Original subtitles

[man] I've got this camera pointed toward this door

- because something about to happen. - [people chuckle]

I can't really speak on it, but, there you go, baby. It's startin'.

Know what I mean?

It's startin'.

Alright, already. You hear the clippers going on, though?

Do you hear that?

[people chuckle]

You see my boy, Biggie?

My boy get three hairs, he get nervous.

He don't fuck around.

Yeah, I can't be, you know, looking like, you know, I'm 21 and shit, you know.

- [man] True. - Gotta, y'know, keep that 18 feel.

- Y'know? - [man] That 18 feel. No diggity.

- Let's get that jump popping. - The jump. Yeah.

- Atlanta's been selling out. - I know.

Passes on, please.

Still.

[sings] ♪ This is how we do it ♪

[crowd chatter]

Yo!

[man] It's hard when you grow up with somebody that ends up successful,

'cause you will never look at them like that.

I'd be looking at people: "Y'all doing all of this for Chris?"

[Big] Where the honeys gettin' money

playin' niggas like dummies though?

[man] Throw your hands in the air! Everybody throw your hands in the air!

Put your mothafuckin' hands in the air!

Come on! Let me hear you say, "Ho!"

- Come on! - [audience] Ho!

- Say, "Ho!" - Come on!

- [audience] Ho! - Now all the ladies say, "Oww!"

- Oh yeah, check it out. - Check it out!

♪ 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' Moët Is where you'll find me ♪

♪ The back of the club, mackin' hoes My crew's behind me ♪

[D Roc] They say a picture say a thousand words.

I was like, "Well, fuck, what would a video do?"

Reppin', dog?

- D Roc got it on screen. - Got the limo.

[D Roc] Aw, bruh!

Whatever it is we were doing, I would be recording it.

- We're on our way to another show. - Aw, bruh!

Boo!

♪ C-notes by the layers True fuckin' players ♪

♪ Jump in the Rover and come over Tell your friends jump in the GS3 ♪

♪ I got the chronic by the tree ♪

♪ I love it when you call me Big Poppa ♪

♪ Throw your hands in the air If you're a true player ♪

♪ I love it when you call me Big Poppa ♪

♪ To the honeys gettin' money Playin' niggas like dummies ♪

Chris Wallace is a conscious person. He knows what is going on.

Notorious B.I.G., he really didn't give a fuck.

[D Roc laughs]

I don't really listen to too much, like, hip-hop.

I usually like listening to slow songs, like slow old songs. Like The Stylistics.

- [DJ] Right. - Dramatics.

[D Roc] Niggas looking good tonight. I see how it is.

- Cash Money clique right there. - Woo!

[D Roc] Hit that note for me we've been hitting all day.

♪ Every time I close my eyes ♪

[D Roc] What?

♪ I wake up feeling so horny! ♪

Woo!

A hidden secret is that Biggie was really like a R&B writer.

He was like a R&B singer. So that's why you get the melodies.

It was rare that he would be rapping.

He would always be singing somebody's songs.

As a hip-hop historian,

being born in a time when hip-hop was invented,

you always were able to hear some remnants

of previous rap artists.

This guy,

I don't know where he came from

with his cadence, with his rhythms,

with his sound, with his approach,

with his confidence.

You have no origins for what planet,

what rap planet, this guy came from.

[D Roc] Come on, watch your back, baby boy.

We both really didn't have no fathers. We both was the only child.

No pictures. Poppa having a party and shit.

- No other pictures, yo. - [D Roc] We bonded little bit more.

When you're the only child, you tend to gravitate toward your friends closer.

[woman] I really believe Damion was very, very close to him.

He was the one who called me and told me.

It was five o'clock that morning the phone rang.

I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

And…

All I could hear was Damion.

He couldn't even come out with the words. I just heard him crying.

And I knew…

It was my son.

[solemn violin music playing]

[helicopter patrol] Over.

At the block, over.

[P. Diddy] I never knew that you could feel so sad

or feel so hurt, or feel so empty.

Felt like everybody wanted to give up.

[helicopter patrol] And they're on FDR.

Headed to the south side.

Towards the Brooklyn…

They're heading to the on-ramp.

Towards the Brooklyn Bridge.

Going towards Brooklyn.

Two-seven-four over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Maintaining position on the south side.

[P. Diddy] And then, we came over that bridge in Brooklyn…

[patrol] Downtown Brooklyn.

Across from Tillary.

[cheering, indistinct shouting]

Nobody was crying. They were all celebrating.

Their memories of Biggie was like the joy, was the dancing,

of seeing somebody that came from their neighborhood make it.

And it just gave us a little lift.

Biggie Smalls was a king!

[P. Diddy] And this story doesn't have to have

a tragic ending.

Alright, boom.

Today we in Detroit. You know what I mean?

We got a couple shows, so this is the beginning of the tape,

so motherfuckas know where the fuck we at. July 14th, baby.

[D Roc] Where we at, y'all?

- Where we at? - We in Detroit!

- Detroit, baby! - [D Roc] We in Detroit on another mission.

- Detroit, baby! - [D Roc] I would grab the cameras.

Big be like, "Got tapes?" before we leave the crib.

Then, it started being a part of our life.

Like, I would just pop one in, and our whole day.

It was like a visual diary.

Back in 1995, that was a lot.

This was a kid straight up the block, now,

he's the hottest thing smoking now.

[cheering, indistinct shouting]

I might sign an autograph.

[car honking]

Biggie blew up, like, you know, like, overnight.

We gonna show them who the fuck is in the house.

You in the house, Biggie!

We gonna show them who the fuck is in the house.

[P. Diddy] It was during a time where Dre and Snoop and them,

they were just really… They were knocking it out the park.

So they were really inspiring and motivating us to step up our game.

As New York, as the home of hip-hop,

we felt like we had a savior.

You couldn't tell me that he wasn't

the greatest rapper of all time.

I was saying shit like that when he was alive,

that he was the greatest rapper.

[awards presenter] And the winner is…

Baby, baby!

B.I.G.!

And the winner is…

[laughs]

Notorious Big!

- B.I.G.! - Bah!

Straight up Brooklyn in the house!

The award for album of the year

is The Notorious B.I.Gizzy!

Ready to Die.

[P. Diddy] He went in deep, and on that Ready to Die album,

none of that was done for no money, for no glory.

That was from out of his heart.

Yo, I want to give mad love to my daughter, to my moms.

We did it, Brooklyn!

When Ready to Die came out,

one of my friend bought the album.

Then she told me, "Oh my God, I listened to the album,

and so much profanity is on it!"

I said, "Really? Profanity?"

My moms don't really know what a rapper,

like a platinum-selling rapper, she don't know what they make.

She don't know that I be doing shows for near $10,000, four shows a week.

She just think that I'm over here just doing little thousand dollar shows

at little night clubs and shit.

- [Lil' Cease laughing] - She don't know what's going on.

[D Roc] Hold up. Oh shit! What up, Poppa?

You know Marley takes it miles to come see me. You know what I mean?

