It's All BIG

Today marks the 24th year since the untimely passing of Christopher Wallace at the young age of 24. His death cut short the explosion that rocked the Hip Hop music world when Biggie dropped his first single 'Juicey' in 1994. 'Ready To Die' catapulted him into overnight success and ironically ended this phenom career too soon, less than two years after the album debuted. Biggie had an eclectic musical palate and his style of rhyme flow was heavily influenced by Jazz and Reggae. Biggie took that personal connection he had with music and it manifested into a unique and remarkable style of rapping. When I first heard 'Juicey' play on the radio I immediately felt some type of way. Marrying that classic track and converting it into a hip hop beat was the first spark that heightened my senses. Then came the lyrics and the immortal words, "it was all a dream", had me like WHAAAA!!! My ears were witnessing a new style of lyrical verses that had never been heard before in the rap game. Biggie took words and phrases, pop-culture references from his past and laid down some of the most influential and iconic rap songs in Hip Hop history. He was an intelligent kid from the streets of Bedstuy, Brooklyn with an iconic voice that was heard all the way to the Grammys. Biggie's career was still in its infancy when he was gunned down in Los Angeles on March 9th, 1997. I remember that day well as I woke up to hear the sad news that he was gone forever from this world. He was BIG POPPA, the Notorious B I G who was living the dream until he was 'ready to die'. Imagine all the new music that Biggie would have produced if he had still been living. When lives are cut short before their time it's always tragic. Biggie was a game changer and over two decades later his iconic music remains relevant and continues to transcend into the future.