1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,160 Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome back for another rewind story. This 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: one is coming to you about the Notorious Big. Now, 3 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:12,040 Speaker 1: this episode originally came out back in May of twenty 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 1: twenty one, if memory serves, and since that time. 5 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:18,799 Speaker 2: We've I don't believe we've. 6 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: Learned all that much about who who murdered the Notorious Big. 7 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of conjecture out there about 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,319 Speaker 1: certain managers who are connected to certain artists who may 9 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: or may not have been guilty recently of some pretty 10 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: horrific crimes, definitely guilty and in jail at the moment, 11 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: for reasons you can probably guess. I can't really get 12 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: into that here in the pre How the Notorious Big 13 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: came to prominence his career, and who may or may 14 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: not have been involved in his death, specifically, how should 15 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: Knight's payroll, How a mysterious ninety five Chevy and Paula 16 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: and a cop who was connected to both both Biggie 17 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: and Pauk, how they all combined to have something perhaps 18 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: to do with his murder. Well, that's what we get 19 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: into in this episode, and I hope you dig it. 20 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The Stories about 21 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: the Notorious Big are insane. He was arrested almost too 22 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: many times to count. He entered adulthood as a crack dealer, 23 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: and he left this world as one of its most 24 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: famous hip hop stars. Murdered mysteriously. The Notorious Big altered 25 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: the course of hip hop but the release of his 26 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: debut album, Ready to Die, an album that served as 27 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: a soundtrack of sorts for the highly publicized violent beef 28 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: between himself and his one time friend fellow rapper Tupac Shakur. 29 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: But Thebig's career wasn't all about the beef. It was 30 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: also obviously about the music. He made great music. That 31 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: music you heard at the top of the show that 32 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my 33 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: mellotron called Coola Party Hop MK one. I played you 34 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: that loop because I can't afford the rights to I'll 35 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,839 Speaker 1: Make Love to You by Boys to Men? And why 36 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: would I play you that specific slice of babyface penned cheese? 37 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 38 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: song in America on September thirteenth, nineteen ninety four, and 39 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: that was the day The Notorious Big released his debut album, 40 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: Ready to die, marking the beginning of his very short, 41 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:50,359 Speaker 1: impactful and notorious career. On this part one of a 42 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: special two part episode Dealing Crack, Spitting Beef, easy Flow, 43 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: hard Beats in the notorious. 44 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 2: Viig I'm Jake Brennan. 45 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:21,239 Speaker 3: This is this Graceland. 46 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: America was, is, and always will be about opportunity. The 47 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 1: rub is that depending on one station in life, opportunity 48 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: comes in different forms. For Freeway Rick Ross, in the 49 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: literate high school dropout living in south central Los Angeles 50 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen seventies, opportunity came in the form 51 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: of rock cocaine. A born hustler, he couldn't believe the 52 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: profit potential of this familiar drug when cut into a 53 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: new form. Cocaine users couldn't believe how cheap it was, 54 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: and Colombian wholesale distributors couldn't believe the ingenuity and ambition 55 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: of their American street supplying partners. America Opportunity for all. 56 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: For Freeway Rick Ross. The cash gushed in a Nicaraguan 57 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: connection supplied Freeway Rick and Bulk direct from the Median 58 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:17,040 Speaker 1: cartel in Colombia. 59 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 2: Rick took as much weight as they could provide, which 60 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 2: in the eighties was a lot. 61 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: He was buying upwards of four hundred million kilos a week, 62 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: turning a profit of three million dollars a week. Serious 63 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:34,480 Speaker 1: way turned into serious cash through an ambitious national distribution network, 64 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: the freeway Rick set up. It took advantage of this 65 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: country's vast into connectivity via Dwight D. Eisenhower's interstate highway system, 66 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,559 Speaker 1: once procured in Los Angeles by way of Mexican drug 67 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: smugglers from its Columbian origin, Freeway Rick Ross took his 68 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: cocaine and modified it into its highly addictive smokable rock 69 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: form also known as crack cocaine, packaged it and shipped 70 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,280 Speaker 1: it out on masts, streetside hustlers on corners all over 71 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: urban American neighborhoods who chopped it up, repackaged it, and 72 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: pedaled it to mostly vulnerable, addicted members of their own communities. 73 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: The crack shipped out of La south on the ten 74 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,719 Speaker 1: east to Arizona, then north on seventeen to Interstate forty. 