Stacks and stacks.

What? Stacks and stacks?

[rapping]

Yeah! Check it out!

"One of my friend bought your album, and they told me

it is reeking with profanity."

"Christopher, is it true?"

"Ma, what are you doing listening to my music?

You're not supposed to be listening!

It's for nobody over 35 years old!"

Uh-oh.

I stayed the hell away from his music.

I said, "You know what? He told me don't listen to it."

"I'm not gonna listen to it."

Basically, she don't give a fuck about none of that shit.

I ain't "Biggie." I'm her son, you know?

That's how she look at it.

I'm trying to get out of this house so she can get out my hair.

His world, the rap world, and my world,

we're completely opposite.

If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be listening to rap music.

I'm a country and western person.

I'm a ballad person.

["Stand By Your Man" by Merlene Webber]

♪ Stand by your man ♪

♪ He is the one to cling to ♪

And even back home in Jamaica,

there's a certain time of the morning

that, on the radio, you would hear country and western.

I would save up money every year

to take my son and myself to Jamaica.

He loved Jamaica because they spoiled him rotten.

[Gwendolyn] Once he placed his eyes on me,

he run and hugged me.

"Grandma!"

I knew Chris would be special.

He was loving, kind, genuine.

[Voletta] He loved hanging out with his Uncle Dave

because Dave was the musician,

and he would take him to these joints

where they played their music.

And he swore when he became famous

his Dave was gonna be a part of his crew.

["Respect" by DeeJay Rell & Killa Ben plays]

♪ Watch this! Lawd… ♪

[song continues in background]

We was bound together.

And from the first time Biggie hear me start to sing,

that was it.

Many times we were out there,

and he was rapping and I was singing.

[Dave singing] ♪ Them coming to church Like some special guest ♪

♪ You know, some skimpy clothes That expose their breasts ♪

♪ They paths that come I preach out them hat ♪

♪ I tell the woman Them clothes too sharp ♪

♪ Them… ♪

♪ What you don't know, you don't know ♪

♪ What you don't know, you don't know ♪

♪ What you don't know, you better get… ♪

I was born in Jamaica right here in the district.

A few houses up on the hill.

But I always daydream

of being a filthy rich lady.

A lady of great means with three children.

I would have a beautiful home on a hill.

I did not see that in the country for me.

That was not my life.

When I became a teenager,

I migrated to the United States.

I was saddened,

but at the same time,

"Okay, I'm going to the great United States of America."

In New York and Brooklyn,

school and work and taking care of your baby.

[gentle piano music playing]

But in Jamaica, it was just fun and sun time.

[D Roc] I grew up on Gates between Bedford and Nostrand.

Big grew up on Saint James between Fulton and Gates.

It was about a eight block difference from where we grew up at.

My moms was further into Bed-Stuy.

You know, Big was kind of like

borderline Bed-Stuy, Clinton Hill.

[man] A lot of people didn't view that as Clinton Hills in that time,

especially for the dudes that was quote-unquote

"running around in the streets."

Clinton Hills ain't sound too good when you talkin'

like, it don't got that same energy as, "Yo, I'm from the Stuy."

We was from a tree-lined block, a nice-looking block,

even though, you know, things went on.

You know, people sold drugs, did drugs.

People got robbed and all that

but… it didn't look as bad as it was.

I lived on Saint James between Gates and Greene.

I met Big in front of his stoop.

The only place that you could tell was bad

was, like, when you hit Fulton Street.

[police sirens wailing]

It's like, I would turn the corner.

There'd be, like, 50, 60 dope fiends.

That scared the shit out of me when I was little.

Now, at the time,

Big moms wasn't allowing him to hang on Fulton Street.

We on the stoop. She right there.

"Christopher, where are you going?"

Most people did call him Big,

other than his mom.

Ms. Wallace always called him Christopher. [Laughs]

I never even heard her call him Chris. "Christopher."

[Voletta] Christopher was a very smart kid.

You know, he goes to, I mean, a Catholic school.

[church bell tolls]

[man] Chris was my first friend in life,

from kindergarten all the way till he was killed.

Growing up as children of immigrants,

we, like, kind of were outsiders.

Our mothers came from a struggle, but,

even though we were living in,

you know, low-income neighborhoods,

they came with aspirations.

Our friends would be a little bit more street,

a little bit more street-savvy.

This is where hip-hop came into our lives.

♪ C'mon Marley Marl Let's rock free state ♪

I grew up to that shit. When my moms got me a radio for Christmas,

she got me a Fat Boys tape…

♪ Fat boys… ♪

…and a Run-DMC tape. That's all I had.

- ♪ Down to the ground ♪ - ♪ Sucka MCs ♪

♪ You sad-faced clowns ♪

[Hubert] That was the era of us staying in tune with everything hip-hop.

And he was already writing since elementary.

He had different rhyme books, and we would all link up and start doing routines.

[Voletta] When I heard him in his room, I thought it was noise

because I, like… [imitates percussion, sputtering sounds]

"Oh my God, will you please cut it out?

I'm trying to concentrate here."

[D Roc] Look at Poppa, sippin' on a...

- We in Davenport, man. Iowa. - [D Roc] What you drinkin'?

Vodka.

[D Roc singing] ♪ Sure he rides ♪

As we were starting to do a lot of shows,

to the point where Big would be like, "You know?"

I became part of the show.

Put your mothafuckin' hands in the air! Come on!

Put your mothafuckin' hands in the air!

Check it out!

[rapping]

He would be like, "Yo",

each song that drop, tape the show.

Tape the audience. I want to see the reaction,

so when we double back and put our show together,

"I know what songs are stronger, where I get the most reaction."

Our shit was always the crowd. It never was us.

We liked to see what the crowd was doin'.

- Yo. - Yo, D Roc, come here, son. Before we...

We gotta get the crowd. Hype tonight.

We can take this back to NY. We need everybody on camera

so we can take this shit back to Brooklyn.

Raise your hands. I wanna see them!

- [crowd screaming, cheering] - Yeah!

[D Roc] We've done shows in places that might hold 500 people.

We've done shows in the illest places to biggest places,

and it's always the same thing.

[Big] All the way to the back.

Mothafuckers blowin' shit up.

They were gonna go 100% every time.

[DJ] What was your life like as a child?

I was just…

- [DJ] Were you shy? Were you outgoing? - No, still shy.

- I'm a quiet dude, man. - [DJ] Are you?

I kind of get the voice for certain things I want to say in my music.

[Hubert] As shy as he could be,

when he could work an angle, he would speak up.

Donald Harrison was a young jazz artist

when we were younger that happened live on the block.

He would see Donald coming in with the beautiful ladies

and with the horn,

and before I knew it, he'd say, "Yo, I met him."

Sounds something like that.

Yeah, I played with Art Blakey,

Miles Davis, and Lena Horne.

Clinton Hill, at that time,

was becoming a place where a lot of musicians and artists

were doing things in that neighborhood.

So I figured I should be there too.

