Biggie 20

It was all a dream..

Yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of the Notorious B.I.G's murder. Just like with 2Pac's death - that I wrote about last September on its 20th anniversary - I found out about Biggie's death the following day.

I can picture it now. Walking into the college building, bottom floor and was greeted by a friend who had been waiting for my arrival.

'Did you hear about Biggie!?'
'No, what?'

He told me the story about Smalls having been shot outside a Soul Train Music Awards after party.

It was a crazy time. Two of my favourite rappers killed within the space of a few months.

I first came across Biggie in the autumn of 1994 when I would record Yo! MTV Raps every Saturday night. His song, and its accompanying video, Juicy was great. I would sit there rewinding the video tape constantly.

I bought his first album Ready To Die not long afterward. It's one of my favourite hip hop records.

Following Biggie's passing, his second album - Life After Death -was released. Trivia note time: it was the first thing I bought on my first ever payday with my first 'proper job'. Even though Juicy is my favourite Biggie song, I sort of like the Life After Death album a little better than Ready To Die. I don't even know if that makes any sense.

For some reason, I had been listening to his albums a lot lately. However, when I was out at the park yesterday morning, I thought there was one song that I had to listen to. If you've followed along, I'm sure you'll know which one I chose.

And if you don't know, now you know....