Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G. (2017)

[bunniefuu]

♪♪♪

Woman: Gangsta rap world
has been shaken again,

this time by the violent death
of the performer

known as the Notorious B.I.G...

Man: ...m*rder of the popular
rap star

known as the Notorious B.I.G.

It happened early yesterday...
-It was outside a Los Angeles

automobile museum
following a music...

Woman: ...and was in his green
Suburban when he was gunned down

in a drive-by sh**ting
at 12:03 a.m....

Man: ...and later d*ed
of g*nsh*t wounds

at nearby Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center.

Woman: The rapper who came
from Brooklyn, New York,

was just 24 years old.

Man: His music just went
through our body,

gave us chills,

because he talked nothin'
but the truth.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[ Horn honks in distance ]

♪♪♪

[ Siren wails ]

[ Crowd cheers ]

[ Horns honking in distance ]

Oh, my God.
Are you serious?

Oh, my God.

Wow.

I've never seen it before.

He got his eyes.
He did get his eyes.

I'm humbled to know
that there are people

who really cared for him,
really loved him,

to make his face
to be a part of Brooklyn wall.

♪♪♪

But there's so much
hate out there

because it takes hatred
to take someone's life.

♪♪♪

And that's why I pity ...
really, really pity ...

the person who m*rder*d my son.

I really do.

'Cause to live
with something like that...

Man: You have to live
with it, too, though.

Yeah,
but I think of his ...

I think
of the wonderful memories.

You know?

I have his beautiful memories.

He doesn't have that.

I have his memories.

[ "Everyday Struggle" plays ]

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪ Whoo ♪[ Horns honking ]

♪♪♪

♪ Biggie Smalls ♪

Wallace:
I came to America from Jamaica

in mid '60s for education,

for a better life.

I worked during the day,
go to school at night,

and I loved every minute of it.

Hard work never hurt anyone.

♪♪♪

The day he came into my life,

they brought my baby to me,

and I started to cry

'cause he was
the most beautiful baby

you've ever seen in your life.

Took him home and loved him
the rest of his life.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[ Siren wails ]

It was hard.
I was always tired.

But I just loved being a mother.

I never wanted my son
to grow up.

♪♪♪

226.
Right here.

♪♪♪

Wow.
This place has really changed.

This is where I used to sit.

I usually sit here,

watch him ride his bicycle
on the sidewalk.

If I'm not here,
I'm up there watching him.

I would just peek out the window
and look ... "Are you there?"

You know, "Please stay
where I can see you."

Coker: His mother,
who is a Jehovah's Witness,

was working one and two jobs
simultaneously

to not only
keep him clothed and fed,

but also put herself
through school.

She spoiled him by buying him
video games and everything else

'cause she wanted to use
that apartment as an oasis

from everything else
that was happening in the world.

Wallace: Christopher went
to a Catholic school

since he was 6.

I never wanted him
to go into public school.

I was very guarded
because, you know,

I don't know what's happening
on Fulton Street.

I don't know what's happening
down Gates Avenue.

[ Siren wails in distance ]Not safe.

I see things I just didn't like

and I didn't want that
for my son.

[ "Things Done Changed" plays ]

♪♪♪

Weren't a lot of opportunities
out there,

and everybody was just out there

just robbing, hustling,
sh**ting, k*lling.

We were seeing people
get sh*t in front of us.

I've been seeing that
since I was 11, 12 years old.

♪♪♪

[ Siren wails ]

Bed-Stuy in the '80s
was just a jungle,

like a concrete jungle
for real, to us.

♪♪♪

Marriott:
There was a lot of v*olence.

♪♪♪

It was like you could see
cr*ck vials spread everywhere.

You would see people
that you knew

that would just turn skeletal.

You didn't feel like
anyone was in control.

Man: cr*ck is such a menace
in New York,

the city has declared w*r on it.

But finding cr*ck is still easy.

It took
Federal Drug Enforcement agents

no more than 10 minutes
in broad daylight.

Marriott: There was a lot
of money available

and people at a very young age
having to make

these really heavy decisions
about their life.

We were getting hit
with so many different images

at a young age
and going through stuff.

You know, you could actually get
robbed just coming from school.

You got to learn that
that's the world you're in,

and we wanted to find
a way to adapt.

Chris was very artistic,
very funny.

He had all the big ideas.

Around the age of 11 is
when I got my first turntables,

and I knew Chris
was already writing,

so at least by 12,
we were at my house

doing recordings, routines.

And during that time
on St. James,

there were some jazz artists
in the neighborhood.

[ Saxophone plays jazz riff ]

There was a guy
named Donald Harrison

that lived down the block
from Chris,

and he gave Chris
his first studio runs.

It was all about articulating,

keeping your volume consistent,
your flow tight,

and keep your subject matter
interesting.

[ Rapping ] ♪ This is
a whale of a tale to fulfill ♪

♪ I have to pay my bills,
and I will nail 'em ♪

♪ Beginning to sell,
the stuff I've seen ♪

If you really pay attention,
Biggies was good

at having a different topic,
a different flow.

That's jazz.

♪ Look in the sky,
wonder why most MC's alibis ♪

♪ Couldn't comply
with my style of rhyme ♪

♪ Or rhyming or rap,
it's not a track ♪

♪ My rhymes are snap ♪

Peace.

Wallace: I heard him
making noise in his room,

knocking on things, playing
with his mouth, and talking.

And I would tell him,
"Please stop the noise."

He said, "I'm not making
noise ... I'm rapping."

He said it was gonna make him
rich, make him famous.

Sam: When I think about
Chris's path direction,

I think school
was very boring to him.

I saw how he passed tests ...
like it was no problem.

So I think the environment
in the neighborhood,

or gangsta stuff,

was in his face
so strongly over there

that that world showed you
you need money.

And, you know,
he was always about that.

Even from young,
get money by any means.

Biggie: Being an only child,
my mom's been gone all the time,

so it left me a lot of time
to, like dip and dab

in all kinds
of dangerous things.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Ain't nobody else taking
care of me.

What the f*ck?

Who is somebody to tell me
that I shouldn't hustle?

It was inevitable.
You know what I'm sayin'?

I mean, all my peoples
is hustling.

Eventually,
I was gonna be a part of it.

You know what I'm sayin'?

♪♪♪

Prior to 13 years of age,
he was just a-a son,

a son that any mother
would like.

At 13,
he became notorious.

Uh-huh.
Keep it real.

[ Siren chirps ]

♪ I'm a bad, bad, bad ♪

♪ Gimme the loot,
gimme the loot ♪

♪ I'm a bad, bad, bad ♪

Lil' Cease:
Another day in the life.
Fulton Street.

This the man right here,
Nino Brown.

Woman:
Talk about the sign.

-Oh, man.
-Oh, God.

This block was basically
drug dealing.

Like, this whole block,
like, that's all it was.

A bunch of drug dealers,
older guys.

We was little kids, so we
always wanted to come outside,

so we always try to find
our way over here,

trying to be around
the drug dealers.

You wanted the same
lifestyle that they was,

'cause it looked ...
it was so much better
than what you had.

♪♪♪

Lil' Cease: I think once he saw
a glimpse of that

and saw what he could do
and see how

all the hustlers before us
was out there makin' money,

feeding their families,
having all the fly clothes,

and something attracted him
to that to where he wanted that.

And he went out there
and really pursued it

and became one of
the big-time hustlers

from our age bracket out there.

Wallace:
Maybe he saw a lot of things,
did a lot of things, too.

You know?

There are a lot of things
I didn't know until he d*ed.

And I'm glad I didn't.

Lil' Cease:
Big was smooth.

You know, Big ain't want
to blow his spot up

to let people know
he was really hustling.

Big didn't really want
nobody to know about it

'cause he didn't want it
to get back to Miss Wallace

that he was hustling.

And he cared about how she felt,

so he never wanted
to hurt her feelings.

So he always tried
to hide things from her

that he knew
that would make her mad.

Once, I found it.

I didn't know what it was.

I thought it was
mashed potatoes.

Because I cleaned his room.

And so I would clean the room,

and I'd say, "My God, this kid."

And I went and I ...
shp-shp-shp! ... washed it out,

turned my dishes down,
walk about my business.

[ Laughter ]

♪♪♪

After my son d*ed,
I read that story

and I said, "Oh, my God.

That's what it was."

And if he wasn't dead,

I would have k*lled him.

Biggie: I been on the streets
since I was 13,

12 years old, man.

I got b*at up by police,
everything, man.

Everything
a mother[bleep] imagine or see,

I done been through that sh*t.

If I ain't been through it,

my closest n*gga
been through it.

You know what I'm saying?

It's all real, man.

Been in this hood
for 22 years, yo,

same f*cking block,
same-ass hood, man.

Ain't nothing changed.
Nothing.

n*gg*s come home from jail,
want some rah-rah sh*t

they going right back to jail
or in a casket.

This sh*t's been happening
since '86,

'85 when I was a little n*gga

♪♪♪

Sam:
'89, going into '90,

when I would come visit,
I would see the change.

He was talking about he needed
to make this money.

You know, was focusing
on having customers

that were his customers.

Taking care of his customers.

And, you know,
on Fulton Street,

there was just
treacherous waters.

He was a good hustler.
People liked him.

He knew how to talk.
He knew how to sell it.

He wasn't one of the ones
that was out there

knocking folks over for it.
Like, you know what I mean?

Just basically came to him.
People would look for him.

He wasn't there,
they'll come back.

♪♪♪

Lil' Cease: He was very young
out there doing his thing.

You know, got caught in
the streets hustling and stuff.

But he was still
just genuinely a good person.

That was Fat Chris.

That's what they used
to call him before the rap.

"Where Fat Chris at?"

The nicknames were flying,
and he was a very jokey guy.

A O.G. gave him that
"Biggie Smalls" ...

older guy
rumored to be a pimp.

So as time went on,

he became known as Biggie
from Fulton Street.

Lil' Cease:
And then, you know, we just
started calling him Biggie,

but that was just another dude

that showed all the love
to everybody on the block.

That's how Big was.

♪♪♪

You know,
I was one of them little kids

that used to go around asking
all the hustlers for money.

"Let me get a dollar.
Let me get 50 cent."

You know, so he already
knew off the riff.

Like, but he would just, like,
"Okay, you going to school?

You graduating?
Today is your day.

You know, here.
Get you some M&Ms.

Get you a juice or something."
You know what I mean?

So he ... he was always
like that.

You know,
from the day I knew him,

he was always, like,
that kind of person ...

very just giving, and, you know,
showing love to his peoples.

You know what I mean?
If he had it, you had it.

My little man Lil' Cease,
he down with Junior M.A.F.I.A.

That's my ... That's my little
heart right there.

That's like my little son.

D-Roc: Cease lived
the next block from him,

but Cease is, like, younger.

Cease was way younger,
so they took him under wing,
and he was just with us.

That was just, like, little bro.
You know what I mean?

That's like his little brother.

Cease is definitely
his little boy.

Yeah.
That's for sure.

Every time I tried to,
"Yo, let me hustle, yo.

Give me some work so
I can go out there and do that,"

he would, like, lie to me
and be like,

"Yeah, I'ma give it to you
next week."

Like, he always avoided me
from getting into that life.

I just guess he just, you know,
like, saw something in me

to where he was like, "Nah,
this kid, he's ... he's cool.

This ain't him.
I got other plans for him."

I mean, when you in the game,
you know what I'm sayin',

you're selling dr*gs
or whatever,

you automatically
"considered" as,

you know what I'm sayin',

the worst person in the world.
You know what I'm sayin'?

They didn't even understand
the situation before.

I wasn't selling dr*gs
just to be selling dr*gs.

You know what I'm sayin'?

I had a baby. I have to work.
You know what I'm saying?

Do my thing to feed my family,
you know?

♪♪♪

Wallace: One day,
he came to me and he goes ...

[ Chuckles ] Geez.

Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi.
My life, Lord.

He says, "Mom, Jan is pregnant."

"Excuse me?"

"Jan is pregnant."

Sam: Jan and Chris
had, like, the classic,

neighborhood love affair ...

you know, the fights, the love.

They were just, like, classic.

T'yanna was born.

Cute little thing.