[Big] A jazz musician used to live on my block on Saint James.

This guy was real cool.

I used to come by the house all the time.

[Donald] I was being helped by older musicians,

who were nurturing me.

One of the things that they told me,

which was in my heart anyway, was to pass it on.

With Chris, I did a lot of different things,

go to the movies,

the Museum of Modern Art,

explaining Picasso and all those guys

and the difference between different eras of painting.

He would be a sponge

to just so much more that was outside of our scope

as young kids.

I was initially trying to groom Chris to be a jazz artist

because he was so talented.

One of the things that we worked on

was putting what a snare drum did in bebop drumming

into the rhythm of a rhyme.

We listened to Max Roach with Clifford Brown.

[mimics percussion]

Max has a very melodic way of playing the drums.

He makes the rhythm into a melody.

[mimics percussion]

So if you slow one of those ideas down, like…

[mimics percussion]

Put some lyrics to that,

you can hear that Notorious B.I.G. was accenting those notes

and rhyming in a way that exudes all the finer qualities

of a bebop drum solo.

It's incredible.

♪ I'd rather make a buck Drive a fat-ass truck ♪

♪ Drag the nine two clips and run amuck ♪

♪ Yes, flex after two or three Becks ♪

♪ As I wreck shit What the fuck you expected? ♪

♪ A fly guy? ♪

♪ Well, fuck it ♪

♪ I'm a high guy from Bed-Stuy Putting the swelling on your eye ♪

♪ Your nose even When I choke me, you stop breathing ♪

♪ The police come I'm leaving ♪

- Peace and love. Here we go. - [crowd] Yeah!

I got my first turntable set by the time I hit junior high.

Then we got to see him rhyming over the beats.

[rapping]

[Hubert] Every summer, Chris would come back from Jamaica,

and Chris would bring back

some Jamaican slang and music

that we didn't listen to.

Rock music, reggae, country.

He said, "You know, I can't sleep without country music on."

And we were shocked.

Chris wanted to make our first recording.

MC Cwest was his name at that time.

And we found a studio downtown Brooklyn called Funky Slice,

and we had to get permission from our parents, of course.

We put together allowance money.

And we're in Brooklyn today at Funky Slice Studios.

We're gonna show you how to make a demo tape,

how to do it, get that record out, get that deal going so you get paid.

He made a song over the Toto "Africa" beat.

So his skills was not only in lyrics,

just vision for songs.

♪ I hear the drums echoing tonight ♪

[rapping over the Toto "Africa" beat]

[Donald] People who transcend

understand a lot of different things,

not just one.

You got to add something else into the equation

for it to move forward.

[Big] Every rapper made me wanna do it. Any nigga who got played on the radio.

I didn't even know how much them niggas was making.

I ain't know… All I knew was that Doug E. Had a nice Linc

and a nice little piece.

Slick Rick was mad heavy. You know what I'm saying?

Heav had a Montero.

I just knew what the magazines and the videos showed me.

That's all it was, though. That's all it was, was a dream.

It wasn't ever nothing I thought that really was gonna take place.

Your boy had to get right with the Coogies.

[D Roc] All the time.

Make sure the Rolie and everything is in full effect.

The brim, Versaces, you know.

- [D Roc] All good. - Gotta make it happen.

[D Roc] Got the camera. Can't forget the pinky ring.

- Alright. - That's what I'm talking 'bout.

[D Roc] Fuckin' ain't right, yo. Look.

He had that on…

- Fraud. - …since he got it.

Since I got it!

And I got it a while ago!

I used to be amazed by the uniform Big used.

I thought that was the ultimate shit.

Then you can't be judged.

There's no class. There's no nobody better than nobody

if we all wearing the same thing.

Where I went to school, it wasn't that.

I used to be telling him,

"I wish I didn't have to do the shit that I was doing."

He used to be like, "Man, I just want to get out and about.

Like, what y'all be doing?"

I used to try to talk to him like, "I hear you, but I don't."

[C Gutta] The '80s was like…

Especially for a young Black kid,

it was easy to get lured into the streets.

It wasn't a whole lot of jobs out there.

When we got to Fulton Street, we see the hustlers.

These is all dudes that was getting money. They had Jeeps, Benzes,

jewelry, Gucci, Versa…

Like, they was wearing that back then.

So now, if I want to get that, how I'mma get that?

Eighty-eight summer started so crazy

because we wasn't doing anything.

I was robbing people, of course,

you know, but as far as selling crack or not,

none of us is doing it but Chic.

It was me and Big,

and we keep seeing Chic running around the corner.

I don't want to go deep into the day...

- Into that crack game! - [C Gutta] Well…

- C'mon. You want me to go... - [C Gutta] Well…

- Look at us! - [C Gutta] This is...

- I'm calling cut... - [C Gutta] No.

- Talkin'... - [C Gutta] Hold on.

Growing up back then, man, if you wasn't into the hustling,

good in sports, or going to school, you was a nobody.

Them three things.

And me and Chris hanging outside on the stoop

'cause we was next-door neighbors. We was friends.

Chris was a quiet dude.

He'd never leave off his stoop for nothing.

His mother used to watch him all the time. "Christopher, come eat."

I'm 19. Big's 16.

Most teenagers gonna get into something,

because now you just trying to feel your oats.

You trying to express your manhood and stuff like that.

Chic was like, "Yo, it's like all I do is stand out there.

They come. They come to me."

I was like, "That's it? That's all you do is just stand out…"

'Cause like I said, we'd never sold drugs.

He got to the hustling game through me.

Now you say I'm the bad guy. Well, who do me?

[C Gutta] I was getting an SSI check for my moms having cancer.

Chic like, "Bro, you can get an ounce with that."

So we go cop an ounce.

[street noise]

[dramatic violin music swells]

We go to Chic room. Chic bag it up.

This was the first time me and Big ever sold crack.

Now, at that time, we was bagging up 16, 17 hundred in work off an ounce.

And you don't even have the maturity enough to think it all the way through.

Of course you would jump on that.

[Big] I used to draw back in the day,

back like in 4th, 5th grade.

They was always like, "Take that talent that you have,

think of something that you can do in the future, build on it."

And I was like, well, I like to draw,

so what could I do with drawing? Am I gonna be the one at the art dealer?

I'm not gonna be that type of nigga.

I was more like maybe I could do, like, big billboards and shit.

Like commercial art, in commercials.

- That's, like, so long ago though. - [D Roc] Mm-hmm.

And then after I got introduced to crack?

[Big chuckles]

Commercial art?

I go out here for 20 minutes,

and get some paper, some real money, man.

The parents didn't know.

Some of the parents didn't know because we kept it, you know…

Ms. Wallace worked every day, nine to five.

She was a teacher, like. So she worked every day, so…

Big basically had nine to five to do wrong.

The corner we stood on was the train station she got out of.

Like, we knew the time.

Look down Fulton Street. Clock in Brooklyn. A clock on four sides.

So you would know when she's getting off work.

Like, we just basically just took it over.

