It was all a dream......

For hip hop fans March 9th will forever be remembered as the day we lost one of our best and most influential  MC’s the Notorius B.I.G I can still remember watching MTV news reporting that he was gunned down in L.A and being in total shock that Raps biggest star at the time was murdered. So in true Hip Hop form of turning shit to sugar March 9th has become an offical holiday in Hip Hop to celebrate the life of the one we called Biggie Smalls.

I remember when I first heard B.I.G on the Supercat record “Dolly My Baby” then the “Party and Bullshit” records and the way he demanded your attention when he started ryhming. His voice had this unmistakable pull that made you want to listen to every word he was saying. He actually made you stop what you were doing to listen to his verses. BY the time his first album “Ready To Die” dropped Biggie had pretty much taken over the NYC airwaves and became the unofficial King of the city because he was just starting to dominate the hip hop scene at a time when the west coast had the game on SMASH as far as billboard charts and video play went. Everybody in NY felt like Biggie bought us back to the forefront where we belonged.

By time his second album was about to drop Biggie was pretty much on a run no other east coast MC had ever been on in terms of his popularity and success. He totally changed the game from the underground grimy to what is now known as the “Big Willie” era. But he wasn’t all about image his growth as an MC from “Ready To Die” to his second album “Life After Death” was remarkable and I can’t remember another MC making that type of jump between albums so quickly. Who knows how much better he would have been if his life wasn’t cut so tragically short.

To this day I say “Life After Death” is Hip Hop’s greatest double album. There is not a song to skip on the entire thing. I can’t tell you how many hours I put into studying that album. His wordplay, flow and subject matter are untouchable. I even studied his breath control and word pronunciation from that album. So to say he was an inspiration of mine is almost an understatement.

The gift and curse of Hip Hop is that it’s a music that was born from the inner city streets and that street element will always be a part of it for better or worse. Even though in his last interviews you could see B.I.G went to L.A trying to promote unity with the west coast after it had lost it’s favorite son Tupac he never made it back home. He didn’t leave behind a huge music library but the music he did leave behind is some of the most cherished most timeless music of all time. So when an outsider ask why do Hip Hop fans flood their Facebooks and Twitter pages with B.I.G’s videos and lyrics on March 9th just tell them in your best B.I.G voice BIGGIE SMALLS IS THE ILLEST!!