He was a loving father.
He was really a loving father.

Christopher was the type of dad

that T'yanna have to have
seven pairs of sneakers

for every day during the week.

He was excited
about having a baby,

so it just makes you
feel the need to win.

Whatever it be,
even if it was hustling,

he was gonna hustle harder,
write harder.

Whatever it is he was doing
to make money,

he was gonna do it harder,
he was gonna step it up.

He wanted to make sure his child
get everything she want

and she wouldn't have
to grow up in the struggle.

And he was down to do
whatever it took

to make sure she was good.

[ Car alarm wails ]

[ Mid-tempo hip-hop b*at plays ]

One, two.

[ Rapping indistinctly ]

Brown: I started eventually
hearing Big battle with people.

Like, people would want to come
in the neighborhood

looking for Big to battle.

♪ Yo ♪

♪ All right, now,
come on ♪

They like, you know, say
their little couple of words.

He'd say, "What you wanna do?
What you wanna do?"

Then eventually, somebody start
banging on the garbage can,

and Big did what we never
knew he could do.

He spit
some unbelievable rhymes.

Lil' Cease: It was dope.
He was already 16, 17,

saying some crazy sh*t
You know what I mean?

Like, all right,
don't test that dude.

Forget how he look.

He... He'll tear you up
on that mic.

[ Laughs ]

He already had all of the things
that you need

to be a successful MC.

He had poise and presence

the way that he was holding
the microphone,

and just how he was
into the b*at

at the same time
that he's rhyming.

He was the total package.

[ Laughter and cheers ]

[ Indistinct shouting ]

Sam:
It was a shocker to most people,

but I knew he had skills in him,

'cause that was there since
10, 11 years old, you know?

Nobody knew, but it was
something big about to happen.

♪

[ Indistinct chatter ]

Biggie: From what I knew,
getting a record deal

was some hard sh*t.
You know what I'm sayin'?

That sh*t was like ...
It wasn't no easy sh*t.

But what I did was
some drunk sh*t.

Like, you know what I'm sayin'?

Me and my n*gg*s in
the basement drinkin', smokin',

and we just rappin'
over turntables and sh*t,

making this tape and sh*t.

And then they make your move.
Know what I'm sayin'?

I never made no move
to no record company
a day in my life ever.

He was not an artist that was
out there seeking a record deal.

He was really entrenched
in the struggle

of just being
this young black dude

coming up in Brooklyn
during that time.

Hip-hop wasn't
on the front burner at all

until he left Fulton Street

and was on Bedford
and met with 50 Gran.

That's when hip-hop
came back into his life.

50 Gran:
The day I met Big,

I was out here looking
around for customers
to make some sales.

I see this guy
coming up the block.

It was Big.

And Big says, "Yo, 50, I heard
you know a lot of people.

I want you to be my deejay."

I took him straight
to the basement.

No hesitation.

I wanted to see
what this young boy had.

We just, like, get drunk and
high and go in his basement,

and I used to just rap
over instrumental beats,

and 50 used to tape everything.

I brung him to the basement,

we smoked some L's,
drunk some beers,

threw the music on,
got in the grove.

Started throwing them
Uptown beats on,

and he just grabbed that mic
and just went crazy.

♪ Hey, boy ♪

50 Gran decided

he was good enough
to give the tape to Mister Cee,

who was Big Daddy Kane's deejay,
which was Chris's idol.

50 Gran: I went to Mister Cee
crib for three days,

sat on the stoop
three days straight

till he came off tour
with Big Daddy Kane.

I had to fight him to make him
listen to that demo

'cause he wasn't leaving
until he listened to that demo.

The lyrical content
and the ... the flow

and what rappers
call the cadence,

how his punctuation and his flow
was just in the pocket.

Him being that young

and to have that type
of style and delivery

was just amazing to me.

Mister Cee let my man, Matty C,
hear it from Sourcemagazine...

-Okay.
-...and put us in the magazine.

Then Matty saw Puff,
Matt gave him the tape.

Man: Boom.
It's over.

[ Laughs ]Over.

Hylton: Puffy was working
at Uptown Records.

He was still the A&R there.

You know, the Bad Boy label
hadn't manifested yet.

So he had just had the success
of Mary J. Blige, Jodeci,

and, um, he was looking to sign
a new artist to Uptown Records.

I set up the meeting
with Puff at Uptown.

I will never, ever forget.

It was a cold winter day,
afternoon.

-What's up, baby?
-How you doing?

-How you doing?
-What's up, man?

When he came in the door,
I could tell

like, you know, he was ...
he was kind of nervous.

And, you know,
I asked him, like,

what does he want to do in life?

And he was just like, "I just
wanna get up out these streets,

take care of my family."

Um, he was just like,
"I just want to be the best."

And he was like, "I know
that you could take me there."

And in the beginning
of the meeting,

Puffy just asks Big
to rhyme right on the spot.

His voice, first and foremost,

was something
that was so unique,

and also his style,

his ... his mental approach.

I was like, "Oh, my God.
I just ..."

You know, I felt like I actually
discovered something,

like I found something rare.

And after Big kicked a rhyme
to Puff, Puff was like,

"I could have a record out
on you by the summer.

Would you be cool with that?"

♪♪♪

You know, Puff didn't
want him to hustle.

Puff was just like,
"Yo, be patient. Just chill."

But Big was like, "Man,
I got a kid coming up."

Mister Cee: Back then, he ...
he would go out of town

to states like North Carolina,

and back then, he would call it
pump and jumps.

He was selling cr*ck.
He was hustling.

And so who knows
what would have happened

if Big would have stayed
down there.

That's just by the grace of God.

That's just a blessing

that you got somebody
like a Puff Daddy

that got your best interests
at heart.

What's up?
My name is Puff Daddy.

This is my new artist,
the Notorious B.I.G.

And we here
at the OutKast picnic

just getting our swerve
all the way on.

We had a musical marriage,
a musical partnership.

And then on top of that,
it was a friendship

because I really wanted
to get him out of the streets.

I really wanted him
to be successful.

He was like the underdog.
I really wanted him to win.

And when you find a special
relationship like that,

then anything can happen.

We bangin', baby.Bangin'. We gonna keep bangin'.

We makin' music strictly
for the streets.

We appreciate
y'all's support,

and it's all good.
A'ight.

[ Horn honks ]

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Wallace:
We had a serious talk one day.

At those time, I think
he was going back and forth

to the studios,
coming late in the morning.

I said, "What are you doing
with your life?"

And he came into my room
and he says,

"I'm out there doing music."

Said, "Who are you
doing music with?

You can't even sing."
[ Chuckles ]

"Ma, I told you I don't sing,
I rap,

and this is going to be big."

"Who are you doing it with?"

"This kid I know,
and his name is Puffy."

Oh Jesus Christ.

Puffy?
What kind of name is that?

I'm the Bad Boy ...

President
of Bad Boy Entertainment,

Vice President
of Uptown MCA,

A&R,
and Artist Development.

This is my new act.Man: Right.

You know?

And so we out here
representing Big,

Biggie Smalls.

The Notorious B.I.G. is gonna be
dropping signs, performing...

Okay."Party and Bullshit"

[ Rapping ] ♪ I was a terror
since the public school era ♪

♪ Bathroom passes, cuttin'
classes, squeezin' asses ♪

♪ Smokin' blunts
was a daily routine ♪

♪ Since 13, a chubby n*gga
on the scene ♪

♪ I used to have... ♪

"Party and [bleep]"
was like his first big break,

like to be on something
that was really legit,

the "Who's The Man" soundtrack.

My town was lit up because

we had one of the hottest
up-and-coming artists.

And that was like that
Brooklyn anthem

with this, uh, this new cat.

Like, it's this ... this ...
This the new cat, y'all.

We all got to get behind.

♪ 'Cause all we wanna do is ♪

-♪ [Bleep] and party ♪
-♪ Throw your hands in the air ♪

♪ And throw your hands
in the air ♪

♪ And throw your g*ns
in the air ♪

I like "Party and Bullshit"

because it comes in

with that thing in his voice,
and he paints the picture.

♪ Hugs from the honeys,
pounds from the roughnecks ♪

♪ Seen my man Sage that I knew
from the projects ♪

♪ Said he had beef, asked me
if I had my piece, sure do ♪

Nas:
He was definitely our guy.

He was the "straight off
the block" thing,

so me being "straight off
the block" guy,

we all recognized each other,
like, "Oh, okay."

♪ Honeys want to chat,
but all we wanna know ♪

♪ Is where the party at,
and can I bring my gat? ♪

"Where's the party at,
and can I bring my gat?"

Like, "I'm gonna have fun,

but I'm always
going to bring the drama."

That's the Notorious B.I.G.
persona in a nutshell.

♪ Can't we just all get along? ♪

♪ So I can put hickies
on her chest like Little Shawn ♪

♪ Get her pissy drunk
off of Dom Pérignon ♪

♪ And it's on, and I'm gone ♪

♪ Pass it down ♪♪ Party and [bleep] ♪

Well, I just rap about
what I see, what I know.

You know what I'm sayin'?
Streets, man.

That's where I was brought up.
-Right.

"Party and Bull."
-That's it.

Go beef it out.
Party and Bull.

♪ And party,
yeah, yeah ♪

Man:
Big in this mother[bleep]

B.I.G. in the house.

Bad Boys [bleep]

Combs: The concept that I had
about launching him was,

I wanted him to be authentic,
and he ...

he was hardcore rap, you know?

It's the one
and only Biggie Smalls,

doing his thing
in the rap world.

That's right, baby.
What's up, man?

Even though I had ideas for more
commercial type of records,

I still wanted him
to get his name out there

in the industry as an MC
and as a great MC.

Tell me something
real quick.

You ... When I first met
you, everybody's calling
you Biggie Smalls.

Uh-huh.And I keep flipping
back and forth.

I mean...
It's all good.

It's all good.

I mean, somebody else
had the name,

so I couldn't use the name.
You know what I'm sayin'?

The checks are signed
Notorious B.I.G.

B.I.G.
But my peoples,
you know what I'm sayin',

they still call me Biggie.They ... They call you Biggie.

It's all good.It's all good.

Big was the greatest artist
I ever worked with,

and he was also,
you know, my friend.

I don't think people realize,
like, how young we were.

Big was just like 19.

I'm just like,
you know, turning 21.

You know,
so we're actually like kids

in this multibillion-dollar
industry.

You all right?

[ Chuckles ]

You know, two young men

that really had a chemistry,
really got along,

and were just really enjoying
this dream that we had.

And it was a dream
that we had together

and we made happen together.

So it made our bond
extremely close.

He took me out of a dangerous
game. You know what I'm sayin'?

I mean, I was selling dr*gs
real hard, you know?

And when I got the record deal,
all that got cut short.

So it's like he Jesus to me,

you know what I'm sayin',
'cause he just saved me.

And it's real,
and I go all out for him.

No, I ain't saying none of that.
I'm not Jesus. Jesus...

To me, I look at him like ...
I say Jesus ...

And, uh, next question is...Whatever.

Watch you out for the thunder
out this m*therf*cker.

He saved me.

Puffy and Big
were like brothers.

There was a genuine connection
there,

a genuine care.

It's all good.

Puffy really cared about Big.

He cared about his well-being.

And Big cared about Puffy,
as well.

We were just young kids
with great ideas,

a lot of drive,
a lot of energy and creativity.

♪♪♪

The day Big and I met,

there was a photo sh**t for Puff
and his artists

that he had just signed
to Bad Boy.

Tell Big to come out
the meeting!

[ Indistinct shouting ]

Yo, I need Big now!

Lil' Cease: This was
the first time we was meeting

all the other new artists
that was on Bad Boy.

We didn't know
that Puff signed a female.

Combs: Hey. Hey.

Lil' Cease: When Big saw, he was
just like, "Yo, who is that?"

You know, he went over there
just start messing with her.

Man: Notorious B.I.G.
What's going on?

Evans:
On one of our breaks,

I was looking through
some photos

that I had just developed,

and he sat down and was asking
could he see my pictures,

you know, and was
asking questions.

"Is this your daughter?"
Blah, blah, blah.