All the old niggas got locked or murdered,

and they just started drifting off, and we just took over the ave.

It was like…

Sort of like… This is like hood celebrity status.

We was like stars, man.

[Lil' Cease] All the cool motherfuckers are on Fulton Street.

Once you be there for a long time,

we saw what they was doin', what was going on.

"Shit, they hustlin'. They sellin' drugs, crack.

Okay. This is what to do?"

♪ If I wasn't in the rap game ♪

♪ I'd probably have a ki knee-deep in the crack game ♪

♪ Because the streets is a short stop ♪

Biggie Smalls in the house getting plenty of dough.

- Plenty dough, nigga! - Keep it real!

Plenty dough! That's how we handle it.

Then, we'd smoke weed, sit in front of the store for hours.

We just liked being on the corner.

How you gonna make yourself shine?

It wasn't about you being a hustler.

"I'm gonna go buy sneakers. I'm gonna buy me a chain."

You wanted to stand for something. New York, was about,

especially Brooklyn, you had to be fly. You had to be shit.

That was our way of making our own money.

[C Gutta] This is one of the things that we learned:

It's like, everybody that's out here is not…

Don't have the same amount of…

[dramatic cello drones]

Same amount of…

How can I put it?

Ruthlessness.

This is when, really…

…O comes in the picture.

[D Roc] Olie was the original hustler. Like, Olie schooled everybody.

[Big] My man "O."

Like, we used to be hustling.

All of us dropped out of school, 15, 14 years old.

We were sitting on like six, seven grand a week.

Just living.

[Lil' Cease] Him and Big was like, you couldn't even separate them two.

O was his boy. That was like his best friend.

[Jasmine] So Olie, as everyone called him… I called him Roland.

The very first time he sort of brought me over to that side,

which was on Fulton and Saint James,

that's when I started to like, "Wait a minute. What is going on here?"

And I really… I kinda was oblivious to it to be honest.

You know, but you're young. I was 14, 15 at the time.

[C Gutta] Big's 17.

O's 17.

O got the Honda Accord.

[Hubert] O had the Accord with the flip-up lights.

And it was like a Bentley pulled up.

[C Gutta] Just my man having the car, we was the shit.

Big's standpoint too, it's like, man,

we got more brothers.

- [D Roc] What's the deal, Poppa? - [Chico] Yo. Fuck is the deal?

[Chico] Stacks and stacks. Yeah baby.

- You know what I mean? - [Big] 1421 is Cease?

- [Chico] There. - [D Roc] Lil' Cease's bloatin'.

[D Roc] But let Poppa do his thing.

[C Gutta] Columbia's finest.

[D Roc] Uh-oh.

- Yo, we out. - [Olie] Look at your boy.

- [D Roc] I can't see him. - [Chico] Thang!

- [Lil' Cease] Chico! - [Chico] We out!

[Lil' Cease] Hey!

[Big] Come on.

- [D Roc] Niggas waiting. You play babies. - [Big] Let him get pretty.

He ain't get pretty in a while. Let him do his thing.

I hit something.

[Lil' Cease] For a long time, when he was freestyling, and doing rhymes,

he used to say "Junior MAFIA."

So in the very beginning,

we didn't… nobody had no idea, you know?

Was like, "Who's Junior MAFIA when you say that?"

He was like, "Y'all."

Junior MAFIA, baby!

[D Roc] He built characters. Like Big put Junior MAFIA together,

gave everybody a character, gave everybody a name,

and wrote most of the rhymes.

Christopher Wallace certainly had a great ear.

Knowing the drive and how dope he was.

He was, you know, super intelligent,

and his way with words. He would have probably set all of them up

with a frickin' gold or platinum first album

if they showed

that they wanted to put in the work to do that.

To be in Junior MAFIA, you gotta be a friend, you know?

And they my friends. I've known them since we was little.

We'd do the same things together.

We all from the same neighborhood, so…

I had to make sure everybody was straight.

[Chico] Boo-ya! [Laughs]

We on the bus.

It stank. Twenty degrees on this motherfucking bus.

Everybody's baking.

- We is dying, man. - [Chico] Everybody baking.

Where's my boy?

- [D Roc] We're baking up in the joint. - [Chico] My boy hot?

Fuck, man.

[Big] I've come to bless you, to bless you.

- That's what you need. - Alright.

- I'd never leave you fucked up. - Get air.

Hit yourself one time for the camera.

Alright, it's hot. That's how fucking hot it is on this bus.

C's in a bunk.

[Lil' Cease] He cared about the young ones like, "I gotta…

I gotta show them the right way."

We was really important to him, to get us off the streets, you know?

My life was from Washington Avenue to Grand Avenue,

and that's it.

This is my melting pot. We thought it was gonna be for the rest of our life.

[C Gutta] On the block on Fulton Street where we were all hanging out, kicking it,

we was like fake hip-hop analysts,

me, him, O.

Like, we would sit there and have debates all day.

Each one of us had our favorite rapper.

My favorite was KRS-One.

O's favorite was Rakim.

Big's favorite was Big Daddy Kane.

♪ Warm it up Kane ♪

We would always analyze somebody flow,

they rhymes, and all of that.

Wasn't like I'mma make music one day. I'mma be a rapper or…

You know, it wasn't like that.

- [Lil' Cease] Boy draws good. - [Olie] Whatever, son.

[Hubert] During that time, I wasn't coming around on Fulton as much.

He started focusing on getting money.

My turntables got dusty.

He wasn't even thinking about music.

It was just about that next dollar and try to up the hustle.

Keep it flowing. Make Fulton Street an enterprise.

[C Gutta] When you young, it's fun for a moment, but…

When the full gravity of it impacts you,

it's stressful.

You not doing the right thing.

I mean, any civilian

would see that as the right thing to do, is to call the police on you.

[Lil' Cease] Big would then grow up fucked up.

His moms had a job.

No, we didn't really realize what was important at that time.

Like, my moms ain't really know about everything everything.

You know?

I don't know what he was doing. He told me he was working.

I believed him.

[Donald] When he started going out on Fulton Street

and joining in the ranks,

I wasn't too happy. And initially, I could get him and say,

"Come home," and he would follow me.

Maybe for about a year, when I'd come off the road.

And then, that part was over.

In my mind, the only thing I could see was that, you know,

those were guys his age

and that he was bonding with them

and putting some money in his pocket.

That becomes an option,

and he took that option.

We had crack on a plate.

Big used to leave it in his room

to dry near the window.

Hang out for a couple hours to let it dry.

When we came back home,

Ms. Wallace had cleaned his room,

and as soon as he came through the door, she screamed to him,

"Yo, why are you leaving all these hard mashed potatoes

in the plate?"

She scraped it in the garbage.

She thought it was like, mashed potatoes that'd been out for a couple days,

but that was, you know, drugs.

Jesus Christ.

That bastard.

I never knew.

I don't know if a human being can be so mad at a dead person.

I was mad at my son

for that, that incident.

That's the shocker.

That was a big shocker.

That means he brought it into my house.