75 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: From there, the illicit drug rode Highway forty all the 76 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: way east to Oklahoma City, and from ok City the 77 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: crack cut northwest on Interstate forty four to Jefferson City, 78 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:28,239 Speaker 1: and from the jeff it shot due north on fifty 79 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,479 Speaker 1: five and then east on Interstate ninety, straight toward North 80 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: Central America's unconquered cocaine market there for the taking Ohio. 81 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 1: So hungry was Ohio for Freeway Ricks Crack that the 82 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,919 Speaker 1: return for him was like tapping into a well stocked 83 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: bank vault. And Ohio was nothing compared to what lay 84 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: two states away in New York, with its cities five 85 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: hungry boroughs. If Ohio was like a bank vault for 86 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: a drug dealer like Freeway Rick, then New York was 87 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: like the Federal Reserve. The cash flew back west in 88 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: the crack poured to Manhattan from Interstate eighty to to 89 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: eighty east to the Hall and Tunnel through Lower Manhattan 90 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: via Canal Street, over the Manhattan Bridge onto Concord Street 91 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: to the bqeeas off the Expressway onto Washington Street, through 92 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:15,840 Speaker 1: Clinton Hill, left on Gates, right on Saint James, dead 93 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: ahead to Fulton Street, and straight into the pocket of 94 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: a young hustler on the corner with an imposing build, 95 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: a lazy eye, and an unmistakable flow, spitting rhymes on 96 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: the corner with his boys between games of sidewalk se lough, 97 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: clocking every driver of every car rolling by with that 98 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: lazy eye scoping for two things. Customers for the rock 99 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: and his sock tucked in under his timberlands, always untied, 100 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,040 Speaker 1: always brand new, fresh like everything else about his appearance, 101 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: and cops looking to bust him in the grill with 102 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: the butt of their nine millimeter glocks, brace his wrists 103 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: and haul them in and off to Riker's Island for 104 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: seizing what he believed to be the only opportunity available 105 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: to him, capitalizing on freeway Rick Ross's own opportunity by 106 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: dealing his crack cocaine. Boy, was Biggie Small's wrong. The 107 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,360 Speaker 1: corner game was a lazy means to a corrupt end. 108 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: Cash he brought in brought him the times and the 109 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: leather duster, the polo and the other swag. He needed 110 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: to stay quote unquote. 111 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 2: Fresh, a requirement for all. 112 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: Bedford Stuyvesant teens of the era the late nineteen eighties. 113 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: One necessary to keep relevant with the ladies and on 114 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: point with the fellas status sure, but also for a 115 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: young man of modest upbringing self respect as well. Biggie 116 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: Smalls had nicked his name from the movie Let's Do 117 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: It Again, after the film's gang leader character. His mother, Violetta, 118 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: had named him Christopher Wallace. She was a hard working 119 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: Jamaican immigrant who'd earned her way from nothing to the 120 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: cusp of the middle class. And despite however he rationalized 121 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: his drug dealing, he did have options, and despite being 122 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: a smart student, he dropped out of Brooklyn's Westinghouse High 123 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: where a fellow rappers DMX and jay Z also attended, 124 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: and hit the corner where, just as he had in school, 125 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: he excelled. 126 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 2: He took the game seriously. 127 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: He wasn't going to end up in jail, and he 128 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: sure as shit wasn't going into the straight world with 129 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: the dead eyed bumbs he watched entering and exiting the 130 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: subways every day. He'd bounce out of bed early for him, 131 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: at nine am and hit the check cashing spot by 132 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: nine point fifteen, just in time for the crack fiends 133 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: to get their hands around their cashed Social Security checks 134 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: and eager to exchange it for Biggs product. Late mornings 135 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: and early afternoons were slow, but by four thirty the 136 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: hustle would hit home hard with the exiting subway commuters 137 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: most moving down Fulton and their zombie norm trances back 138 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: to their brady kids and annoying wives, but some stopping 139 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: either to buy a jack or two and obliterate any 140 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: and all real world obligations. The suburban kids would come 141 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: out at night too, in from Jersey or upstate looking 142 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: for their dirty city fixes, and Biggie would happily oblige. 143 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: He didn't discovereman was all business, locals, bridge and tunnel men, women, kids. 144 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: He even had a pregnant customer he kept supplied with 145 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: crack on the regular. Other dealers drew the line with 146 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: selling to pregnant women. It was well known that the 147 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,680 Speaker 1: heavily addictive qualities of crack transmitted to the unborn, giving 148 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: rise to the well publicized crack. 149 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 2: Babies of the eighties and nineties. 150 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,440 Speaker 1: Innocent friendly fire casualties of Ronald Reagan's drug war and 151 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: freeway Rick Ross's trade. 152 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:27,960 Speaker 2: But Big didn't care. 153 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: He later told a journalist, I didn't get in this 154 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: game to feel sympathy for nobody. I got in this 155 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: game to eat because I can't do nothing else. But 156 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: of course the world would soon learn that Christopher Wallace 157 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 1: could do something else, in fact, for Biggie Small's aka 158 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,839 Speaker 1: Big aka the Notorious Big. When it came to doing 159 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: the job of making and recording rhymes, he could do 160 00:09:52,240 --> 00:10:23,199 Speaker 1: it better than most. Nineteen eighty nine, another summer, the 161 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:26,959 Speaker 1: Sound of the Funky Drummer, Chuck d wasn't fucking around. 