And he ended up asking me,

could I take him back
to Brooklyn [Chuckles]

you know,
when the photo sh**t was over

because I had a car of my own,
and he did not.

And he was with four other guys
from Junior M.A.F.I.A.

[ Indistinct chatter ]

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

When I dropped them off,
and, you know,

after all the jokes and smokes
[Laughs] he said,

"I'm gonna call you tomorrow."

And I was like, "Yeah, okay."

But I hadn't given him
my number.

And the next day,
he did call me.

So I asked him,
"How did you get my number?"

You know, he's like,
"I got my ways,"

which I thought
was kind of cute.

And so, uh,
he continued to call me,

and I would come to Brooklyn

pretty much every day
after that.

And the first thing he would
usually say when he called,

"What are we gonna eat today?"

♪♪♪

Needless to say,
every one of those times,

Cease, Nino,
at the very least, were in tow.

It was a package deal.

Now, I remember coming,

getting the orders
from you and Big,

and coming here
and get the food.

They like family to us,
this spot.

You could call them, and they
know who they talking to.

"Come pick that up."Y'all used to eat a lot

because I would come
and pick up like 10 orders,

and there was only
four people.

[ Laughs ] So...Oh, yeah, we used to...

It was probably
four orders for Big.

They used to show
a lot of love, too.

You would come in here ...
You could come in here

with $3 and eat good.

Like, they know
they gonna see us again.

We'd come back,
pay them the next day.

-Mm-hmm.
-That's how we used to do.

That's all we did was bug out,
hang out all the time.

Lil' Cease:
She was coming around,
hanging out all the time.

You know, that was his girl.

He was in love with her.
You know what I mean?

Something about her that was
making him feel good

about hisself,
made him feel love.

H-He wanted to be around her.
He embraced her.

This my woman.

This my woman right there.
That's my people.

I think he wanted somebody

that was
on the same level as him

as far as like, you know,

chasing the same dream
he was chasing,

successful like him.

I think that's what
really made them gel.

♪♪♪

Evans: He was very sexy to me
because of his personality.

From the first time we had
a conversation, you know,

there was something that I felt
that was really cool about him.

And, um, shortly after that,

it may have been about five,
six weeks, something like that,

and he was like,
"I'm gonna marry you."

I'm like, "Are you serious?"

He asked me again the next day,

and less than a week, probably,
August 4, 1994,

we drove up to Rockland County,
Upstate New York,

to the Justice of the Peace

and went in a little room
with a clerk,

and we got married.

[ Chuckles ]

♪♪♪

He was like, "You know
I'm marrying Faith."

And I was like,
"What are you talking about?"

I thought it was a joke.
[ Laughs ]

I just thought
they were both crazy.

The honeymoon
was the next morning

when I came back to Brooklyn
[Laughs]

in the back room
while Miss Wallace was at work

and Cease and anyone else
was not around, okay?

[ Laughs ]

The most privacy we got
in them early days

was somebody going outside
to wait outside

while we go in the room.

Like, "Cease,
go outside for a minute."

"Go to the car."
"Get to the store."

Like, we can't do
nothing without them.

I got used to it.
It's all good.

But I'm like, hey,
in certain moments, like...

Yeah, it's to the point
where you...

[ Laughter ]Yeah.

♪♪♪

sh*t changes.
You know what I'm sayin'?

Everything happens for a reason.

And I think me hustlin',

sellin' dr*gs, it schooled me
to the streets a lot.

You know what I'm sayin'?
I learned a lot.

You know what I'm sayin'?
I learned there's some things

you can do
and some things you can't do.

And sellin' dr*gs forever
is something you can't do.

You cannot do that.

You will eventually die
or go to jail.

That's a fact.

♪ I love it when you call me
big poppa ♪

♪ The showstopper,
the rhyme dropper ♪

I got involved
with this music thing.

You know what I'm sayin'?
It changed my life around,

took care of my family.

Now I'm straight making music
for the people.

♪ I see you shiverin' ♪

♪ Check the flavor
Biggie Smalls is deliverin' ♪

♪ Lyrical lyricist
flowin' lyrics out my larynx ♪

♪ Chubby competitor, quick
to kick a chump in the chest ♪

I eliminated all the bullshit.

All the dr*gs, all the street
sh*t all the extra sh*t.

That's out of my life now.

It's strictly business
and entertainment.

♪ It's Bad Boy ♪♪ Right ♪

♪ Hard to the core ♪

♪ Lord, me can't take it
no more ♪

Big was known ... he's known ...
he was highly anticipated

definitely before
his album dropped.

He had enough records out there

that you knew
he was next up, you know?

People had their eyes on him.

Coker:
John Singleton tells a story

of being in a limousine
with Tupac,

and on endless loop for hours
was "Party and Bullshit"

It was like Tupac
was obsessed with the song.

And that's one of the things
that led to him

reaching out to Big,

and that was really kind of
the birth of their friendship.

♪♪♪

Lil' Cease: The day Tupac came,
it was crazy out here, man.

We see this limo pull up
right over there

where that ...
where that yellow sign is,

that Golden Krust,
that used to be a pizza shop.

When he pulled up
and got out that car,

I mean, it lit my hood up.

♪♪♪

That was our first time,
like, really seeing somebody

that we actually
liked and respected

actually come
to a real neighborhood.

Chopped it up, kicked it
with us, smoked a blunt with us,

and took all of us to the ...
to the show with him.

He had a show
at The Ritz that night.

He came up here to pick up Big,
and he came out here

and showed love
to everybody, man,

and he showed his love to B.I.

That's when I knew how important
that B.I. was to him.

Marriott: Pac was in New York
making records, filming "Juice."

They became really,
really close friends.

Big would sleep on Pac's couch.

Coker: Pac was a year older,
but essentially the thing was

was that they both identified

with lack
of central father figure,

being hot MCs at the same time,

naturally intelligent
both in the street sense

and in book sense
because both were well-read.

Um, they just had a lot of fun
around each other.

Ready n*gga?
You want to set it off?

Man, I'm scared to do
some freestyle.

I'm scared to do
some freestyle.

Pac respected Big as an artist
and as a person.

He knew Big was real.
He knew ... He knew Big was down.

And Big embraced him
the same way.

Like, they was ...
they was really cool.

♪ I got my n*gga, B-I to the G
beside me ♪

-Yeah.
-♪ b*tches on my d*ck ♪

♪ You know the hoes
gonna rock me ♪

♪ My other homies
out here like Spike Lee ♪

♪ They got the camera
on the n*gga ♪

♪ Guess they like me ♪

♪ But now I'm about to pass
this m*therf*cker on ♪

♪ 'Cause this Tanqueray
is getting hella strong ♪

♪ Unh, unh, unh,
money, hos, the clothes ♪

♪ Blunt smoke
comin' out the nose ♪

♪ It's all a n*gga knows,
flippin' on fools ♪

♪ Puttin' tags on toes,
watchin' the stash grow ♪

♪ Clockin' the cash flow ♪

♪ I'd rather make a buck,
drive a phat-ass truck ♪

♪ Grab the nine, two clips,
and run amok ♪

♪ You know it's even when
I choke ya, you stop breathin' ♪

♪ When police come,
I'm leavin' ♪

Peace and love.
Here we go.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Biggie: He schooled me to a lot
because he knew a lot, you know?

He told me, "Yo, you could do

a whole lot of things
in this game.

You could be the broke rapper
or you could be the rich rapper.

You know what I'm sayin'?

You could rap as hard
as you want on your album,

but just make sure the radio
got some joints.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Make sure you got those
radio-friendly records

that the girls is gonna like,
that the radio's gonna like.

It's gonna help you sell
your album."Mm-hmm.

♪♪♪

Marriott:
Pac was almost, like,

mentoring Big in the beginning.

To understand Big and Tupac

is really to watch this kind
of Gemini quality, you know?

They were both Geminis,
and they attracted each other

and then, of course,
you know, it repelled.

I'm kickin' it
with the Notorious Big.

You know what I'm sayin'?
Uptown MCA.

What's up, baby?Bad Boy Entertainment
Management Group.

What's happenin', homey?Chillin'.

Same thing every day,
you know?

Yeah.
So as far as your album go,

your debut album,
that's gonna be dropped?

September, man, September.What's the title?

"Ready To Die.""Ready To Die"?

For all the black dudes.
You know what I'm sayin'?

Buck wild.

The album is called
"Ready To Die."

It's just a big pie

with different slices of things
that happened in my life.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Woman: Why Ready To Die?

Because.
Because...?

Um, I guess they thought ...
I figured it out like this.

If you wake up in the morning,
you know what I'm sayin',

and you ain't going to school,
you ain't workin',

you hustlin' every day
tryin' to get some money,

you're riskin' your life
every day.

And you're doing it every day
without any hesitation,

so you ready to die.

You don't really care.
You're just tryin' to get paper.

That's the only thing
that's on your mind.

That's the only thing
that was on my mind,
so I wrote a song about it.

We wanted to make a movie on wax
about this kid from Brooklyn

who had nothing to lose,
and he was ready to die,

and that was the mentality
that was going on ...

coming out of the '80s
and out of, you know,

out of cr*ck and, you know,
everybody losing their families

and, you know, not seeing
any light on the horizon.

"Ready To Die" is about,
in terms of the persona,

a kid who was born
to a broken household,

who is out on the street
fending for himself.

Goes through the whole journey
of the record

trying to become
this big hustler.

Becomes a big hustler

and then is so disgusted
with himself,

at the end of the record,
kills himself.

♪ Yes, I'm ready ♪

We finally had a rap artist

that was inadvertently
the personification

of 70 years of thought
about black life,

personified by the kid that had
been completely abandoned

and now had a voice
and now had a record

that put him on a map in the way

that I don't think
really has been duplicated

because it managed
to both be gangster

and political simultaneously.

♪ Yes, I'm ready ♪

♪ Yes, I'm ready ♪♪ I'm ready ♪

♪ Yes, I'm ready ♪

This right here is my office,
my little ...

This is where ...
This is my little lab.

I'm just living out a dream.
You know what I'm sayin'?

Young black man
just living out a dream.

Combs:
It was just a great experience

launching a hip-hop artist's
career

that had so many different
dimensions and levels.

If I had McD... a McDonald's job,

most of the songs would have
been about Big Macs and fries

and, you know, stuff like that.

I hustled,
That what's my ... my game was,

so that's what
I was rapping about.

That's how I was gettin' down.

Combs:
You got to really understand
how deep he has to dig

to tell these stories
that he's telling.

This is what a black man

is going through
in their consciousness

and in their heart
and their spirit.

And his thing is like,
"I'ma make you deal with it."

And my thing was like, "I'ma put
the music underneath it

to make you dance to it

and make you feel it
as you're dealing with it."

Woman: Is he giving you
the freedom to be Big?

The man that you are
and do your thing?[ Chuckles ]

I know ...
We all know how Puff is.

I'm saying,
he want to make hits.

That's what he thrives on.Exactly.

He let me know that
from the beginning.

He thrive off hits.
You know what I'm sayin'?

And the record speaks
for itself.

So whatever he tell me to do,
you know what I'm sayin',

if it ain't too outlandish,
I'll roll.

You know what I'm sayin'?
I'm down.

Enuff:
I don't care what nobody says,

those two together
were the ultimate duo.

Biggie had the artistry,
and Puff had the vision.

When you put it together,
it was just magical.

Puffy said, "Okay,
let's take this R&B sound,

let's put hardcore hip-hop
on top of it,

and let's put it out
to the masses."

♪♪♪

Easy Mo Bee: I remember
at the end of the recording

for "Ready To Die,"

Biggie had all of these
rough and tough,

you know, gritty hip-hop songs.

And here come Puffy in
with this one record.

It's like,
"This is your radio record."

Combs: And he was like,
"No, the record is ...

I'm not getting
on anything like that.

That record is too soft."

But I was like, you know,
"Trust me. Just trust me."

♪ It was all a dream ♪

♪ I used to read
Word Upmagazine ♪

♪ Salt-n-Pepa and Heavy D
up in the limousine ♪

Mister Cee:
"Juicy" was the all-time male
Cinderella hip-hop story.

"I went from the hood
to just being successful."

You know,
that's every rapper's dream.