He disrespected my house.

That wasn't my son. That's not the son I wanted.

[Big] There was nothing she could do to stop a nigga.

So I tell her I'mma stop, I ain't gonna fuck around no more.

She'd kick me out the crib, but I'd just like come back in,

tell her I ain't doing it, and still be doing it.

[rapping]

[C Gutta] Once Big started hustlin', Big was all in.

Big wanted to be a kingpin.

O had family

that was doing big things in the drug game.

[Frank Nitti] Olie, better known as Big O,

he worked for his uncle, I-God.

The Bazemores was the family who down in Brownsville

that you did not fuck with.

It was like all the other kingpins that you know about in every other story,

the buck stops with them?

The buck stopped with him.

Brownsville is a part of Brooklyn

that most would say is like the roughest part of Brooklyn.

You know, a lot of hood shit.

[C Gutta] At that time, Brownsville, East New York, held the murder rate

for New York.

And I think that was the year that New York had the murder rate

for the country.

[Frank] O was a fucking spoiled brat

because his fucking uncle was the guy,

and he knew nobody could do nothing to him.

He was like the worst little nigga…

[laughs]

He was like the worst little nigga ever.

When Biggie came on our side to fuck with O,

he was always rhyming.

He got the best flow.

His swagger's like,

"I ain't got to be the handsomest. I ain't got to be the in-shape nigga.

I'mma kill you with these jokes, with my social skills."

Like, he was always trying shit out on you like, "Yo, check this one out."

O was gonna do whatever the fuck it took to get Biggie on.

[D Roc] Olie was always thinking.

He was always trying to find out the next best move.

[C Gutta] Big already had the thing with, you know, his size.

He got the lazy eye,

so people cracked jokes on Big since he was little,

but Big was immune to that.

But at the same time,

Big never wanted to get his hopes up,

and then somebody crush his hopes.

[Hubert] The dream of being a rapper was fading away,

and it was more of the dream or the focus of being a hustler.

So, you know, Roland pushed him,

like pretty… Like, "You got it."

I remember he just would, like I said, say, you know, once he makes it,

that we all made it.

[indistinct rap music playing]

[D Roc] I mean timing is everything, but that day that you're talking about,

it all played a part in the story.

Definitely.

That's why we talking about it.

Big started coming down on Bedford and Quincy with me.

My neighborhood was kind of more hood-ish.

And, you know, it was just…

It was a little different, man.

Fifty Grand was down on my end,

bringing his radio out on Bedford,

doing the block parties, bringing his set out.

I'm the bridge from Big to 50 Grand.

D Roc used to be with us on Bedford Avenue.

We all hustled out there on Bedford.

He said, "I'mma bring a kid around to meet you."

For real.

Guaranteed real.

His original rap name was MC Cwest.

When he came on Bedford, he was Biggie.

But on the Big and 'Preme battle,

'Preme got on the mic.

They was battling.

[rapping]

[D Roc] When 'Preme was rapping to Big,

I had a white washcloth or something.

I had wrapped it around my hand because I didn't know what was going on.

I'm like, "Damn, we don't know this dude and he's talking shit."

So I was looking, like, "Should I beat this dude up?"

Black-ass giant. You scared?

Don't be scared.

Even if you look at the battle between Biggie and 'Preme, it's like,

you're 'Preme, and you're like 5'3 ", 5'4".

You on the mic, and your voice sound tinny,

and don't… It sounds thin.

Big towering over this little bald-headed dude,

dancing around and acting… Looking like a fool.

Big comin', like, you know,

like just with presence.

I don't even know if Big really understood his Jamaican roots.

Just the history of Jamaican DJs

from what was called chatting on the mic.

The braggadocious…

Mic presence was important.

And Big had that.

That's what set him different from some of the other street rappers

was that mic presence.

[Big] I'm just trying to rip the hardest,

hardest rhymes.

I just want to just be the hardest MC.

I'm just trying to keep that notch.

[rapping]

Live in action, Guaranteed Raw, you dumb-ass niggas!

Whoo, whoo, whoo!

[50 Grand] When Big came on Bedford and they seen what he did to the mic,

ain't nobody wanna touch it.

Now there was a few rappers out there,

but on the ave, Big was the guy.

Living at the top.

I felt a sense of pride.

Big wasn't from that avenue.

This is the guy that I brought here.

That… he hustles, smokes, drinks.

He do all the shit we do. Y'know?

The same shit, plus he raps.

So I kind of had a up on everybody.

[laughs]

[C Gutta] And they came back to the crib.

O was trying to tell him,

"Need to make a demo.

We take it to Def Jam."

[50 Grand] Got some beers. Got some weed.

Took him to the basement.

You had a turntable, a mixer, a tape deck,

and then surrounding the whole basement was Olde English bottles.

That's about it.

[Big raps] ♪ A whole lot of niggas Want Big to make a demo tape ♪

He knew everything he wanted. All that was new to me.

He'd say, "Stop this right here. Get this record.

Throw it on. Just play this certain hook, back to the beat."

I did what he said.

Me and my DJ, 50, we used to be on Bedford Avenue, you know,

makin' tapes and shit.

And everything we did, he taped.

Everything, every kind of little freestyle we did,

he just would record it,

till he had like seven or eight joints.

It took us about an hour, not even an hour.

Not even that long.

- So everything was one take? - Yeah.

[Big rapping]

The next step: Mister Cee.

- That's when I come in, huh? - Yeah.

At that time, I was getting ready to go on the road

with Big Daddy Kane.

♪ Move over bacon There's something meatier ♪

Fifty Grand had told me about this demo

on this dude Big from Fulton Street.

But I listened to it, and I was blown away.

A lot of rappers in the early '90s,

a lot of cats were still holding onto the way that a Kane and a Rakim sounded.

But Big's rhyme pattern

just sounded way more advanced than what I had heard.

It like…

It was different from anything that I'd heard at that time.

So I told 50 and Biggie that we should give it

to Matty C at The Source Magazine.

First thing Big said to me, "Man, you know,

don't be promising me nothing, man. Don't be saying you're gonna do something

if you can't do it."

So I was like, "Nah, I'mma send it to Matty, we gonna see

what's gonna happen from there."

In '91, '92, The Source was the Rolling Stone of hip-hop.

The "Unsigned Hype" was this column

where we would feature a new talent once a month.

Artists that really had big success in the "Unsigned Hype,"

including Mobb Deep, Common, DMX.

[Lil' Cease] The Source, we thought it was the coolest shit.

I think that was any kid's dream.

You wanted to be in the light, you wanted to be the shit.

The first five, ten seconds of it

was really all I needed to hear.

Matty was like, "Yo, we want to feature the demo in the "Unsigned Hype."

We need to do a photo shoot.

I hired the photographer

that actually did me and Big Daddy Kane's album covers

to do the photo shoot with 50 Grand and Biggie

on the corner of Bedford and Quincy.

[camera shutter clicks]

[D Roc] It was a big deal. It was all over the neighborhood, everybody had the thing.

