The Notorious B.I.G.

Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls and the Notorious B.I.G., reinvented East Coast hip hop. He was 24 years old when he was gunned down in 1997 in Los Angeles, a murder that has never been solved. He had an unmistakable, robust baritone and effortless flow on the mic.

The Notorious B.I.G. made his recording debut on a 1993 remix of Mary J. Blige's 'Real Love.' He contributed his first solo cut, 'Party and Bullshit,' to the soundtrack of the film Who's the Man?. His third single, 'One More Chance,' tied Michael Jackson's 'Scream' for the highest debut ever on the pop charts while his album, Ready to Die, sold over four million copies and turned the East Coast into a hip-hop sensation. B.I.G was killed in 1997. But this wasn't the last that the world had heard from him. B.I.G was featured on no fewer than five songs on Puff Daddy's 1997 album, No Way Out. A single from that album, 'I'll Be Missing You,' dedicated to B.I.G's memory, won the Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group in 1998 — ironically beating B.I.G himself, whose, 'Mo Money Mo Problems' was nominated in the same category. Two more posthumous albums were using previously unreleased material: Born Again in 1999 and Duets: The Final Chapter in 2005 — featuring a host of guests including Eminem, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, bizarrely, Bob Marley — also from beyond the grave — and the metal band Korn.