♪ Now I'm in the limelight
'cause I rhyme tight ♪

♪ Time to get paid,
blow up like the World Trade ♪

Easy Mo Bee: You listen
to the lyrics of "Juicy,"

he's basically speaking

of the things
that he wanted to exist.

The cars, the house ...
all of that wasn't true.

But when you speak positively,
you receive positively.

♪ I made the change
from a common thief ♪

♪ To up close and personal
with Robin Leach ♪

♪ And I'm far from cheap,
I smoke skunk with
my peeps all day ♪

♪ Spread love,
it's the Brooklyn way ♪

♪ The Moet and Alizé
keep me pissy ♪

♪ Girls used to diss me ♪

♪ Now they write letters
'cause they miss me ♪

You can't do nothing
but listen to his story

and ride with him on his journey

from a dream
to becoming the king.

That's what that song is ...
a celebration.

♪ And my whole crew
is loungin' ♪

♪ Celebratin' every day,
no more public housing ♪

Combs: What came out of him
was his honesty.

"And you a black man?

And you're, like,
being vulnerable?"

And this is like, you know,
in the early '90s.

This is like really, really
unheard of

expressing yourself like this
to the world, you know?

♪ Stereotypes of a black male
misunderstood ♪

♪ And it's still all good, unh ♪

I was like, I know I've been
involved in a lot of things,

but I just knew, like,
this ... this thing right here

was gonna ... it was gonna change
our lives.

Everybody, come on!

[ Crowd cheering,
music plays indistinctly ]

♪♪♪

Biggie: And everybody showed me
love and bought the record,

and it stayed on the charts
for a long time.

I got love for them,
so I'ma keep doing it.

Lil' Cease:
Blew up straight from the gate.

A lot of people ain't blow up
their first album.

Big came out, sold millions
of records just from the rip.

Straight out the hood,
a n*gga did good.

[ Indistinct chatter ]

Wallace:
There was a Valentine party,
and Christopher was performing.

He said, "Ma, you've never
seen me in concert.

Please, please come."
And I went.

♪ I never thought it could
happen, this rappin' stuff ♪

♪ I was too used to packin' gats
and stuff ♪

To be honest with you...
I wasn't impressed.

[ Chuckles ]

I hate rap.

♪ Indo for weeks ♪

♪ Sold-out seats to hear
Biggie Smalls speak ♪

I saw all the girls
goo-goo ga-ing

over his performance,

and I sent the message
that it is time for me to go.

So the car ... car
was out there waiting for me,

and then the limo driver told me

there was something
in the back for me.

And, um,
when I was coming out,

it was a beautiful arrangement
of flowers

and a bottle of champagne.

"Thanks for coming
to my concert."

That was from my son.

And I thought
that was a lovely evening.

This my mom's crib.
This where I was born at.

I ain't seen her
in a couple weeks.

Tell ya, when she comes down,

she's gonna be doing
a lot of talking.

She talk a lot.

Wallace:
He could drive you bonkers.

Yes, he could.

Hear about
my four Source Awards?

Oh, I heard about it.
I sent you a congratulations.

You did not even
call me back.

That's why I'm furious
with you.

You ain't furious with me.

I'm not?

But he was my friend.

I miss just talking to him.

I miss his jokes 'cause he ...

You know, he always ...
he's always ...

have something to say
to you to make you laugh.

You know, I miss that.

I miss that a lot.

You know, and that's why some ...

And that's when I look
at his picture and I smile

because I think
of the ... the good times.

♪♪♪

You know, I can look
at his picture and smile.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Combs: You know, I got
a lot of pushback on "Juicy,"

but he did it,

and people
really loved it so much,

and he kind of saw

the way people started
looking at him differently.

'Cause you could tell, like,

oh, this guy is about
to be a superstar.

So people started
treating him like that.

And his change went overnight

from army fatigues
to Coogi sweaters

and [Chuckles]
and, you know,

just being a little bit flyer,

and being a little bit
more fashion-conscious.

Big's style in the beginning

was very, very Brooklyn,
New York hip-hop.

Hardcore, bandanas, Timbs,
oversized jeans.

But as his sound evolved,
his look evolved, as well,

and he sort of became
this Brooklyn hustler,

mac daddy, ladies man.

♪ To all the ladies in the place
with style and grace ♪

♪ Allow me to lace these lyrical
douches in your bushes ♪

♪ Who rock grooves and make
moves with all the mamis? ♪

♪ The back of the club sippin'
Moet is where you'll find me ♪

I just wanted to show

that we didn't always have
to have do-rags on.

We didn't always have
to have g*ns in our videos.

We didn't always have
to be doing things

in broken-down, vacant lots
or the projects.

I was taking a page from Motown,
how tailored their artists were

and how their artists
represented

the finer things in life.

♪ How ya livin',
Biggie Smalls? ♪

♪ In mansion and Benzes ♪

♪ Givin' ends to my friends,
and it feels stupendous ♪

♪ Tremendous cream
[bleep] a dollar and a dream ♪

Combs:
I was just telling my truth
as he was telling his truth.

And together, you know,
we came and made something

that wasn't just hip-hop,

but just ... it was also culture.

♪ Straight up, honey,
really, I'm askin' ♪

♪ Most of these n*gg*s
think they be mackin',
they be actin' ♪

♪ Who they attractin'
with that line ♪

♪ "What's your name?
What's your sign?" ♪

Combs:
He was the first rap artist

to get the guys and the girls,

and people don't realize that.

♪ If you got a g*n
up in your waist ♪

♪ Please don't sh**t up
the place ♪

♪ Why? ♪♪ 'Cause I see
some ladies tonight ♪

♪ That should be having ♪
What?
♪ My baby ♪

What?Audience: ♪ My baby ♪

They were screaming for him
just like they would scream

for New Edition
or Justin Bieber.

♪♪♪

That's how they were screaming
for Biggie.

♪♪♪

♪ First things first, I poppa,
freaks all the honeys ♪

♪ Dummies, Playboy bunnies,
those wantin' money ♪

♪ Those the ones I like
'cause they don't get Nathan ♪

♪ But penetration unless
it smells like sanitation ♪

♪ Garbage,
I turn like doorknobs ♪

Jay-Z: The juxtaposition
of this big guy

who was like a sex symbol.

Like, what's going on here?
You know?

♪ Girls pee pee
when they see me ♪

♪ Navajos creep me
in they teepee ♪

Jay-Z: He would take things
that you would use against him

and just, like, defuse you.

♪ I'm black and ugly as ever,
however ♪

♪ I stay Coogi
down to the socks ♪

Done.
Now you can't say it

'cause he just defused
the whole thing.

His confidence
gave so many guys confidence.

♪ Baby ♪

You could tell
how he was gettin' down.

[ Chuckles ] You could tell
how he was gettin' down.

He was our savior, man.

Big was like me.

You're dark. You're heavy.

We don't come up
through the girl system

with the girls
being all over you,

so all he had was how sharp
his lyrics could be,

cutting through.

♪ I got that good love, girl,
you didn't know? ♪

♪ All I need
is one more chance ♪

[ Indistinct chatter ]

Biggie:
That's temptation right there.

Temptation.

Burns: Ladies loved Biggie.
Loved him.

I mean, if you wasn't
secure with yourself

and you hung around Big,
you would have a problem.

Lil' Cease:
Big was the man on tour, man.

He embraced that part
of the life, man.

We had a lot of fun
with a lot of chicks, man.

MAN: Whoo![ Indistinct conversations ]

Lil' Cease: Hotel parties.
Backstage parties.

Show parties.

It was a [bleep] of a good life.

-All righty, then.
-[ Laughs ]

Hylton: Big had access,
um, to a lifestyle

that he didn't have previously,

and a lot was happening
really quickly with the women

and the traveling
and the attention,

and Faith was his wife.

And that's not easy
for any wife to handle,

let alone a young wife
and a new wife.

♪♪♪

What I was up against
was being 21 years old,

married to another artist

who happened
to just out the gate

be really popular

and really, um, in demand
in more ways than one.

When Faith was finding
out about things,

oh, it was different ballgames.

Homegirl was comin' into town,
was kickin' in doors.

He would always,
you know, check in

and make sure he called me
once he got to whatever state.

And this particular time,
he called,

and it was just weird to me
because he was, like, um,

"I'm just letting you know

I'm letting such-and-such
use my room."

Brown:
Big was just playing, you know,

trying to be smooth with it,

but he just went about it
the wrong way.

Evans:
And it was just strange to me.

I mean, just my common sense,
like, "Okay, you got a suite.

Everybody else
probably has a single.

You're gonna let somebody
use your suite for what?"

Faith wasn't playin'.
Faith came out there quick.

Made my way up to the room
and, you know,

I knocked on the door
really lightly

and then I heard somebody say
something like, "Who is it?"

And I was like, um,
"Housekeeping."

My room was across
the hall from his.

It's way too early
for housekeeping.

So I go to my peephole
and I look out, and it's Faith.

I'm like, "Oh sh*t"

The chick opens the door...

And I just started
swingin' on.

...and she lays her out.

She put hands and feet
on that girl.

And then he said something like,
"I didn't even f*ck her."

I'm like, "Really?

This is the line you're gonna
go with to your wife

after she finds you
in a room with somebody?"

And I was like,
"You should have,"

and then I grabbed my stuff
and I left,

and I got on the next flight
back to New York.

He was like, "Yo, dawg,

Faith just came here
and b*at up the chick."

I was like,
"It's 9:00 in the morning.

What are you talking about,
Faith just came here?"

He's like, "Yo, I'm not ...
Dawg, look.

And the girl was sitting there
covered up,

and like...all crazy, talkin'
about she pressin' charges.

It was really real.

I swear to this day, people be
like, "Yo, did that happen?"

I'm like, "Yo, dawg,
it really happened."

Yeah.
Faith is the illest, bro.

Yeah, that was gangsta
how I handled it.

Then he comes back
lookin' for me

and huntin' me down
all throughout Brooklyn.

And, you know, I don't know.

I think in a way,
it kind of made me feel

like that's my man even more.

Hylton: Big would call.

He would be like, "Yo, Mis,
talk to her, man.

Like, talk to her.
She's not speakin' to me.

I need her.
I love her so much.

I need her to understand me."

Evans: He just still
had this thing about him

that I just couldn't
stay mad at him, you know?

Couldn't stay angry with him.

Biggie: She was really pretty,
what I saw.

You know,
she was talkin' to me.

I wasn't f*ckin'
with her like that.

She was pushin' up
on me, like, all...

-I was cool.
-I would expect him to be mean,

but he was real cool,
and that was attractive.

You know, we were in it.

Things were happenin' so fast,
so it was more of a,

"I'm not trying to not be

with my husband who I love,"
type of thing.

Yeah, he says
nice things all the time.

He's a real nice person.
That's why I love him.

You know, more fight
for my relationship

literally and figuratively.
[ Laughs ]

♪♪♪

♪ Yo, check it out,
straight from Brooklyn ♪

♪ Represent, throw your
motherfuckin' hands up ♪

♪ Throw your motherfuckin'
hands up, check it out ♪

♪ Who the f*ck is this? ♪

♪ Pagin' me at 5:46
in the mornin' ♪

♪ cr*ck of dawn,
and now I'm yawnin' ♪

Jay-Z:
Somebody bought "Ready To Die,"

and I just rode around
listening to it.

You know, it's like,
"Oh, this is special."

♪ Heard the intricate plot ♪

♪ n*gg*s want to stick me
like flypaper, neighbor ♪

♪ Slow down, love, please chill,
drop the caper ♪

He just made movies
almost like Hitchcock.

They was these tales
that were disturbing sometimes,

but they all had a purpose
and a meaning.

And sometimes, they were
dramatic for effect.

♪ Call the coroner ♪

♪ There's gonna be a lot of slow
singin' and flower bringin' ♪

♪ If my burglar alarm
starts ringin' ♪

He was, uh, Langston Hughes.
He was Donald Goines.

He was the ... the one.

He was the one.
He had more than just rap.

He had the look.
He had the presence.

He looked like a king.

♪ n*gg*s wanna stick me
for my paper ♪

♪ n*gg*s wanna stick me
for my paper ♪

♪ n*gg*s wanna stick me
for my paper ♪

Yo, where Brooklyn at?!