162 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,079 Speaker 1: But by the time he and his group Public Enemy 163 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: released Fight the Power, their devastating indictment of what they 164 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: saw as an American capitalist system of white oppression, the 165 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,440 Speaker 1: track that screamed off the screen of Spike Lee's nineteen 166 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:42,319 Speaker 1: eighty nine masterpiece. 167 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 2: Do the Right Thing. 168 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: Hip hop had fully transitioned from a once dismissed novelty 169 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,840 Speaker 1: to full on cultural force, and the proof was all over. 170 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 2: Biggie Small's teenage bedroom walls. 171 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: And it wasn't just Public Enemy posters Slick Rick Krs One, 172 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: the Jungle Brothers, Ello Kooljay, Eric Bin Rakim, and of 173 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: course Brooklyn's finest, Big Daddy Kane, all enshrined Biggie's room. 174 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: He was growing up amidst the masters of the Golden 175 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: Age of hip hop, and none were more influential in 176 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,600 Speaker 1: those early days to him than Kane. Big Daddy Kane 177 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: came up in Flatbush studied at the knees of Marley 178 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,320 Speaker 1: Marriles's Juice Crew from Queen's and put pen to paper 179 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:27,079 Speaker 1: for Bismarquis. Big Daddy Kane grew into a fierce neighborhood 180 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 1: battle wrapper, one of the deadliest to ever grab the mic. 181 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 1: His success was inevitable, with East Coast Tora's videos on 182 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: Yo MTV, wraps and singles blasting from neighborhood boomboxes and Brooklyn. 183 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: At least, his legend was large, his shadow long, and 184 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 1: Biggie loved the music, sure, but the possibility of making 185 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 1: something from nothing through music as Kane was doing, stuck 186 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 1: to him. He would spit rhymes on the corner with 187 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:55,439 Speaker 1: his boys while hustling. He was better than they were, 188 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: and that was obvious, but there was no time for 189 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: real rap dealing. Crack was full time job. Sometimes sleep 190 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: was impossible. Biggie woke up on his mother's sofa and 191 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: headed into his bedroom to get back to work to 192 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,320 Speaker 1: finish cutting and bagging his crackstash to take to the streets. 193 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,280 Speaker 2: But it was a problem. His stash was gone. 194 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: The dinner plate he used to cut and sort his 195 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:18,959 Speaker 1: drugs on was where he left it. On his bed, 196 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: but the pile of crack he left. 197 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:22,480 Speaker 2: On top of it had disappeared. 198 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 1: He looked everywhere, tore his room apart, and when he 199 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: came up empty, he looked to the eyes on his 200 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: wall for answers. Chuck d said nothing, just stared down 201 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:32,679 Speaker 1: in silent judgment. 202 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 2: The Jungle brothers. 203 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: Looked typically aloof Eric b and Raquin nonplussed, and Kane 204 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: satisfied that his one day competition was distracted and thus 205 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: unable to come for his crown. Then Biggie's heart sank, 206 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: realizing what must have happened as mom's. He dragged himself 207 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: shamefully into the kitchen and asked his mother if she'd 208 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: been in his room only to clean up a bit, 209 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: she replied. She then told him that he shouldn't leave 210 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: half eat and play of food lying around, as they 211 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 1: attract cockroaches, and asked him to grab the plate in 212 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: this room, the one with the old hardened mashed potato 213 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: she'd emptied into the trash. Biggie's boys on the corner 214 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:15,719 Speaker 1: laughed and told them the story. The image of him 215 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: on all fours combing through his trash barrel picking crack 216 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: out of it was hysterical to them, but the laught 217 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: wouldn't last. In nineteen ninety, at the age of seventeen, 218 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:29,440 Speaker 1: shortly after the Crack Potatoes incident, Biggie Smalls was arrested 219 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:34,080 Speaker 1: for possession of an unregistered loaded fireer. The judge went 220 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:36,679 Speaker 1: easy on him and gave him only five years probation, 221 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: but local cops were on to him from that point on, 222 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: constantly clocking and searching him, coming by his mom's house 223 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: to warn her about what her son was up to 224 00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: dealing crack. She didn't believe them, and she couldn't barely 225 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 1: believe her son at all when he came home shortly 226 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: after his arrest and told her he was going to 227 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: be a father. 228 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 2: His girlfriend was pregnant. It was his He was going 229 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:00,560 Speaker 2: to do what his dad hadn't be sad and raise 230 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 2: up his child. 231 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 1: What with zero job prospects for a seventeen year old 232 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,000 Speaker 1: high school dropout and too much pride to beg or borrow, 233 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: hustling crack looked to be the only answer until a 234 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: DJ named fifty Grand entered his world. Fifty heard Biggie 235 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: rhyming on corners and at house parties and recognized his 236 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: talent immediately. He told Biggie he had the gear to 237 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: the con tap, so they did. His confidence, his command, 238 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: his rhymes when the tape rolled were all way beyond 239 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: what anyone expected for a first time or to be 240 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 1: laying down in a makeshift neighborhood studio. When Biggie heard 241 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: himself coming out of the speakers flowing over the break 242 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 1: view from the Emotion's Blind Alley, a well known run 243 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: of