It's like, "Yo, you see Big in 'Unsigned'?"

Yo, this is my man!" Like, "Oh my God!" That shit got crazy.

[camera shutter clicks]

I think that was the button that pushed to make him like,

"I'm gonna go hard with this shit. All these people show me attention.

Matty C and all these people put me in The Source.

Maybe I can do it as a rapper."

[camera shutter clicks]

When I got the call from P. Diddy, Puffy at the time,

"Do you have any new material?" I brought the tape up.

[dramatic piano melody playing]

When I heard it, I was like,

"What the fuck?"

I was like…

I was like, "Thank you, God.

This is one of the greatest MCs I've ever heard."

This is during the time of LL Cool. Everybody's like having to be sexy,

light skin, extra pretty,

lips moisturized.

I think Big's lips was a little cracked.

He looked like he was just out in the street hustlin'.

And I was just calling Mister Cee,

who had Brooklyn on lock, and knew everybody out there.

I was from Harlem, I couldn't just go over the bridge

and be going into neighborhoods, asking for Biggie.

[Mister Cee] You know, Harlem cats is always known as being the flashy,

the gloss.

- And where we come from in Bed-Stuy… - [50 Grand] And Brooklyn was grimy.

…you know, we… This is hood.

I didn't know the streets of Brooklyn. I knew the streets of Harlem.

Nobody went to Bed-Stuy 'cause you was just gonna get robbed.

The first meeting was with me,

Biggie, and Puff.

I'll never forget, it was a winter day.

I don't remember the month but it was winter.

We both had our winter jackets on. It was cold.

We go upstairs and, you know, see the receptionist.

"We're here to see Puff." We go in his office.

No sooner do we sit down, Puff asked Big to kick a rhyme.

He was like, "I want you to kick a rhyme for me right now."

Because the demo tape was so good,

I almost didn't believe that he could be this nice.

I see this rawness when he freestyles in front of me,

but it's still… It's great.

It's like… It's 48 bars of pure fire.

So I told him like, "You know, I could get a record.

I wanna get a record out on you soon."

[Voletta] He came one morning.

I was in my bed, and he kneeled on right on my bedside

and told me,

"You know, Mom, this is your life."

Very serious, too. Very serious conversation.

"You know, you are a teacher. You went to school.

You're teaching. You're happy. You want me to be happy?"

"Yes, I do."

He said, "Mom, this is what I'm gonna do, and it's gonna make me happy."

"And who is gonna help you, Christopher?"

He said, "This…

This guy named Puffy."

He said, "Goddamn Puffy."

I would say the first producer that I put with Big was Easy Mo Bee.

This one day, the manager that I had at the time,

she said, "I want you to go to a meeting"

with Andre Harrell and Puffy

for this new artist, Biggie Smalls.

Come to find out that he lived around the way.

I was up on Clinton between Gates and Greene.

That's like around the corner,

three blocks down,

and around the corner.

I was working on the soundtrack for Who's The Man?

So I kind of had that in my back pocket.

[Matty C] His feature on that was huge

because obviously the movie then has incentive

to promote and market the song.

This one day when I came around on Fulton,

him and Junior MAFIA, they used to be, you know,

out on the ave doing they thing.

I'm like, "Yo, Big! Yo, I got a beat, man.

I need you to hear something. Jump in the car."

And I played him the "Party and Bullshit" beat.

[C Gutta] What's up, Biggie? [D Roc] You know Biggie.

- [D Roc] He just party and bullshit. - [C Gutta] Everything is cool.

I told him that I had an idea of the hook that I wanted to put to it.

♪ When the revolution come ♪

♪ But until then, you know, and I know Niggas will party, and bullshit ♪

♪ And party, and bullshit ♪

♪ And party, and bullshit And party, and bullshit ♪

He loved it.

"Party and Bullshit" was the first record that we recorded together,

and it's a hip-hop classic,

and it really started him on his journey to being a songwriter that wrote songs

that sonically had a cinematic vibe to it.

And through that process, it kind of gave birth to our sound.

"Party and Bullshit" is really the first introduction to Biggie

the world gets.

Daytime radio didn't play rap at that time.

They played R&B.

Big pow! Just whoa! Bow! Just kicked through all those doors.

♪ And party, and bullshit ♪

- All we do is bullshit, and party… - [D Roc] Bullshit... Ahh!

[Olie] I can dig it.

[D Roc] I mean, we were standing on a corner one time and about

four, five different cars drove by and was playing "Party and Bullshit."

I just know this ain't right.

No way in the world we on the radio and we still standing on a corner.

[Big] It was just like that long wait, even after I signed the contract.

Know what I'm saying?

Puff says, "What's up with the contract?"

"They coming." "Okay, I got me a little hustle going on."

Yo, Puff was the first one I ever told that shit to.

"These contracts gonna come, and you'll get some money."

I'm like, "Okay, it's all good. But let me just do what I gotta do.

You know what I'm saying? When you ready, just let me know."

Even though I told him that,

you know, at the end of the day I left, and I was going to my condo in Jersey,

and he was in Brooklyn, having to figure out how he was going to eat.

You know, he started to hide it from me.

[C Gutta] Me and Big would always have

real heart-to-heart talks, so…

This is at the time when it first came to him

that he could really…

He was like, "I got a good chance of really, like, doing it."

"Like, man, I hope so because, yo,

I'm either gonna get locked up or somebody gonna merk me.

"I can't just keep robbing everybody I turn the corner on."

So we would have, you know what I mean,

conversations like that.

[Easy Mo Bee] I used to see Big and D Roc and Junior MAFIA,

and I don't know. I always wondered like,

"Yo, they ever been anywhere?"

I just wanted to, like, take them off the block.

If I had it my way,

they wouldn't have been on the block,

'cause I didn't really cherish what they was doing.

They was doing what they felt they had to do.

So, a lot of times I'd come around with the car,

and for no reason, not even just for the music…

Of course, I got music in the car.

But I'll come and I'll scoop 'em up.

They'd be on the ave. Look like he's slumping.

[Big] Look at this fat nigga Rerun. You going somewhere else.

I'd be like, "Come on, let's take a ride."

[moody electronic music playing]

We would ride anywhere.

Like, I'd jump on the belt

and just ride all the way up the belt.

And during them rides,

I got a chance to see a little bit more of him.

He would talk to me, man.

He was talking about how his moms was sick.

She had the cancer on her breast.

And he was like, "Yo, Mo, I'm telling you, man.

It's hard, man. It's hard right now."

He's like, "I gotta make it."

I remember specifically he saying,

"Yo, if this shit with Puff here don't work,

I'm going back to the streets."

And I didn't want to see that happen.

So, my part that I could do

was make the best music,

the most banging music,

that could help be the vehicle

to take him on out and blow up.

So when I made music, I made music like,

"Yo, like, we both, we getting outta here. We movin' up."

[Big rapping]

Christopher, I think, those times, he was just

into the studio working, working, working.

I never…

I didn't want to stress him out.