[ Crowd cheers ]

♪♪♪

Jay-Z: Big was
a brilliant songwriter,

had a beautiful vocabulary,

and he used words
that wasn't typical

for the lexicon of hip-hop.

Like in "Who sh*t Ya?"
You know...

♪ I can hear the sweat
tricklin' down your cheek ♪

You don't typically
hear "tricklin'" in hip-hop.

When he made "Who sh*t Ya?"
I wanted to quit 'cause...

♪ Heartbeat sound
like Sasquatch feet ♪

♪ Thunderin',
shakin' the concrete ♪

♪ Then the sh*t stop
when I foil the plot ♪

♪ Neighbors call the cops
'cause they heard mad sh*ts ♪

It's like, "Okay, yeah."

It was beautiful,
it was so menacing

that the dark chords
and then his voice over them,

and it was just like the hardest
song you've ever heard.

[ g*nsh*t ]

Nas: Biggie had his foot
on everybody's necks

from a musical standpoint.

We needed him, and he had a ...
he had the game in a chokehold.

Jay-Z: He was tellin' my story,
you know,

and he was telling it
in a way that was super clear.

You know, like, the angst
and the frustration, you know?

And 3 minutes and 30 seconds
could just change your life.

You listen to a song
and you go, "Oh, man!"
You're thinking change.

I remember hearing...

♪ And being broke at 30
give a n*gga the chills ♪

And thinking, "Oh,"

'cause I was, like, still almost
in the life coming out,

like, thinking about
trying to be a rapper,

playing with the idea of it.

And seeing my friends
go to jail,

15 years, 20 years,
this person get k*lled,

all our childhood friends.

And then thinking, "Man,

I can't be doing this
at 30 years old."

♪♪♪

And so those sort of phrases
change your entire life.

Really changed my life.

Like, literally made me say,
"Okay,

I got to figure this out."

I'm not saying that I wouldn't
have arrived at this point,

but if I had 99 things,
that was the 100th one
that just pushed it over

and said, "Yes, I got to go,
and I got to do this."

And I know he's done that
for countless people.

♪♪♪

All the artists that were out
from New York at that time

did not have what it took
to carry the city at the moment

because it was Dre,
Snoop, and Tupac.

That's what was crackin'.

And Biggie brought
the music crown back over here.

♪♪♪

-Entering the dark box.
-Oh, you ain't seen that.

♪♪♪

Larceny: And it was like
New York was back.

Sourceput him on the magazine,
"King of New York."

He was ready to go.
It was on.

-Get the plaque.
-Get the plaque

and the people
holding the plaque.

-What's it say?
-Look at the plaque.

We was hungry.

Everybody got to eat.
You know what I'm sayin'?

I found something I was good at,

I'm just trying to flip it, yo.
Keep it going.

You know what I'm sayin'?
I ain't trying to slack at all.

Trying to present
for my peoples,

my borough, and my family,
and I'm hot.

Man: And for those who don't
know, who ... Tell, you know ...

Tell our audience
about Junior M.A.F.I.A.

and what, uh ...
what you're gonna do.

Yeah, Junior M.A.F.I.A. is nine
people from around my way

that I promised once I got on,
I was gonna put 'em on.

I got on, so they on.

They about to blow,
but we all gonna eat.

Larceny: He told us to meet him
at his house.

We sat on the ... the doorstep
of his house.

He pulled up with the Kangol on,
with the level on,

he had the briefcase
with the ... the Biggie on it.

He said, "Yo, I just got
Junior M.A.F.I.A. deals on."

I know it was real for us.

Combs:
Junior M.A.F.I.A., these were
the kids that he grew up with.

He didn't want to
just leave 'em in Brooklyn.

He didn't want
to just leave 'em behind.

He wanted to take 'em with him,

and so he made 'em
into a rap group.

This is Junior M.A.F.I.A.

Larceny: Big saw us heading
the wrong direction

and really tried to fix us up

and get us out of here
before we got caught up.

We was just steps away from,
you know...
Yeah.

...really being
in the mix out here.

Like, he really
just scooped us up young.

Before we could really
get deep into it,

we was on stage and on tour.

[ Crowd cheering ]

Traveling, seeing the world,
you know?

Man: We in Detroit on the way
on another mission.

Lil' Cease:
You know what I mean?

It's something we never thought
we would be doing.

Big did that for us.

-What up, dawg?
-What up n*gga?

Man: Nothing.

1421 is Cease.

Lil' Cease.[ Kicks door ]

Let poppa do his thing.

Come on, man.

n*gg*s is all waiting for you.

They're downstairs.All right.

Lil' Cease:
It wasn't about talent.

That was just people
that he cared about and loved,

and he wanted to see them on top
and living a positive life.

Let him get pretty.
He ain't get pretty in awhile.

Let him do his thing.
Let him do his thing.

Man: You just look ...
There you go.

Let it last you, baby.
That's all you gettin'.

After that, you cut off.

He was like,
"I'm gonna write you some raps.

You gonna be a superstar."

And I was like, "Okay.
I'm down. I-I'm with it."

[ Indistinct rapping ]

Mister Cee:
He kind of made Cease

the first point person
of Junior M.A.F.I.A.,

and then Kim came in after that.

♪ I used to pack Macs
in Cadillacs ♪

♪ Now I pimp gats in the Ac's,
watch my money stacks ♪

♪ Yes, it's the lyrical thing,
shake your hips ♪

♪ Playas, grab your genitals,
proteins, and minerals ♪

Then the next thing you know,
song was coming up.

History was being made.

♪ D-K-N-Y, oh, my,
I'm jiggy ♪

♪ It's all about the cliqué ♪

♪ Come on, we got Biggie ♪

Junior M.A.F.I.A., baby!

All you motherfuckas'
are keeping it real.

[ Crowd cheering ]

♪♪♪

Kim: Me and Biggie,
that's our family right there.

We'll never turn against
each other.

We've been closer than friends.

We always gonna be closer
than friends.

I'm like the little sister.

He gonna make sure
I'm all right,

you know what I mean,
and look after me like that.

♪♪♪

Lil' Cease:
Kim and Big's relationship

started from the neighborhood,
you know?

Kim grew up
where we grew up from.

She's from St. James,
just like we was from.

And one day, my sister's like,
"You know Kim rap, right?"

I was like, "She rap?
Get out of here. No, she don't."

And I said, "Well, I'm gonna go.
I'ma tell Big."

And I told Big one day,
Big was like, "What?

Pretty little Kim, she rap?

Tell her come down here.
Let me hear her rap one day."

♪ Nines in the stores,
Glocks in the bags ♪

♪ Maxin' mini-markets,
gettin' money with the stacks ♪

I remember when Big was first
working with Kim,

Kim was straight, raw,
hardcore rap.

♪ I kick the rilli
with my peeps all day ♪

♪ 325's roll by with the windows
down halfway ♪

And Big had to change her up
to where,

"Okay, I want you to be hard,
but I need the sexiness, too."

♪ Better grab a seat ♪

♪ Grab on it quick
as the [bleep] get deep ♪

♪ Deeper than the...of a girl
6 feet ♪

♪ Stiff ones feel sweet
in this little petite ♪

♪ A young trick
from the street ♪

So he basically got her to start
rhyming about sex appeal,

about being a-a bad girl
out here,

being the ... being
the baddest one out here.

♪ You wanna be my main squeeze,
baby, don't ya ♪

♪ You wanna get between
my knees, baby ♪

♪ Get money ♪

♪ What cha say, get money ♪

-n*gga Nino, what's up, bro?
-What up?

Lil' Cease: He came and changed
all our lives

the same way he changed his.

That's just who he was.

You know, he didn't have to do
what he did for us.

Biggie:
It's Lil' Sleaze.

[ Light laughter ]

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

You don't find that type of
loyalty and generosity

in people today.

So, that was love.

Man: Oh.

Uh-oh.
[ Laughs ]

Feet out.
Ooh. Oh, the feet out.

[ Indistinct chatter, laughter ]

The more money you make,
the more problems you get,

and jealousy and envy

is ... is something that comes
with the territory, man.

A lot of people ...
It's just negative energy

like my man Puff say.

It just surrounds you

and makes you depressed,
you know,

so I got to rap about it.

And that's one of the bad things
about the game

is when you get large,

even your friends
will turn against you, man.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Quad Studios.

We haven't been up in here
in like, what, two decades?

sh*t, there about.

I get the old feel of ...
of when we recorded here.

You know what I'm sayin'?
Like, those memories come back.

Like, I always think about
Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s

first session ever
any time I come in Quad.

[ Indistinct chatter ]

Woman: Oh sh*t.
The bitch b*rned me!

I should k*ll her, dawg!

Brown: When we came in here,
it was straight playtime.

Like, we brung all our homeboys
from the block.

It was like a playhouse.

[ Indistinct chatter ]

[ Rap music playing
indistinctly ]

[ Laughter ]

[ Chatter continues ]

Lil' Cease:
We was on the eighth floor,

and, um, me and Nino
just went outside

to go smoke real quick
and just, you know, kick it.

This was the spot right here.

We used to come
and blow it down right here.

Looks scary now, though.

I happen to look over,

and I seen Pac
walking up the block.

And I just start yelling down
at him, like, "Yo! It's Cease!"

He's like,
"Cease? What's up?"

I'm like, "Yo, we in the studio.
Come around the corner.

I'ma come downstairs
and get you."

And that's how I went.
I walked back ...

I came back in the room,
and I told Big.

I'm like,
"Yo, Big, Pac downstairs."

He like, "Yo, go downstairs
and get him."

We was excited.
We thinkin' we about
to go kick it.

You know, he had some Cali weed.
All of a sudden, I hear a noise.

[ g*nshots ]

♪♪♪

And before we could walk out,

one of the dudes
came from the corner

just pointing a g*n at us, told
us to get back in the elevator.

Me and Nino stepped
right back in here.

And once we were back
in the elevator,

me and him was just
still looking shocked.

You know what I mean?
Just like, "Yo."We were looking at each other.

"Like, is that
really happening right now?"

Like, the only thing we could
do was go upstairs and tell Big.

Like, you know what I mean?
We was kids.

"Yo, Big, Pac downstairs
getting robbed right now."

Big was like, "Y'all lying."
I'm like, "No, we dead serious."

And he saw it
in our face, like ...

The first thing he did was
to make sure we was all right.

"Don't come downstairs.
Y'all stay right here.

I'll be right back."

When he ain't come right back,
we came downstairs.

[ Police radio chatter ]

Lil' Cease: All the police
had all this locked up

and every time you came down,
they will line you up,

tell you you couldn't leave,
get all your information.

They want your I.D.
and everything.

They brung him out
on the elevator right past us.

He come out, look around,
stuck up the middle finger,

they put him
in the ambulance.

And we was just curious, like,
what's that supposed to mean?

Like, was that
middle finger to us?

♪♪♪

Coker: From Tupac's perspective,
he said

nobody would look him
in the eye,

and that the people that were
upstairs must have known

that he was gonna be
ambushed and robbed.

And so he basically accused
all the people in that room

of being part of the conspiracy.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Marriott: Pac said some
very provocative things

in the Kevin Powell interview
for Vibe

about Puffy, about Big.

You know, Big should have known
that he was getting set up,

and he didn't warn him.

The Tupac article
have me [bleep] off.

You know what I'm sayin'?

And the rumors
that's spreadin'

is all some tip
like we set him up.

You know what I'm sayin'?
And that's crazy.

That's just ridiculous.
You know what I'm sayin'?

But I also understand that if
you was to get sh*t five times,

your mind is just
completely spinnin'.

You know what I'm sayin'?

You're real confused
about your situation.

So it'll cause you to say things
that you really don't mean.

Evans: He was really hurt,
and, in a way,

really looking forward to being
able to connect with him

and sort it out before
it all got way too deep.

Marriott:
Once Suge Knight got involved,

once Death Row got involved,

then it became
a completely other thing.

It became a w*r.

It's a funny thing.

I kind of realized
how powerful Tupac and I was.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Because we two
individual people.

We waged a coastal beef.

You know what I'm sayin'?