tape that Big Daddy Cane had repurposed for his 244 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: Amael Half Step, he was even surprised. He knew he 245 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: had the skills, but to that point it was all 246 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 1: a dream. Hearing himself in real life on tape, it 247 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: was nothing short of compelling. Fifty Grand was blown away, 248 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: his boys were blown away, and more importantly, fifty Grand's neighbor, 249 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: the well connected DJ mister c was also blown away. 250 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: See fresh off tour with Big Daddy Kane, upon hearing 251 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,640 Speaker 1: Biggie's tape, was said to say that he was so 252 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: impressed that he couldn't Breathe See agreed that he would 253 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: try to get Biggie a record deal. Biggie warned him 254 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: not to fuck it up. See he did the Big 255 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,360 Speaker 1: Man's advice and get down the business. First, they recorded 256 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: a proper demo. Second, see sent the demo off straight 257 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: away to an influential editor of the Source magazine. The 258 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 1: writer punched up a piece for his Unsigned Hype column, 259 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: a column so impactful that it was known to literally 260 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 1: make careers. Rappers, Mob Deep and DMX get signed off 261 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: of write ups and unsigned hype, and so too would 262 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: Biggie Small's. But the writer did Biggie one better and 263 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: tipped off a young scrappy A and R kid from 264 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: Harlem by the name of Sean Puffy Combs. Sean Puffy 265 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 1: Combs was ambition and wise beyond his years. His ear 266 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: for talent was as keen as his eye for identifying 267 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: marketable qualities and artists. When Puffy heard Biggie Smalls, it 268 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: was clear the kid had skills. 269 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 2: But what he saw. 270 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: Biggie Smalls, Puffy knew he had something truly special. Biggie's 271 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: look would have turned off most A and R men 272 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: at the time. He was big three hundred and seventy 273 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: five pounds at his heaviest, but unlike the fat boys, 274 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: Biggie Smalls wasn't comical, and unlike heavy d Biggie Smalls 275 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: didn't have his edges softened by R and B. Biggie 276 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: Smalls was six' to two and intimidating to look. At 277 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,480 Speaker 1: he looked exactly like what he, was a street corner 278 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: drug dealing, thug slinging crack rock as a means to, 279 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: survive even if it cost someone else's. Life his image was. 280 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: Menacing Sean combs sniffed out the potential. Immediately Biggie smalls 281 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 1: could have a unique kind of. Appeal Biggie smalls could be. 282 00:16:55,960 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: Notorious but even With Sean combe's, interests a deal was 283 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: hired to. Paper puffy was working on his own future 284 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 1: machiavelliing his way out from under his Mentor Andre herrel 285 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: At Uptown records and into his own joint venture label 286 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: With Arista. 287 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 2: Records he had. 288 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,320 Speaker 1: The perfect name for, it Bad Boy, entertainment and the 289 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:18,200 Speaker 1: perfect artist to need the Way Biggie, smalls newly christened 290 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:24,120 Speaker 1: The Notorious. Big, still Despite comb's earnest interests in launching his, 291 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: Career Biggie smalls waited for his record. 292 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:29,920 Speaker 2: Deal and with a new baby on the, way he waited. 293 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,360 Speaker 1: Impatiently for the much needed money his deal would come 294 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: with money needed to take some of the pressure. Off he, 295 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: waited and waited some, more and then some, more until 296 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: finally deciding that the deal was a bust and in 297 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: the absence of a music, career he needed to go 298 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 1: back to the only other thing he was good, at dealing. 299 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: Crack so that's what he did when he came to 300 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,360 Speaker 1: crack For Biggie. Smalls the weight was In New York, 301 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: city but the cash. 302 00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:58,639 Speaker 2: Was now In North. 303 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:03,399 Speaker 1: Carolina In, brooklyn crack was. Everywhere buyers could afford to shop. 304 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: Around if they didn't like What biggie was, peddling they 305 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: could move on down the block to the next dealer 306 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 1: for a better. Price making, money real, money money that 307 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 1: could feed a family was becoming harder For biggie In New, 308 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,159 Speaker 1: york but In North carolina he had a, connect a 309 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: connect to a seller's. Market there was less crack Down, 310 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:22,160 Speaker 1: south but there was hardly any less. 311 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 2: Demand in, Fact. 312 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: Biggie could post Up moraleigh and buyers would drive into 313 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: town en masts looking to purchase and bulk to take 314 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 1: care of their street cornered, dealers who in turn took 315 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,159 Speaker 1: care of their local, feeds and the money poured In 316 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: biggie and his connect were pocketing at about thirty grand 317 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: every two, weeks not bad for. 318 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 2: Her high school. 319 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:45,560 Speaker 1: Dropout North carolina was anything but a lonely existence around. 