The prelude is a continuation of a skit from Ready to Die. Life After Death (LAD) wasn’t just a morbid title for the Notorious B.I.G.’s second coming, it was also the album’s theme. For the remainder of the year, my world became all things Life After Death. Besides the album’s cover slightly haunting me to see BIG dressed up in all-black standing next to a funeral hearse, I quickly ripped the plastic wrap off (almost scratched the CD) and forced it into the player. Once class ended at 3pm, I rushed with Flash-speed to the Sam Goody music store in Northland Mall to spend my after-school part-time job money on the double CD. There was even proof: a signed, autographed photo in the popular downtown clothing store called The Broadway. The album’s buzz was significant in the city, thanks to BIG’s shoutout in the lead single “ Hypnotize”, where he spits, “Pink gators/ my Detroit players!,”-plus, word got around that shortly before his demise, BIG visited the city. The entire day of March 25, 1997, I walked around school with my ears shut, intentionally ignoring any praise or criticism from classmates who had already heard Life After Death. He couldn’t wait to get love from fans once they saw how much he’d grown as an MC. The Life After Death album was announced as a follow-up, and everyone, including BIG himself, was excited for its release. The album’s darker side satisfied the Hip Hop street fan who loved records such as “ Warning”, “Unbelievable”, and “Everyday Struggle.” BIG’s personal life was also catching newsworthy attention, from his messy marriage to labelmate singer Faith Evans to public fallout with a former friend turned adversary, Tupac Shakur, which geared up an East/West Coast rivalry among their peers.
The production created a winning formula for radio play, with songs such as “ Juicy”, “Big Poppa”, and “ One More Chance (remix).” He was backed by CEO of Bad Boy records, Sean “Puff” Combs, the young, brash, and flashy mogul-in-the-making who orchestrated the match of BIG’s gritty street rhymes with samples of smooth 80’s R&B. After building street buzz with mixtape freestyles and Unsigned Hype, Brooklyn’s son Christopher “BIG” Wallace was sitting on top of the world with the release of his 1994 debut album Ready to Die. In just three short years, good music and controversy had created massive hype for the Notorious B.I.G.’s second album’s announcement. Now two of my favorite Hip Hop artists were gone, and all I could think was, “What now?!!” The first time was six months prior when Tupac Shakur was murdered by gunfire on the Las Vegas strip. The words from legendary Detroit newswoman Amyre Makupson’s froze me, “Rapper, the Notorious B.I.G., was shot and killed leaving a Soul Train Awards show afterparty in California.” The date was March 9, 1997, and it was the second time in my life that my eyes watered for a man I had never met. Since we were too broke for cable, I feared BIG being on the Ten O’clock News wasn’t positive.
#Rapper with big clock tv
I dropped my book, turned off the radio, and grabbed the remote to raise the TV volume. I was deep into the storyline, but I became distracted by an image of The Notorious B.I.G.’s “ Big Poppa” video on my TV.
It was late on a school night, and instead of studying for my Spanish test in the morning, I was reading a Spawncomic book and blasting my boombox radio from the window.
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