One man against one man

made a whole West Coast
hate a whole East Coast

and vice versa.
You know what I'm sayin'?

And that really bugged me out.
Like yo, Duke don't like me,

so this whole coast
don't like me.

You know what I'm sayin'?Right.

It was sad, man.

To see all of that unfold
with Pac and Big,

I was ... I was sad.
It just ...

It devastated me because I knew
how much Big really loved Pac.

I really feel
that it was outside sources

that decimated
that relationship.

♪♪♪

Marriott:
Once Suge Knight got involved,

once Death Row got involved,

then it became
a completely other thing.

There was blood spilled
and threats made,

and a lot of that really started
at the Source Awards.

[ Cheers and applause ]

♪♪♪

Yeah. Straight up
Brooklyn in the house!

Representin'!

[ Cheers and applause ]

Coker:
Death Row rolled in deep.

I mean, they ... they flew in
planes of people.

Uh-oh. We gonna have
some trouble, here.

The DRE.

Dr. Dre!

Some of them
are dressed Blood wise,

some of them
also have a Crip persona.

And they come to New York,
they're getting boos

when they're coming up
for some of the awards.

[ Crowd booing ]

-What?
-Wait, wait, wait.

The East Coast don't love
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg?!

And Death Row?!

We know y'all East Coast.
We know...we at.

[ Booing continues ]

And then Suge set it off

because when Suge
comes out on stage,

he makes a direct diss at Puffy.

[ Cheers and applause ]

I'd like to tell Tupac
keep his guards up.

We ride with him.

And one other thing
I'd like to say ...

Any artist out there
want to be an artist

and want to stay a star

and don't want to have to worry
about the executive producer

tryin' to be all in the videos,

all on the records, dancin',
come to Death Row!

[ Crowd cheering, booing ]

Nas:
That was impressive.

Get on a microphone on stage
putting down the guy

with the other big record
company in his own city.

Everybody went crazy.

Lil' Cease:
Big had 30, 40 Brooklyn people

at the Source Awards
ready to just like,

"All right, we about to turn
this motherfucka' out.

This sh*t about to be over."

But, you know,
Puffy was like, "Yo, nah,

that's not the route we go.

We're not gonna do that.
We gonna be positive."

I'm the executive producer

that a comment was made
about a little bit earlier.

I'm a positive black man,
and I make this music

to bring us together,
not to separate us.

And all this East and West,
that need to stop.

Combs:
We didn't want any part of it.

You know, we didn't want
what would come

if we fed into this.

Hylton: The Source Awards
escalated a situation

that was already brewing.

It's like if you have
a-a pot on the stove,

the fire just went up.

♪♪♪

MARRIOTT: When Vibeput
East Coast vs. West Coast,

the whole thing was coined,
and you can choose your side.

Woman: Recently, you were
at the Source Awards

and there was this whole
East Coast-West Coast thing.

Man:
When did this sort of

East Coast-West Coast
thing sort of start,

to sort of fractionalize
music?

Burns: The media kept throwing
gasoline on the fire,

and then had the nerve to sit
back and go, "Why is it so hot?"

Now, you say it's not
a East Coast-West Coast thing,

but you can't deny
there's sort of ...It's not a problem.

Man: Do you think the media
has overblown the whole...

No doubt.
No doubt.

When it all go down,
don't look at me and Biggie

and be like, "Why is there a big
East Coast-West Coast w*r?"

when you're ... you're sh**ting
this to 300 countries

telling 'em about
a East Coast-West Coast w*r

that they would never know
exists.

The whole time, I was like,
"This is not good.

This is dangerous."

Dr. Dre: To me, they better
k*ll it right now

because if it keeps going on,
nobody from the East Coast

is gonna be able
to come to L.A. and be safe.

And nobody from the West Coast
is gonna be able

to come to the East Coast
and be safe.

Burns: It went from being
a great time being on the road,

Big smoking as much
as he wanted to

and being with women
and loving it,

to now you got to watch
your back.

You know, you don't know
who's with who,

how it's gonna go down.

He was getting
some of the hate mail.

You know, uh, the same people
that liked you in L.A.

don't like you no more
now 'cause you beefing
with Death Row.

It was just a lot of stuff now
to where that it was happening.

You're getting crank calls.

People calling you, threats
and sh*t, things like that.

Every day, it's real.

That's how real it is.

I think somebody's
trying to k*ll me.

I be waking up paranoid,
I be really scared.

I just be paranoid.

That's just the way I am.

You know. You be seeing me.
Scared to death.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Evans: We should have waited
a little longer to get married.

I mean, you know,
it was difficult.

Looking back,
I would certainly have said

just wait a little while
and get to know one another.

Wow.

This is very nice.

Very nice.

Look what they've done.

It looks a lot more...

like a home.
Livable.

[ Chuckles ] Right.
It's a lot more cozy.

It was very open
and kind of cold.

Like, you know, it was ...
it wasn't ... I didn't ...

First of all, I never fully
furnished the place, though.

Soon as y'all moved here,
Big went on tour.

Right.

I was just like,
"I ain't about

to put all my time
into this.

He's not even
coming home [chuckles] anymore."

[ Both laugh ]

"Why am I here?"

I remember you paging me,
and I called you.

We were in the airport,
and you was crying.

And I was like,
"What is the matter?"

You was like,
"Big cut up all my clothes."

And I'm like, "Big,
why did you do that?"

"Well, ask her why did she throw
all my clothes out the window?"

And that was when we went
to Europe,

and then when we came back,
you had a g*n.

[ Laughs ]

And you was downstairs,
and you must've sh*t at Big.

[ Chuckling ]
Oh, my God.

[ Chuckles ]
And that was ...

that was my last memory
in this house.

[ Laughs ]

And you put the g*n
in the garbage can.

Yeah, I remember that.

How long did I even last
in this apartment?

Probably about six months.

I know it wasn't a year.

Now, the crazy thing is,
when you moved out,

I don't remember
you moving.

I just remember
you taking your clothes.

I didn't. I left ...
I left everything.

Remember? I left...Flowers-Briggs: You just took
your clothes.

...all the furniture...And your shoes.

...all of his stuff,
and I took my stuff

in my hockey bags.

I moved out
of our apartment in Brooklyn

because of just kind of him
not being there as much.

So I kind of just, like,
moved out,

doing my rebellious thing.

Like, "Okay, well, if you
don't want to come home,

then I'm out of here."

It wasn't until that that
I actually found out about Kim.

Man:
Let me just ask you finally

just about your relationship
with Biggie

in light of what you say
about Faith on the record.

What's the relationship like
right now?

Kim: Me and Biggie, we got
a lot of love for each other.

You know what I mean?

When you see us,
there's a closeness there.

Kim was on the radio,
and she mentioned something

about Biggie and Faith,
and we broke up.

And I'm, like,
"That's very strange.

Like, why would she
be saying anything?"

And I just probably felt
that whole feeling

of like, uh, duh.
[ Laughs ]

Like [As Ricky Ricardo] Lucy?

[ Normal voice ]
You know what I mean?

So I kind of just in my spirit
realized it,

like, "Ooh, he's f*ckin' her."
Like, "Oh sh*t!" [ Laughs ]

Who influenced
your rap style?

Biggie. That's my mentor,
my best friend, my love.

I love him. That's my baby.
He's all of that.

Lil' Cease:
She was an attractive chick,

and, you know,
he was the boss man.

So, you know, sometimes certain
things would just happen.

And I think just us being on the
road and us working together,

he got a chance
to see another side of Kim.

Mister Cee: The only thing
that I said to Big is,

"You really shouldn't have
never messed with your artist."

And Big was like,
"Well, it's done now, Cee."

I felt like as much as Big felt
that he had it under control,

he didn't have it under control.

Big was really in love
with two women at the same time.

I wouldn't say it was an ever "I
hate you" relationship, though.

It definitely wasn't.

Even in the worst times
of me finding out,

for example, even that him
and Kim were involved,

because even in those moments,
you know, he was honest.

But I knew in my mind

that things were different,
like, after that.

I totally felt like, "Okay,

I'm not really feeling this
no more."

[ Crowd Cheering ]Man: Make some noise!

♪♪♪

Evans: Shortly thereafter,
Puff put together

this big Bad Boy tour.

So when they reached out to me
about doing the tour,

I think I already knew in
my mind I didn't want to do it.

I'm not about to be fighting,

and my husband
and his mistress on it.

You know what I mean?
I'm like, unh-unh.

I'm not going through that.

So I decided not to do it.

And I got a opportunity
to come to L.A.

to write for a producer
and his new group.

And we all went out one night,

and that night
is the night I met Tupac.

Tupac said, "Oh, my God.
Nice to meet you.
I love your music."

And, um, I think probably
a photographer

wanted to take some pictures.

And then by the end
of the night,

he said he wanted to do
a song with me.

And I gave him my manager's
info, and, you know,

we hooked up the session,
and I went to the studio.

Probably from some
other people's view,
it looked a little...

But I was looking at it
like it was,

"I'm about to get
this $20,000, $30,000

for singing a hook, and nobody
told me 'Don't do it.'"

I just didn't know
all the other dynamics

of that particular situation.

Faith didn't really understand
that this was going on,

but Tupac was really
finding a way

to att*ck Big
in this new, dastardly way.

♪♪♪

Been about 10 hours
to get that part with Faith.

-Oh, yeah.
-Why it took so long?

It took awhile man,
'cause, you know,

once you got that much love
in the studio...

Yeah....hey, it take a while
to get it down on wax.

-Oh, that's what it was?
-For me and her, it took awhile.

Faith my homegirl. I just want
to send a shout-out to Faith.

[ Laughs ]
Hey, girl.

Faith and Bad Boy Records.
[ Clicks tongue ]

Pac is making a lot
of tongue-in-cheek references

to Faith, and, um,
it just all kind of built up.

And then later, he would say
that they slept together,

which obviously caused
a lot of problems

not only in Big and Faith's
marriage,

but nationally amongst
the hip-hop faithful.

When Tupac releases "Hit 'Em Up"
and that hits the streets,

everybody's talking about it

because of the fact that Pac,
in no uncertain terms,

said that he had sex with Faith

and went entirely
at Big's persona,

questioning his integrity
as an artist,

questioning his integrity
as a man,

going directly against
their friendship.

I mean, it was just one
of the harshest rebukes

in the history of hip-hop.

Money L: Puff like,
"Yo, you got to hear this."

And we all went to the parking
lot, and he put it in.

And the first thing he said is,

"That's why I f*cked
your bitch."

And that sh*t was like, whoa.
And Big's just listening,

but Big was just like
slumped in his seat like...

♪♪♪

Evans: He came to my hotel,
and he was really upset.

I mean, I could tell
by the knock

[Laughing]
he was angry, like...

And as soon as he walked in,
I just saw him,

and he grabbed me
and put me in the bathroom

and put me
against the wall like,

"What the f*ck?
You're messing with him?"

I'm like, "What are you
talking about?

Like, no!
That's not what happened."

They was really going hard.
Like, it really bugged us out

'cause it was like, wow,
like, what we gonna do?

I mean, at that time,
we was hyped up.

M.A.F.I.A. wanted to do a song.
[ Chuckles ]

You know,
Kim wanted to do a song.

Even I was like,
"Yo. Let's go."

Do something.

Lil' Cease:
Big was like, "Yo, if anyone
of y'all do a response record,

I'm not messin' with you
no more.

Do not do that.
That's not what we do."

He was like, "Nah, I know
where this is going.

Not gonna feed into that energy.

That's not the sort of energy
that I want.

I want it different."

So, like, he saw
something else for himself.

♪♪♪

[ Laughter ]

Man: Right.

[ Crowd cheering ]

What up, what up, what up,
what up, what up, what up,

what up, what up, what up?Money L: We was out in L.A.

for the Soul Train Awards
in '96.

After the show, we came out
to the parking lot

and then, like, right in
the front of us in our path,

somebody comes out the window,
and it's Tupac,

and he's just, like, rippin',
talkin' crazy, reckless.

"Yeah, m*therf*cker y'all on
the west side, the best side."

And we all like, "Oh sh*t
What the f*ck?"

Lil' Cease:
Pac jumped out the window.