320 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: Town as a hustling, export it was a bit of 321 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: a local celebrity in the. Clubs he was enjoying himself having, 322 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 1: fun stacked in, cash and had no intention of rushing 323 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 1: back To New york anytime. Soon but his phone wouldn't stop, 324 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 1: ringing and his pager wouldn't stop. Buzzing his, mom his, Girl, 325 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: puffy no, doubt with more bullshit about an impending deal than. 326 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 2: Never seemed to. 327 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: Come And biggie tried ignoring the distractions at home to 328 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: instead focus on the, hustle focus on the. Fun but 329 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,919 Speaker 1: sooner or later the messages got through and they're all. 330 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:16,360 Speaker 2: The, Same, christopher where the fuck are? You puffy will 331 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 2: stop called and looking for, you hit him back and 332 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 2: call me, back. Motherfucker i'm about to have, you goddamn, 333 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 2: baby AND i needs. Money and. 334 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: Eventually Biggie smalls did indeed Call Sewn Puffy combs back 335 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: from his and his drug dealing partners rented apartment house In, 336 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: Raleigh North. Carolina puff knew What biggie was doing down, 337 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: there and told him he was a damn fool and 338 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:39,920 Speaker 1: he had a contract and a check waiting for him 339 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 1: on his, Desk and then if he went and got 340 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:44,359 Speaker 1: himself busted for dealing, weight which was every day he 341 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:46,920 Speaker 1: pressed his luck became more and more of a, likelihood 342 00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:50,679 Speaker 1: then there would be no rap career from behind, Bars biggie, 343 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,679 Speaker 1: protested he was making good. Money what did he need 344 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,719 Speaker 1: to fuck with the music industry? For puffy assured him 345 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: this wouldn't be no one and done flash in the pan. 346 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: Nonsense he had a, plan a plan to make him a. 347 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: Star that this wasn't just About Biggie. Smalls it was 348 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: about the launch of Bad Boy entertainment as. Well it 349 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,479 Speaker 1: was About Sean Puffy combs climbing out from the shadow 350 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: of his mentor and making it on his. Own so 351 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: he best get the fuck out Of dodge with the 352 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: quickness and get himself back To manhattan to sign his 353 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: deal and cash his. Check so that's What Biggie smalls. 354 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: Did he Split North carolina For New York city that 355 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 1: very same morning after getting off the phone With puffy 356 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,359 Speaker 1: and headed north to try and make his way as a, 357 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,199 Speaker 1: rapper just Like, kane a life in hip hop without the, 358 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:33,359 Speaker 1: cocaine a. 359 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 2: Different kind of. 360 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,480 Speaker 1: Hustle and that, afternoon after he left the house he 361 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: rented In raleigh with His North carolina connect the house 362 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: was raided by the. Cops everyone in it was promptly 363 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: arrested on stiff drug distribution charges and eventually sentenced to 364 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:52,160 Speaker 1: long prison. Terms but Not Biggie. Smalls he was off, 365 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:54,360 Speaker 1: out about to be on some other. 366 00:20:54,440 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 3: Trip. Entirely we'll be right back after this word word. 367 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:26,639 Speaker 1: Word how about, dope, grass, hash, coke, mescaline, downers nevun 368 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: al two and all. Chlorohydrates how about uppers and. Amphetamines 369 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,760 Speaker 1: biggie shook his. Head he wasn't. Interested crystal. METH i 370 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: can get you crystal, meth nitroso, oxide how about? 371 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:37,440 Speaker 2: That how about A. 372 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:39,399 Speaker 1: CADILLAC i get you a brand New cadillac with a 373 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 1: pink slip for twenty. Grand biggie just stared at the 374 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: bed in the cheap motel where they were. Haggling Easy 375 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: andy wouldn't shut. Up the easy part of his name 376 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: must have been a, joke because he was anything but 377 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 1: easy to deal. With maybe he got the name because 378 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: he could get you whatever you, Wanted Easily biggie didn't. 379 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: Know all he knew was that he wanted to talk 380 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: about the gun laid out neatly in the suitcase on 381 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: top of the, Bed the forty Four magnum in, Particular 382 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: andy called it a real, monster and it. Was it 383 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: could stop a car at one hundred, yards put around 384 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: right through the engine. Block was beautiful, too but it wasn't, 385 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: practical unlike the thirty eight Snub, nose another beauty nickel, 386 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 1: plated compact but powerful and, reliable nice. Action heck of 387 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:26,240 Speaker 1: A wallap cops carried them for a, reason And biggie 388 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: wanted them, both as well as the cold twenty five, 389 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 1: AUTOMATIC a real, HONEY a nice little gun in the 390 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:34,879 Speaker 1: three eighty eight shots in the, cliff sophisticated by comparison 391 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: to the. Rest Easy andy told them that In World 392 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:39,399 Speaker 1: War two was only issued to. 393 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 2: Officers. Classy biggie liked. That he Knew Tupac shakora would. 394 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,359 Speaker 1: Too after, all the guns were Four Tupac BIG's new 395 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 1: brother from a wildly different, mother for an extra five. 396 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 1: Large Easy andy would see too it that the guns 397 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:55,920 Speaker 1: made it safely of The tupac out on The West, 398 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: coast a heavy freight, charge but For big was worth. 