But you could see he was worried

that I was going to go in, and maybe cancer came up.

But I never really, you know, talk about it

because I want him to get on with his life.

I don't want him to say, "My mom," you know.

I said, "I'm going to be okay."

With her, it's different.

That's Mom Duke. What am I supposed to be like

when she had cancer and shit?

What am I supposed to be like? "Fuck you! Get your own tea!"

No, that's Mom Duke, you know?

I got to take care of my moms.

I'm the only nigga she got. Ain't nobody else up in this motherfucker.

When I first went to…

You know, hook up with Puff, I was like the personal assistant.

I did it all.

Big had a meeting with Puff,

and I remember walking into his office,

and I see this big dude,

his back was turned,

in camouflage.

He had a hoodie on. He turned on, had these dark glasses.

And I was like, "Damn!"

You just felt his presence.

And we just got close.

You know, we connected.

I lost my mother at 15

from cancer,

and when Ms. Wallace was going through her scare,

Big was always nervous.

And I told her, "I'm gonna hold him down. You got my word."

I always meet Mark, and Mark told me.

He said, "You know, whatever he's doing, it's legit."

So I trusted Mark.

I said, "Excuse me? Well, that's the case.

I'm going to trust you with him."

[Mark] All I could do to keep him busy,

whether it be trying to book some shows,

book a show or two.

[C Gutta] One night I can remember in particular.

Paul Robeson Theatre.

Yeah!

Give it up!

O was just always on the side of him saying, "Yo, focus on that, man.

That's something for you to go at that's solid."

O was always doing that.

O was promoting Big at the little spots we was at.

[Big] Motherfuckin' exhausted.

Y'all gonna find out who the fuck is in the house!

[crowd cheering]

[C Gutta] And Big ripped it down.

Everybody lost it.

♪ I got seven Mack 11's About eight 38's ♪

♪ Nine 9's, ten mack tens The shits never ends ♪

♪ You can't touch my riches ♪

♪ Even if you had MC Hammer And them 357 bitches ♪

We just jumping.

♪ …the mansion, the yacht ♪

♪ The two weed spots, the two hot glocks That's how I got the weed spot ♪

♪ I shot dread in the head Took the bread and the landspread… ♪

[Big] My man was like hyping me.

Everywhere we go, me and O be together,

and the nigga be like, "Watch. When my man get on, it'll be shit.

We ain't gonna have to sell this shit no more."

[Voletta] I was coming from work,

and I saw Christopher out.

He said, "Ma, guess what?" I said, "What?"

"Olie was shot."

I said, "What do you mean? He's in the hospital?"

He goes, "No, Ma, Olie's dead."

[Frank] Some things is about principle.

And some things is about loyalty.

When you a man of principle,

and a man that stands for a code,

and somebody violate those things…

Shit happens.

And…

O's death…

Wasn't really about money.

It had a lot to do with principle.

[Jasmine] I-God entered the store with a hoodie on, then…

The uncle shot the nephew,

and the store owners returned fire.

And that's how the uncle was shot and killed.

It's a war zone. I never seen it so bad.

You know, I mean, there's been drugs when it was in the '60s and '70s,

but this crack thing, man,

it's like an explosion, like Mount Saint Helens, you know.

[reporter] This shooting, to you is no surprise.

Nah, this is like a regular.

Bodies everywhere.

And we lost our man, O.

O got murdered.

Suif locked down.

Only real original member of the ave

that's still out there is like me and Chic.

That's about it.

Do you feel lucky, like you were meant to survive?

Definitely, when O got killed, 'cause I was supposed to be with him.

You know what I'm saying?

When I got the call he got murdered. That shit shook me up.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, Fulton Street right now, it's a bad luck avenue.

If you was to go do something on Fulton,

it may start off prosperous. It may look good for a long time,

but believe me, something gonna happen wrong.

That's just the way it is on Fulton. It's just taboo.

It was kind of like a "let me straighten myself up for my boy."

I don't even…

I don't want to jeopardize that, wind up where he at.

That's not what he wants, so I want to do this for Olie,

I'mma do this for my peoples.

I wanna try to get us out the hood.

♪ Who the fuck is this? Paging me at 5:46 in the morning ♪

♪ Crack of dawn and now I'm yawning ♪

♪ Wipe the cold out my eye ♪

♪ See who's this paging me and why ♪

Everything changed, in the way he approached the studio,

the way he was writing his rhymes.

Like, "I'm in album mode." Like, this shit is real.

This is it.

[Big] The album's called Ready to Die.

It's just a big pile of different things that happened in my life.

♪ I'm ready to die And nobody can save me ♪

♪ Fuck the world Fuck my moms and my girl ♪

♪ My life is played out Like a Jheri curl ♪

♪ I'm ready to die! ♪

[Easy Mo Bee] And towards the end of the first verse,

that line,

"Fuck the world, fuck my moms and my girl.

My life is played out like a Jheri curl. I'm ready to die!"

And he came out the booth.

I was like, "Yo, you know you just said fuck your moms?"

He's like, "Yo, I'm not ready to die." He said, "That's just…

That's just an extension of, like, how I feel, man.

"Like, how serious it is for me right now."

[Big] A nigga just be like, "Yo."

Fuck! If I was dead, I wouldn't have to worry about nothing.

I could just lay up. Either I'd be in heaven or hell.

I'd be laying the fuck up, chilling.

I wouldn't have to worry about no problems.

That's what I was on. I wasn't on no killing myself shit.

I was just saying if I was dead, I'd be a lot better off.

- We go into a little writing room. - [Big] Y'all turn the A/C on here?

He need A/C, a big guy. Big guys sweat a lot, you know.

- [Big] Fuck other big guys. - Talking about a dirty motherfucker.

[Fab 5 Freddy] That's one of the great things about Ready to Die,

was the relationship with Puff.

I liken it to the working relationship

of a great cinematic director and a great actor.

Let's just take… Coppola and Pacino.

Let's take Scorsese and De Niro.

They work very closely in a collaborative way.

[P. Diddy] My concept of making records was always about putting movies on wax.

I want you to be able to close your eyes, and wherever you're at, I wanna be able

to teleport you into, you know, a Land Cruiser Jeep in Brooklyn.

I want you to be able to smell the street, feel the heat, you know.

I want you to feel it.

[Matty C] I stopped by his house every day during the making of Ready to Die

because I lived a couple of blocks away

and had to walk by his house to get the train.

And so we just basically would communicate by playing each other music.

Stuff like Jeru the Damaja, Wu-Tang.

The Chronic was, you know,

I think the record that stuck in his head the most.

[Fab 5 Freddy] There were good records coming out throughout every period,

but in the early '90s New York had gotten a little flat.

Cats weren't really putting out as many bangers.

Other students picked up the ball and ran with it

and sometimes took things further than we here in New York,

at the epicenter, had done.

And then the West Coast stepped up, and they started dropping.

It was like, "My goodness!"

We didn't try to go make the East Coast version of The Chronic.

We was already making Ready to Die, but it made us just dig deeper.