Suge jumped out,
and they claimed, you know,

they wanted to talk to Big
and, you know, all the security.

The Muslims got in
between everybody.

So Pac's still rippin'.
He's still going off.

"Blah, blah, blah,
you m*therf*ckers.

Yeah, motherfuckas'
West Side, motherfuckas'"

Lil' Cease:
Big didn't say not one word.

He just was looking at him like,

"Come on, you trippin', dawg.

Like, why you buggin'?"

Burns:
Word got back to Don Cornelius
that everybody was outside.

Don told people,
"Y'all don't cut this out,

y'all mess up my money,

it's gonna be a problem
for everybody out here."

Pac was just like, "Yo,

I'm just trying to sell
some records, man.

I'm just trying
to sell some records.

That's it."

It's just really unfortunate

that it wasn't a thing
between those two guys.

It really wasn't.

It was some outside forces,

and, you know,
just really unfortunate

how it ... how it all unraveled.

♪♪♪

Bigs left room open to see
if he could fix things with Pac

because that was his friend.

He felt like
if he saw Pac again,

they could have fixed that
situation and settled it.

Just so happened
they never got a chance

to see each other after that.

♪♪♪

[ Siren wails ][ Police radio chatter ]

Woman: Rap artist Tupac Shakur

is reported in critical
condition this morning

in a Las Vegas hospital.

I was watching something on TV,
and I saw it.

It was like a news flash
or something.

I called Big, I'm like
"Yo, Big, come down here.

Yo, come here."

Williams: Rap star Tupac Shakur
d*ed last night

after a brief life
in a rough business.

Big just sat there,
was just like,

watching the screen of the TV
and just quiet

and just, like, shook his head.

♪ You're nobody
till somebody kills you ♪

Woman: Fans had held a vigil
outside his Las Vegas hospital.

He was 25 years old.

♪ You're nobody
till somebody kills you ♪

Biggie: When he d*ed,
I was just like, whoa.

You know what I'm sayin'?
Kind of took me by ...

I mean, even though we was
going through our drama,

I would never wish death
on nobody, you know,

'cause there ain't
no coming back from that.

♪♪♪

♪ I don't wanna die ♪

[ "Legacy" plays ]

♪ I knew fromthe very first moment ♪

♪ Oh, oh, yeah ♪♪ It's the king and I ♪

♪ That you were a king fit
just for a queen ♪

♪ And I could tell from day one
you were for me ♪

Evans:
I think about him every day.

♪ Who know that this love
be the legacy? ♪

I think over the years,
I've noticed

that I have had more
emotional moments

in the more recent years

than back
when we first lost him.

♪ My whole life was changed
instantly ♪

Typically, my memories of him

are funny, you know?

♪ I ride through thick
and thin ♪

♪ And I love you, too ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

It might be a conversation

that I may have just had
with Cease or Nino.

You know, I kind of keep
in touch with all of those guys.

♪ We can't go back ♪

♪ We can't turn back the time ♪

-Yo, what up, Faith?
-Hey, hey, hey.

We often talk about
different things about him.

-[ Laughs ]
-Everything was Cease.

Cease was probably there
when CJ was conceived.

I think I was.
[ Laughs ]

Cease just walked out the room.

That's when I went
to visit him in New Orleans.

I remember y'all
was in New Orleans.

-Oh, you remember exactly?
-I remember.

We were separated.
I had moved out.

They were on the road,
and I remember y'all had a show,

and he called me.

Now ... Now, thinking back, he
was probably beefing with Kim.

'Cause we weren't ...
Me and Big wasn't even

really seeing each other
like that.

And he just called me
and was like,

"I want you to come see me."
It was around Valentine's Day.

-I was like, oh, you know.
-Okay.

He told me to come see him
in New Orleans, and I went.

"Okay, I'm coming."

And, I mean, I had ...
We hadn't been together

for awhile before that.She still loved him.

But I know for a fact
that's when CJ was conceived

'cause we probably
wasn't together

for awhile after that, either.
[ Laughs ]

Always be like that.
Y'all beefing,

y'all going through something,
and you create something

to keep that motherfucka'
in your life forever now.

[ Laughter ]Yeah.

Just when you think
you're about to leave somebody,

like, y'all done,
y'all good...

And little did I know,
or I definitely

wouldn't be making a visit
for that, like...

[ Laughter ]

♪♪♪

Wallace: The day he was born,
Faith and I said

we should call him Christopher.

Okay.
He said he didn't want a Junior.

So he said, "I like Jordan."

So I said, "Okay, we'll just
call him Christopher Jordan."

He said, "Oh, think
I'm gonna call him CJ."

And that's how it is.

That day,
all three of us named him.

And, like,
I never seen him that happy.

He was so happy.

And I could close my eyes
right now

and just see him in the room
telling me roll up,

just ... just happy.

♪♪♪

Enuff:
I think Big, at that moment,
was entering a new chapter.

New baby.
Not just his biological baby,

but his second album
was dropping.

♪♪♪

Biggie: Well, I got the
"Life After Death" double CD

dropping March 25th,

and I just ... I just want
my spot back, you know?

♪ Hah,
sicker than your average ♪

♪ Poppa twist cabbage
off instinct ♪

♪ [Bleep] don't think
[bleep] stink ♪

♪ Pink gators,
my Detroit players ♪

♪ Timbs for my hooligans
in Brooklyn ♪Go, Biggie!

Lil' Cease: Loved it.

He felt like that was
some of his best work

'cause he was happy,
he was cool.

You know, uh, he wasn't
in the same predicament he was

when he did "Ready To Die."

That's why he always say
"Ready To Die"

was from the inside looking out,

and "Life After Death" was
from the outside looking in.

Jay-Z: I remember when he was
doing "Life After Death"

and he sent me four songs
in the demo stage.

And I was like, "Oh, my God.
Oh, we got a problem."

I-I was happy for him,
and I was upset for myself.

I was ... I was a little worried
for myself as ... as an artist.

♪ I can fill you
with real millionaire [bleep] ♪

♪ Escargot,
my car go 160 swiftly ♪

♪ Wreck it, buy a new one ♪

♪ Your crew run-run-run,
your crew run-run ♪

Jay-Z: As an artist,
he pushed me because, you know,

we both, like,
wanted to be the best.

It was, like, healthy.

You know,
it was like two competitors

on a court that play basketball

and then, like,
after the game's over, like, yo,

let's go to the movies
or something, you know?

♪ Biggie, Biggie, Biggie,
can't you see? ♪

♪ Sometimes your words
just hypnotize me ♪

Can't rhyme about being broke
no more.

[ Chuckling ]
I ain't broke.

♪ Guess that's why they broke,
and you're so paid ♪

He was feeling very, uh,
optimistic about the future.

[ Barks ]
Just tryin' to just
keep blowin' up.

You want
to keep blowing up?

[Bleep] straight.It's all good.

He was telling me,
"Yo, after this,

you know, I drop my album,
we gonna do the commission,

we gonna do, like,
a group together.

And we, um ... we gonna get
a big house in Atlanta.

You move next to me in Atlanta."

So he was very hopeful
about the future

and had plans
on where he was going.

Very clear.

Very clear what
he was doing, you know?

♪ Cali, unh ♪

Combs:
I remember when he came to L.A.

for the trip,
I wasn't sure about it,

but I wanted
to give peace a chance.

I wanted to kind of heal wounds.

We had already lost Tupac.

And I just came over
tryin' to, like,

basically squash this
East Coast-West Coast thing.

♪♪♪

I got to be the one to flip it
and take my ... my power

and flip it like, "Yo,
they got to be dead."

He was really trying
to go out there

and let people know like,
"Yo, listen, man,

it was just something
that was just a East Coast

or West Coast thing
that the media stirred up."

Don't feed into it.

If you feed into it, it's gonna
do nothing but escalate.

You know what I'm sayin'?

I just want
to let everybody know

that all the rumors,
you know what I'm sayin',

you shouldn't be the one
to sit back

and listen to rumors.
You know what I'm sayin'?

Just take ... take a chance
to know the person

before you judge the person.

-He was just trying to fix it.
-Try to get the facts first.

I'm here,
me and my man Caesar Leo,

we just gonna do
our thing forever.
Forever and ever.

♪ I'm going, going, back, back ♪

♪ To Cali, Cali, Cali, uh-huh ♪

It sounded like
the right thing to do.

You know,
in hindsight, you know,

that ... that's something
that I know

that we should have
been more careful.

-Whoo!
-Yo, West Coast is hype, son.

West Coast is hype!

I love the West Coast.

EastCoast is hype!

Biggie: Where the East at?

[ Crowd cheering, booing ]

Lil' Cease: We knew where we was
at when we was in L.A.,

so, you know, at times,
you would get people that would,

you know, yell "West Side,"
or you know,

throw the symbol up at you
sometime.

Money L:
They didn't want us out there.

They didn't want us out there.
Period.

Like, you felt it.

I know there was

a level of mistrust out there,

a level of a lot
of negativity out there.

And I-I would say,
"Please be careful."

♪♪♪

Nas:
I saw him in the mall.

There were people
kind of following him

through the mall
and bothering him.

But for just some dumbass
reason,

we just played it too cool
to come and talk to each other.

And I hate that memory
because we could have talked.

And I know I wanted
to just tell him, you know,

probably what a lot of people
was telling him,

was he should go back home

because it's not a good time
to be in L.A.

fresh off of the w*r
between these coasts.

Um, I never got to tell him.

♪♪♪

Lil' Cease:
We was hanging out with Puff.

He was like, "What y'all want
to do from here?"

This is when we was deciding
if we wanted to go

to the museum
for the Vibeparty.

And Big was like, "Yo,
you know what?

We ain't been out in awhile.

Maybe we should go there, have
some fun, and go chill out."

He was like, "You know, we never
hang out anymore," you know.

And so I said okay.

♪♪♪

It was kind of against
my better judgment,

but I didn't feel in danger.

You didn't really think
that going to a party

for Quincy Jones
in Beverly Hills ...

You ... You would think that
that ... that, you know,

okay, if we gonna make any move,
that's gonna be a safe move.

Um, but it wasn't.

♪♪♪

[ Horn honks ]

Lil' Cease: Big was like, "Yo,
you know what?

We ain't been out in awhile.

Maybe we should go to the museum
for the Vibeparty,

have some fun,
and go chill out."

♪♪♪

It was great, man.
It was fun.

It was one of the best parties
we ever been to, man.

We just sat there and drunk
a lot of Dom Pérignon,

and they played "Hypnotized"
about 15, 20 times.

And every time they played it,
people jumped around,

they loved it,
and it was just all love.

You know what I mean?
It was just ...

Everything was just
smooth and cool.

Combs: That night, we felt like
we turned the energy around.

Like, everybody was in there.

Everybody started to just relax

and, you know, you could see,
you know,

the players from the East Coast

and the players
from the West Coast,

male and female,
starting to talk

and interact with each other.

You know, we didn't take it
serious enough.

Um...the only way we could have
took it more serious

was by living in fear,

and we were too fearless
and too young

to live in fear
at that point in time.

I remember Cease coming over to
where I was at with my friends,

you know, and they all like,
"He's coming over here.

Big sent him over here."
You know?

He's like,
"You good? You good, Faith?

You know, you need any ...
All right.

You know we over there, right?
You saw Big."

He was trying to be funny,
though,

because, you know,
of course he knows I saw him.

I'm like, "Yeah, I saw Big.
I see him over there."

But Big and I never, you know,

directly said anything
to each other.

We may have kind of looked past
one another a couple of times.

It was such a crazy
[Chuckles] thing we were doing.

♪♪♪

[ Indistinct chatter ]

Police was making everybody
clear out,

saying it was too crowded,
over capacity.

And, uh, that's when
we started leaving.

When Big car came,
we all got in the car,

and we followed Puff.

And when we first got out
and pulled out at the light,

Puff caught the light,
and we didn't.

And we were stopped
at that light.

The next thing you know...[ g*n cocks ]

...this car pulled up...[ g*n cocks ]

...and just started
f*ring sh*ts in the car.

Didn't yell.
Didn't say nothing.

Just pulled up and just ...
We just heard sh*ts.

-Y'all get down!
-Somebody got sh*t.