399 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:06,119 Speaker 1: It after securing the deal for the, Guns big hopped 400 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 1: in the back of His chauffet Suv Doctor Dres let me, 401 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: ride blasted through the. 402 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,200 Speaker 2: Speakers, man this shit never got. 403 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:16,000 Speaker 1: Old bigie thought the album was a big influence for 404 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:20,200 Speaker 1: The Notorious vig's first, Album ready To, die released as 405 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:24,200 Speaker 1: promised On Sean Puffy Combs's Bad Boy entertainment On september, 406 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,360 Speaker 1: thirteenth nineteen ninety. Four the album was a hit out 407 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,119 Speaker 1: of the, gate selling half a million copies in its first, 408 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,400 Speaker 1: week and Though drey didn't produce the, album His chronic 409 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: had a lot to do with its. Success big heard 410 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,160 Speaker 1: in The chronic a kindred, style a laid back sensibility 411 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,119 Speaker 1: that he could relate to because it wasn't just laid, 412 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: back it was. Real the hardcore realism Of West coast 413 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: rap was something that had recently fallen out of fashion 414 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: on The East, coast where conscious, rap with its positive 415 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: messages and beta boy academic vibes reigned. Supreme East coast 416 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,199 Speaker 1: hip hop in the early nineties was more huxtable in, 417 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 1: hardcore and that didn't speak To Big Sure, tribe Call 418 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,679 Speaker 1: quest And De La soul were onto, something but it 419 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: didn't do For biggie what The chronic. Did so when 420 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: it came time to write and record his, Debut big 421 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: enlisted some of The East coast deadliest production, Weapons Easy 422 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,879 Speaker 1: mob AND Dj premiere to craft beats into a unique 423 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: style befitting The Big. 424 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,640 Speaker 2: Man Like, Dre big would mix. 425 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 1: The hard with the, smooth hard as in the Hardcore 426 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: New York city street reality Where big made his living dealing, 427 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: drugs smooth as in the EASY r AND b sensibilities 428 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: that Sophisticated East coast listeners caught. Into Whereas dre turned 429 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: To George clinton And, Zap big turned To isak's And Teddy. 430 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 1: Pendergrass and just As snoop went laid back with that 431 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: unique flow of, His big was able to do the 432 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: same with his. Flow but Like, Snoop BIG's voice And 433 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: BIG's flow were entirely his, own and when it all came, 434 00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: out filtered through his authentic street point of, view you and, 435 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 1: personality it was very clear that the notorious B. I 436 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,080 Speaker 1: G was onto something entirely unique for the, time and 437 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: just As dre had done with The, Chronic big had 438 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: now done With ready To die created another inflection point 439 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 1: for the artist relatively young musical genre with one fully 440 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:22,159 Speaker 1: realized artistic statement with one, album his debut, Album The 441 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:25,200 Speaker 1: notorious B i g ushered in a new phase of hip. 442 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:56,760 Speaker 1: Hop When The Notorious big released his debut Album ready 443 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: To die On Sean Puffy comb's As Bad Boy. Entertainment 444 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: the results Of biggie's creative, vision a melding of sorts 445 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: Between east And West coast, sensibilities were. Undeniable kids loved, 446 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,120 Speaker 1: It critics loved. It fellow rappers loved. It Tupac shakur. 447 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:16,879 Speaker 1: Included ever since first Hearing The Notorious big in nineteen ninety, 448 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,400 Speaker 1: Three tupac was enamored of, him both as a person 449 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 1: and as a fellow, rapper and of, Course big was 450 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 1: in a kind of awe Of, tupac who at the 451 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: time was a little further along in the rap. Game 452 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: the two, men despite their many obvious, differences became fast, 453 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: friends both fulfilling something different in the. Other tupac grew up, 454 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: poor the son of a black, panther a radical activist and. 455 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 1: Addict he'd learned his trade from real life. Revolutionaries it 456 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,160 Speaker 1: was as hardcore in real a background as a rapper could, 457 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: have And Christopher Biggie Smalls wallace Envied Tupacomaru shakur for. 458 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 1: It biggie grew up with a single, mom, sure in 459 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: the middle of a dangerous, city but in comparison to 460 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:03,600 Speaker 1: the Way tupac Grew big was, bourgeois practically middle, class 461 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,119 Speaker 1: and that, Said tupac as a child growing, up was 462 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,360 Speaker 1: bookish and a serious student of the. Arts he attended 463 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 1: the Prestigious Baltimore school For Performing. Arts and though his 464 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 1: neighbors on the hard streets Of baltimore no doubt lived 465 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: lives of violence and, crime and though his mother's friends 466 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,639 Speaker 1: were some of the country's most revolutionary, Activists tupac was 467 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:28,400 Speaker 1: relatively soft by, comparison and In biggie he saw a 468 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 1: real street, thug someone who had the balls to take 469 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,440 Speaker 1: what was his by any means necessary through his chosen 470 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,160 Speaker 1: trade of drug, dealing and they loved hanging out with each. 471 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 2: Other when one was on the other's, coast they took 472 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 2: care of each. Other big Hosted. 473 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: Pac pac did the same For, big and When tupac's 474 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: big mouth started getting him in trouble and his fame 475 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: started to freak him, out and he began complaining about 476 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: having to look around too many corners for fear of getting. 