting a recording deal, but was promoted by New York-based DJ Mister Cee and was heard by the editor of The Source magazine. After being released from jail, Wallace made a demo tape using the name "Biggie Smalls", a reference to a character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again. Wallace began rapping when he was a teenager. He spent nine months in jail before making bail.
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One year later, Wallace was arrested in North Carolina for dealing crack cocaine. In 1990, he was arrested on a violation of his probation. In 1989, he was arrested on weapons charges in Brooklyn and sentenced to five years' probation. At seventeen years of age, Wallace dropped out of school and became further involved in crime. According to his mother, Wallace was still a good student but developed a "smart-ass" attitude at the new school. His mother, often away at work, was unaware of her son's drug dealing until he was an adult.Īt his own request, Wallace transferred from the Roman Catholic Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School to the state-funded George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, where future rappers Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes also attended at the time. By the time he was twelve, Wallace began selling illegal drugs. He was nicknamed "Big" because of his size by the age of ten. At the Queen of All Saints Middle School, Wallace excelled in class, winning several awards as an English student.
His father left the family when Wallace was two years old, and his mother worked two jobs whilst raising him. He was the only child of Voletta Wallace, a Jamaican preschool teacher, and Selwyn George Latore, a welder and small-time Jamaican politician. Mary's Hospital on and was brought up in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn. 2.5 1997: Life After Death and car accident.2.4 1996: Arrests, death of Shakur and second child.2.3 1995: Junior M.A.F.I.A., Conspiracy, and coastal feud.He has certified sales of over 17 million units in the United States. Two more studio albums and a collaborative album have been released since his death. album charts and was certified Diamond in 2000, one of the few hip hop albums to receive this certification.
His double-disc set Life After Death released 16 days later, rose to No. On the night of March 9, 1997, Wallace was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. While recording his second album, Wallace was heavily involved in the growing East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry, which mainly involved himself (and his label, Bad Boy Records), and West Coast-based rapper Tupac Shakur (and his label, Death Row Records). The following year, Wallace led his childhood friends to chart success through his protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. When he released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he became a central figure in the East Coast hip hop scene and increased New York's visibility in the genre at a time when West Coast hip hop was dominant in the mainstream.
Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. Wallace is renowned for his loose and easy flow, dark semi-autobiographical lyrics and storytelling abilities. (formerly Biggie Smalls), was an American rapper from Brooklyn, New York. Hip hop, hardcore hip hop, East Coast hip hopĬhristopher George Latore Wallace (March 9, 1997), best known as The Notorious B.I.G.