-Biggie down.
-Somebody just got sh*t.

-Y'all get down.
-Biggie got sh*t.

-Ooh! Puff.
-Puffy.

Woman:
Yo, crank up the car, please.
I'm ready to go.

Woman #2: Yeah, we got to
get out of here for real.

[ Siren wails ]

♪♪♪

Lil' Cease: Once we got to the
hospital and we pulled up there,

Big still ain't say a word.

By that time,
he was unconscious.

You know, some of
the other people

jumped out the other truck
to help get him out.

♪♪♪

Evans:
When we left the party,

Heavy D called me over
to the car and he said,

"I think something happened
to Biggie.

I think you should go
to the hospital."

And so it was just...

I immediately
kind of started panicking.

♪♪♪

We got to Cedars-Sinai,

and then the doctor came
and was like, um,

"Ms. Wallace, I'm sorry.
He didn't make it."

And...

I remember
just kind of going numb,

and I was in this room
with all the guys,

and I just sat in the chair
and stared at the floor,

and I didn't know what to do,
you know?

It was just ...
I didn't know what to do.

I came in the room,
and somebody was like,

"Yo, Big ain't make it."
I was like, "What?"

You know, this was somebody
that like, you know,

took me out my neighborhood
and raised me since I was a kid.

♪♪♪

I just ... I ran back outside
and just started crying.

♪♪♪

It was just, like,

how one second
can change your whole life.

And the one second went from,
as people will tell you,

the greatest party ever

to, you know,
the worst tragedy imaginable.

Grown men on the floor
crying, man,

like, you know, like babies.

And then we all had to sit there
and go, "All right,

who's about to call his mother

and tell her that her son
is dead in California?"

♪♪♪

Wallace:
Sunday morning...

the phone rang...

and I heard a grown man crying.

"Miss Wallace, Miss Wallace."

♪♪♪

So I said,
"What's wrong with my son?"

♪♪♪

And he goes, "Miss Wallace,
Miss Wallace,"

and I screamed at him,

"What's wrong with my son?"

24-year-old rap artist
known as Notorious B.I.G.,

Christopher Wallace,
was sh*t early Sunday morning

and later d*ed of g*nsh*t wounds

at nearby
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Money L:
Next day, me and Miss Wallace,

we caught a flight out together,

and we met up
with everybody out there.

But that was sad.

You know?

We picked her up from the
airport like 7:00 that morning.

It was saddest day ever, bro.

♪♪♪

I went to the hotel.

Hmph.

And when I walked
into that hotel,

what I saw on the bed
was Christopher's tuxedo

spread so nicely on the bed.

♪♪♪

And I said to myself then,

"I think he's playing
a joke on me."

Because he would do that.

But I said, "Would he do
something so cruel?"

I said, "No, he's gonna
come out of that room

and say, 'Gotcha!'"

And I was wishing for that.

"Please, Lord, let him come out
and say that so I can kick him."

♪♪♪

And while I was there,
I got a call ...

I don't know who called ...

but to go
and identify the body.

They didn't show us.

They showed us a picture,

which, to me,
was even more awful.

I remember just
a quick gasp from Miss Wallace

because you could kind of see
in the picture

that he was ... he looked
like he was fighting.

He looked like he was
fighting for his life.

He did, you know?

So...yeah, that was,
uh ... that was crazy.

♪♪♪

And then we just worked.
Work, work, work, work.

"Let's get him home.
Let's get him home.
Let's get him home."

I hated California.

Hated it with a passion.

It took something dear from me.

I don't think there are words
to express

to tell you
how much I miss him.

♪♪♪

He was my friend, my son.

♪♪♪

And there's not a day
that goes by

that I don't think of him.

♪♪♪

Sometimes happy thoughts.

Sad thoughts.

Angry thoughts sometimes.

Not a day that goes by.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Man: Mm-hmm.

Wallace: I don't even
remember being here.

I was so out of it.

Lost. Empty.

My chest was hurting.
My head was hurting.

You know,
just driving through Brooklyn

so Brooklyn can say goodbye.

And, boy,
did Brooklyn say goodbye.

[ Crowd cheering, shouting ]

Lil' Cease:
They let the kids get out
of school for a half a day.

[ Cheers and applause ]

People was on top of cars,

hanging out
their windows, on roofs.

You know, like,
I was like [bleep] you know?

♪♪♪

Enuff:
To bring him back to Brooklyn
was everything.

It was everything.
It was just...

[ Sniffles ]

And you know everybody
had love for him,

but you saw it that day.

You saw it.

It hurt me to my heart
to see one of one
of my brothers pass away.

I knew Big.
I used to live right over here

on the corner of St. James
for a little while.

[ Crowd cheering ]

♪♪♪

Wallace:
When we reached St. James Place,

the cars slowed down,
the crowds were here.

Waving. Windows.
Waving.

Standing on the side.

I mean, people.

It was like a nest of ants.

[ Crowd cheering, shouting ]

Right as the car got
to St. James and Fulton,

someone put on "Hypnotized."

[ "Hypnotized" plays ]♪ Unh, unh ♪

♪ Unh, come on ♪

Marriott:
It was a riot,

but, like, a love riot,
a resurrection ritual.

♪ Timbs for my hooligans
in Brooklyn, dead right ♪

Wallace: That's when I said
to my friend, "My God,

I never knew my son
was this famous."

You know,
I just whispered, "My God."

♪ Biggie, Biggie, Biggie,
can't you see ♪

♪ Sometimes your words
just hypnotize me ♪

It made me feel so good
to see her realize

how many people he touched.

♪ Biggie, Biggie, Biggie,
can't you see ♪

-Biggie Smalls. Brooklyn!
-Brooklyn!

♪ I just love your flashy ways ♪♪ Uh-huh ♪

♪ Guess that's why they broke,
and you so paid ♪

♪♪♪

And it remains.
[ Chuckles ]

♪♪♪

They say, like,
time heals all wounds.

You know, I kind of wait
for that day.

But I also think that ... that,
you know,

time doesn't heal some wounds.

Some things you have
to live with, you know,

and sometimes,
that's God's will.

♪♪♪

Man: His music just went
through our body,

gave us chills.

because he talked nothing
but the truth.

Woman:
You know, it don't make sense.
That was somebody's son.

That was somebody's father.
You know what I'm saying?

When we gonna stop?

Man: When I first heard
Biggie Smalls d*ed,

my first reaction
was ultimate shock.

He represented Brooklyn
to the fullest,

and I'm sad that he's gone.

And I was also sad
Tupac is gone.

Man #2: Tupac, that was enough.
Should have ended right there.

They should have
just left it alone.

♪♪♪

He ain't deserve that.
That wasn't for him.

And I felt like
he tried everything

in his mind and his body

to try to avoid
that negative thing.

You know what I mean?

Like, he tried his best
to stray away from it.

That wasn't who he was.

I just felt like he got
jerked of his life,

and that made me a bitter person
for a very long time.

Jay-Z: Man, he did everything
to avoid that.

People in life,
most people run to it.

Here, this man,
he's not only avoiding it,

he's using his talent
to put so many others

in a better position
so they can avoid the pitfalls

and the perils and sh*t
that happens where we come from.

And this happens to him.

It's like one of those things

that make you question
everything.

Big got k*lled
for nothing, man.

Over some bullshit.

Literally, over some bullshit.

♪♪♪

In Los Angeles, police tonight
are investigating

the gangland-style m*rder

of gangsta rap music star
Biggie Smalls.

It got to do with
East Coast-West Coast for sure.

Woman: Police are
investigating rumors...

...may in some way be payback
for the September k*lling...

Man:
...had numerous witnesses,

but so far,
most have been scared silent.

Woman: Brand-new evidence
is surfacing

that may link L.A.P.D.
Rampart Officer...

...that there was clearly
a cover-up going on.

And another jailhouse informant

with another
frankly preposterous story.

There have been
no arrests in the case,

and the result
for Biggie's friends and family

is frustration and speculation.

♪♪♪

Kading: The L.A.P.D. is done
with the case.

You know, 15 years
of investigative effort,

and they just have
an attitude of indifference.

There's a lot of leads
that have been left unfollowed.

Wallace: My mission
is for all the authorities

that were involved
to make an arrest.

They know the truth.

Evans:
I feel like we, as a family,

feel like the L.A.P.D. knows.

And we feel like they've ...

you know, over time,
different things

have been divulged
to make us feel

like we can point a finger
in one direction.

Wallace: And for me now to think
of the person

who took his life away,

I wonder if they have feelings,
you know?

I would like to know
how he felt.

You know,
is it a happy feeling?

Are you glad that happened?

How do you feel?
You know?

But my question is always, why?

And that's ... that's always
gonna be my puzzling question ...

Why?

♪♪♪

Evans:
There's so many people

that knew him and loved him
genuinely.

So just his loss,
the fact that he's not here,

is the biggest tragedy.

♪ Remember back in the days
when [bleep] had waves ♪

♪ Gazelle shades
and cornbraids ♪

♪ Pitching pennies, honeys
had the high-top jellies ♪

♪ sh**ting skelly,
motherfuckas' was all friendly ♪

Big represented
the heart and soul of Brooklyn.

♪ With the neighborhood crews
hanging on the avenues ♪

Lil' Cease:
He means everything to Brooklyn.

Big is the savior,
he's the boss,

he's poppa, he's the believer,

he's the one that
is the culture of Brooklyn.

He's the one that let you know,
yo, follow your dreams.

You can make it.
You can do it.

♪ Smoking blunts in the project
always ♪

♪ sh**ting dice all day ♪

♪ Waiting for n*gg*s to step up
for some fighting sh*t ♪

Brooklyn has
a remarkable amount of love,

respect, and dedication
to Biggie Smalls.

♪ But you don't hear me,
though ♪

Spread love is the Brooklyn way.

♪♪♪

Biggie's the reason
why we listen to punch lines,

and when you spit,
there's a flow.

♪ Back in the day ♪

Ain't nobody touching Biggie.

He was the freestyle artist
up there on Fulton Street.

He's the man.

♪♪♪

Biggie Small, we miss you.

♪♪♪

Funkmaster Flex:
20 years after Biggie d*ed,

we will continue to use
the word "greatest."

His lyrics, his thought process,

the way he sees things,
the way he saw things.

Combs: His legacy is
his lyrical skills.

Nobody has come close
to the way Biggie sounds,

to the way he raps,
to the way his tone is,

to the feeling
that he gives you,

to the frequency that he hits.

♪♪♪

Nas: Biggie represents Brooklyn,
New York City, America,

the black experience,

the young man who was just
trying to figure out

a way where they tell him, "No.

Your hair doesn't work for us.

You can't dress like that.

You can't talk like that.
You can't walk like that.

You can't hang
with your friends.

You can't stand on this corner.

You can't be."

He said f*ck that.

Not only am I gonna be,
I'm gonna be the best.

The human side of him
came through his music,

and I think it moved
the molecules in the world.

You know?
I know for a fact, you know,

that it moved and pointed me
in a direction,

and I'm sure
that's happened to millions

and millions
of people worldwide.

It's what the prophets are.

It's what the prophets are
since the beginning of time ...

just poets and musicians.

They would tell tales
through song,

and because they wasn't
preaching to you,

you let down your guard a bit.

You liked the melody.
You relaxed.

Then you got fed.

♪ Sky is the limit and you know
that you can have ♪

♪ What you want,
be what you want ♪

♪ Sky is the limit and you know
that you keep on ♪

♪ Just keep on pressing on ♪

♪♪♪

Wallace:
When my son d*ed,

I went up to the country,

and I was in the house
all by my lonesome.

I was so torn apart.

I was an emotional wreck.

And I said, "You know what?

I'm gonna listen to this music."

And I rested my head
over the stereo.

I listened to that.

I cried like a baby.

I had a river of tears
coming down.

I digested
the art of the music.

I heard him telling a story.

And it took a talented
human being to do this.

I said, "My God,
if he wrote this,

that was a brilliant man."

And I think from then on,

when it comes to the rap music,

I try very hard
not to judge it,

but to look
at the human being behind it.

That's a woman's son,
a man's son.

Those are human beings there,

and let's focus on the art.

Let's focus on the talent.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