477 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: Jacked big did what friends do and looked out for his. 478 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: Boy he shipped them the fresh arsenal he'd procured in 479 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: a Dingy East coast, motel handpicked just for his paranoid 480 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: friend out. West but either the guns came too Later 481 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:09,160 Speaker 1: tupac for, god or didn't bother to make sure they 482 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,400 Speaker 1: made their way back with him east for his next 483 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 1: trip To New, york or perhaps he. 484 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:15,520 Speaker 2: Just didn't bother to carry one with. 485 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,000 Speaker 1: Him that Night Quad studios to feature on The Bad 486 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,159 Speaker 1: Boy records Artist Little sean session that was going on 487 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: a floor below Where big And puffy were also recording 488 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:29,439 Speaker 1: working On biggie's warning. Video tupac had a lot on his. 489 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: Mind the trial for sexual assault that he was up 490 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:35,400 Speaker 1: against was wearing on him and draining his bank, account 491 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:37,679 Speaker 1: which is the real reason he was doing the session that. 492 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 1: Evening he needed the, cash but the session would never. 493 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:50,720 Speaker 1: Happen the shots came as soon as he entered the 494 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 1: hallway At Quad, studios five of them from the pair 495 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 1: of nine millimeters carried by the roughnecks shaking him. 496 00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 2: Down they wanted his money and his, jewels one in the, 497 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 2: hand two in the, head one of the die exiting 498 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 2: through the scrot to the shooters. Split after Running tupac's 499 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 2: jewels and. 500 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 1: His, cash he crawled into the hallway, elevator got a 501 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: bloody finger on the, button and was lifted to the 502 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: second floor. Studio when all was said and, Done tupac 503 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,160 Speaker 1: came out of the, melee having survived with five gunshot. 504 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: Wounds With tupac in the hospital nursing his wounds and 505 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: then in and out of court in extreme, Pain big 506 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: ran all over town trying to buy as much weed 507 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: as he could for his friend to help him. Recuperate 508 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 1: he Had pak's best interests in well being front of 509 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,680 Speaker 1: mind after the, shooting But tupac had a different point 510 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: of view from where he sat after the trial in, 511 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: prison sentenced to one and a half to four years 512 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 1: for first degree sexual, abuse he started to see his 513 00:29:57,440 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: friend in a much different light than his friend saw 514 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:04,600 Speaker 1: him To. Tupac Biggie impuffs reaction in the immediate aftermath 515 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: of the quad shooting was highly. Suspicious hawk recounted to 516 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 1: a journalist in a jailhouse interview That When biggie And 517 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: puff Saw tupac bleeding out on the floor with fresh gunshot, 518 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: wounds they didn't move to help. Him in, fact they 519 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: looked surprised to see. Him tupac was insinuating That big 520 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: And puff his friends were surprised because they knew he 521 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: was going to be, shot so they were thus. 522 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 2: Surprised to see him. Alive nine months. 523 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 1: Into his, Sentence tupac was sprung from prison By Doctor 524 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: dre's Notorious Blood streak gang Affiliated Death Row records Label 525 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: Boss Shook, night and thus now firmly under the wing 526 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: protection and career in financial control Of. Shook with that 527 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 1: muscle at his, Back tupac became more outspoken than, ever 528 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 1: except now instead of preaching the raw truth of life 529 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: in the ghetto for young black, Men tupac was spreading 530 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:01,520 Speaker 1: his gospel of The quad studio, shooting cifically his belief 531 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:02,280 Speaker 1: That big And. 532 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 2: Puff had set him. Up when this, happened the media 533 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 2: smelled blood with. 534 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 1: The newfound rivalry Between Tupac shakor and his former friend 535 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 1: the Notorious, big Between shug's new record, Label Death Row 536 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 1: records and label Boss Shug knight And biggie's Label Bad 537 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 1: Boy entertainment and its, Boss Sean Puffy, combs and between 538 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:29,280 Speaker 1: the coasts west Versus. East the beef was undeniably. Compelling 539 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:33,640 Speaker 1: it sold, newspapers it sold, magazines and most, important it sold. 540 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 3: Records the music press often chronicled the rivalry Between. 541 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 2: Chapeau's West Coast Death row records. 542 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 1: Would be too small To Bad Boy entertainment With Sean puffy. 543 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,160 Speaker 1: Comes schapour has been at the center of a battle 544 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:54,200 Speaker 1: Between east And West coast, rappers mostly of words and, 545 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: users but as recently As wednesday, night Chap home was 546 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 1: In newport at THE Mtv Music. Awards he and his 547 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: friends got into a confrontation At Radio City, musical which 548 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: the police had to break up. 549 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,239 Speaker 3: And talk again tonight about reports That schakor's death as 550 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 3: a result of an Ongoing east. 551 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 2: Versus west rep. Dispute Two BOX A corps was writing 552 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 2: in this BLACK bmw two was, writed it was black 553 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:23,600 Speaker 2: v OF. 554 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: W when the gunfire Looked After Mike tyson knocked Out 555 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: Bruce selden under a minute Twenty tupac sat in the 556 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,680 Speaker 1: passenger you see Of SHUG'S bmw at the corner Of 557 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:39,080 Speaker 1: East Famingo road In Cova, Lane his shug was at the. 558 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 1: Wheel from out of, nowhere a late Model cadillac rolled 559 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: up along the passenger. 560 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:44,240 Speaker 2: Side of THE. 561 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: Bmw then countless bullets, fired one In tupac's, arm one 562 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: And tupacs, died two in his, chest but. 563 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 2: One in his right. Lung the kill, shot the kill. 564 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:10,160 Speaker 1: Shot The Notorious big cried when he heard the news 565 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 1: that his Friend Tupac shakur had been shot and. Killed, 566 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 1: first he couldn't believe the Way tupac was behaving toward. Him, 567 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:21,200 Speaker 1: now he couldn't believe That tupac was, gone. Murdered with 568 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: the killers still on the, loose and with a new 569 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 1: record to, finish writing and recording a follow, up too 570 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:29,280 Speaker 1: ready to, die there was no time for, tears never 571 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: mind actually processing his grief in any real. Way tupac's 572 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: death Had Christopher wallace in. Shock it was never. 573 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:37,959 Speaker 2: Supposed to come to. 574 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: This how did, everything it, seemed become so? Complicated hip 575 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: hop's starred and was supposed to alleviate the precious of, 576 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,160 Speaker 1: life not add to. Them but that was exactly what had. 577 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: Happened biggie no longer knew what his purpose was to 578 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: be famous for what and how on some beef that 579 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:56,960 Speaker 1: kills your, friendship it gets someone you admire. 580 00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 2: Killed to be a, father a. 581 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,760 Speaker 1: Husband he and his baby mama had split before his 582 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 1: child was even, borned but he still wanted to provide 583 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: his baby with, everything except he had other commitments now 584 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: to his, Wife Faith, evans to his. Fans it was 585 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,760 Speaker 1: pulled in so many directions at, once and committing himself 586 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: in earnest to family life at the rambunctious age of 587 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 1: twenty four just wasn't. Happening he was too young to 588 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,719 Speaker 1: fully commit or to settle down in any real. Way 589 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,799 Speaker 1: and to be an artist, maybe but life was so 590 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: complicated that it was near impossible to find the brain 591 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: space to fully invest in the new album he was. 592 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: Making biggie's complications didn't all of a sudden die With. 593 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:40,320 Speaker 1: Tupac big had recently been arrested, again this time for marijuana. 594 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 1: Possession his car was, impounded and at the moment he 595 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,839 Speaker 1: was desperately needed at the, Studio he and his boy 596 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,759 Speaker 1: Little cease rented a Shipbox Chevy lumina to get them 597 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:51,520 Speaker 1: to where they needed to be in time for the. 598 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:53,920 Speaker 2: Session the car rent the place was. 599 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,960 Speaker 1: Dubious And The lumina was a, Legit, hank but it 600 00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: was all that was available to, rent And big was 601 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,400 Speaker 1: determined to get to the the, studio get into the, 602 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: work get his mind off of. 603 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 2: Things they drove through the rain on the highway in. 604 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:11,120 Speaker 1: Silence despite his recent arrest and the complicated mess his 605 00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:14,279 Speaker 1: life had become with, fame despite the beef that still 606 00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:18,719 Speaker 1: raged between the, coast Despite tupac's passing in this moment at, 607 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: least but the sound of the wet highway passing them, 608 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,719 Speaker 1: by the silence in the, car the radio, off no 609 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: yammering From, cease rain pelting the car to save fifty 610 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,040 Speaker 1: five miles per, hour with the hypnotic swipes of the windshield. 611 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:35,319 Speaker 1: Wipers it all added up to a kind of momentary 612 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: peace For Biggie. Smalls and Then cease went to make 613 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 1: his exit off the. Highway he put his foot to 614 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: the brake, pedal only to realize that there were no 615 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:46,000 Speaker 1: brakes in this piece of Shit. 616 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 2: Chevy they had completely gone. 617 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,919 Speaker 1: Useless the car refused to slow on the off, rip 618 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:53,360 Speaker 1: and they glided over the wet road at a furious. 619 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:58,360 Speaker 1: Clip cease turned To big for an, answer and Then 620 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:17,560 Speaker 1: I'm Jake brennan In this episode Of disgraceland is to be. 621 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:33,200 Speaker 1: Continued disgraceland was created By Yours truly and is produced 622 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:36,640 Speaker 1: in partnership With Double. Elvis credits for this episode can 623 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,640 Speaker 1: be found on the show notes page at disgracelamdpod dot. 624 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 1: Com if you're listening as A Disgraceland All access, member 625 00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:44,360 Speaker 1: thank you for supporting the. 626 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:45,719 Speaker 2: Show we really appreciate. 627 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,200 Speaker 1: It and if, not you can become a member right 628 00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:52,880 Speaker 1: now by going to disgracelampod dot com Slash. Membership members 629 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:56,720 Speaker 1: can listen to every episode Of disgraceland ad, Free plus 630 00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 1: you'll get one brand new exclusive episode every, month weekly 631 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,560 Speaker 1: unscripted bonus, episodes special audio, collections and early access to 632 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:09,600 Speaker 1: merchandise and. Events visit disgrayslampod dot com slash membership for, 633 00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:12,760 Speaker 1: details rate and review the, show and follow us On, instagram, 634 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: TikTok twitter And facebook at disgrace slampod and on YouTube 635 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:24,880 Speaker 1: at YouTube dot com slash at Disgraceslampod rock A. Roller He, then, 636 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: now all, right, discoes hang in, there all, right we 637 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,880 Speaker 1: got part two of The Notorious big coming. 638 00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:33,480 Speaker 2: Up for you right. Now don't go, anywhere