[Big] That's what I think made the west a lot stronger with their music,

is because they have movies like Boyz in the Hood.

Real shit about their town.

And that's what I want to do.

So niggas can know how it is out here.

You can listen to the music and see the real everyday struggles.

[P. Diddy] Some artists,

you have to really talk them into sharing their truth,

sharing everything about their lives.

From day one, he…

He raps and always rapped like he had nothing to lose.

Ready to Die is an uncomfortable album.

You know, everything it stands for

from the first record down to the last record,

where you hear an attempted suicide.

You hear somebody going so low that they actually gave up.

[Big rapping]

The whole album was kind of jarring to people like that.

[gunshot, phone drops]

[P. Diddy] ♪ Ayo, Big? Ayo, Big! ♪

[interviewer] So what are we going to look for in your album?

Is it gonna be some more "Party and Bullshit"?

[Big] Nah, yo, it ain't gonna be no more happy shit.

See, I had to do a happy song because that was a happy movie.

I'm hardcore. Street bound. Thug nigga. Thug for life.

[D Roc] I was still knee-deep in the streets, so I was just like…

It was just always that doubt that it wouldn't happen.

Everybody wanted it, but it was like,

let's not even get ourselves all excited about some shit

that we know won't happen for us.

That shit don't happen for us.

[Voletta] I think what Christopher wanted was to dibble and dabble

into whatever illegal things he was doing and try the music.

If the music worked,

"Okay, so I'll give that up, and I'll take the music."

If the music doesn't work, "Hello, I'll go do that."

Jan was visiting the house.

From what I gathered, that was his "girlfriend."

Then, they broke up.

[Big] Yo, so if I put my doubles on there…

He was at the studio, but he came home.

He goes, "Ma. Ma!"

"Yeah?"

"Jan's pregnant."

"Huh?"

"Are you in a position to be a father?

What are you... you're gonna get married?" "Oh, no."

"Heaven help you."

When I came to Brooklyn I was doing office work,

at the same time, a nurse's aid program.

And my mother was worried about me too.

But I met Chris's father, Selwyn,

and I went to see The Harder They Come with him.

["The Harder They Come" by Jimmy Cliff plays]

A lot of Jamaicans were there.

♪ The harder they fall, one and all ♪

We had a wonderful boat ride.

It was beautiful and fun memories.

The next thing I know,

I was pregnant.

I told my friend that I was pregnant.

She said, "Did he tell you that he was married?"

And that kills me.

I had my baby.

And all of a sudden, he just dwindled away.

Selwyn called and said he would like to come over and see us.

I said, "Why don't you come in the morning? I'm heading for work,

and I'm not going to entertain you."

He was sneaky. He would like to come at night.

You're going to come at night when my son is sleeping? Hell no.

I never saw him after that.

[Big] I don't even remember that cat. I seen pictures.

I wouldn't even want to see this nigga.

It's like what could I have to say to him? What could he have to say to me?

I don't need that cocksucker for nothing. [laughs]

I don't need him for shit. My moms is straight.

I looked at my baby, and I said, "Oh my God!"

What is it? I brought you into this world, and what is it I have to give to you?

"I have a strength, I have the determination, and I have my God."

And I said, "I'm gonna make it."

I mean, that's the only person I got really.

You know, I don't really know my father. I don't know him.

My mother woke up in the morning, went to school, went to work…

- [DJ] Strong person. - …then back to school at night.

- [DJ] Right. - Just for me.

[Voletta] He says, "Ma, the baby's beautiful."

I saw this little baby,

and I looked at that baby, and I cried.

He looked at me and goes, "Ma.

Damn! She's not that ugly!"

"Ma, she's pretty! Why are you crying?"

"What do you have to offer this little girl?"

[P. Diddy] Biggie's halfway through his album.

One day, Andre Harrell came into my office and, you know, he told me like,

you know, "We're having like a two kings in the castle problem."

[Mark Pitts] When Puff got fired,

I remember everybody feelin' like, "What we gonna do?"

We were all trying to figure things out.

My concern was really, "What is Biggie gonna do?"

Any reason that came about, it was like, "See!"

It was that whole feeling of…

Because he was… He was still skeptical of this whole thing.

Is this shit real or not?

It wasn't all clear to him, the music stuff.

So a lot of the bad decisions came from wanting to provide and not be broke

and do things for his family.

Even though, you know,

it wasn't a huge explosion yet,

but I seen just enough

for me to know that he got a shot, and he's about to fuck it up.

[C Gutta] This is when Big go outta town.

He goes to North Carolina, started hustling.

[Big] Fuckin' with this money. That's how we get down there?

Crack was going for 20s in North Carolina.

What we were selling for $5 on the corner in New York

was going for $20 in North Carolina.

Jan had family down there.

It was like a no-brainer.

[Mark] I felt I was about to lose him,

and I remember just, "I gotta tell Puff.

He's gonna be mad at me, but I gotta save this kid's life."

[P. Diddy] So I picked up the phone, and I told him

I understood that desire of wanting to be able to take care of your family

and wanting to be able to provide and to get rich,

but I had a personal tragedy being that my father was in the streets,

and, you know, he also dealt drugs and hustled,

and, you know, he got killed when I was two.

And I said, "There's only one path for you as far as selling drugs,

and that's in jail or dead."

And I said, "I'm gonna keep on going and keep on, you know,

trying to make this happen. I know I'm going to make it happen."

And I was just like, "If you want to do this,"

I need you to commit to this.

"You know, you can't do both."

And he was like, "Nah, I'm coming with you."

He was like, "Whatever you want to do, dude, I'm with you."

When he started to really devote his life to music

and having that focus, everything changed for him.

Everything the energy attracted, everything changed for him.

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ To all my peoples in the struggle Y'kow what I'm sayin' ♪

♪ It's all good, baby, baby ♪

♪ Check it ♪

♪ It was all a dream ♪

♪ I used to read Word Up! Magazine ♪

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

♪ Hangin' pictures on my wall ♪

♪ Every Saturday, Rap Attack Mr. Magic, Marley Marl ♪

♪ I let my tape rock 'til my tape popped ♪

♪ Smokin' weed in Bambu ♪

♪ Sippin' on Private Stock ♪

♪ Way back ♪

♪ When I had The red and black lumberjack ♪

♪ With the hat to match ♪

♪ Remember Rappin' Duke? Duh-ha, duh-ha! ♪

♪ You never thought that hip-hop Would take it this far ♪

[P. Diddy] Coming into the studio with this record that had a sample,

that really kind of reminded him of something that kind of felt good.

♪ But you're the only love That gives me good and plenty ♪

[P. Diddy] It was totally against, you know, the darkness.

I was on his video "Juicy."

I said, "Why don't you get an actress to do it?"

He said, "Ma, I'll get an actress if you are dead,

so I want you to do it."

♪ And she loves to show me off, of course ♪

♪ Smiles every time my face is up In The Source ♪

♪ We used to fuss When the landlord dissed us ♪

♪ No heat, wonder why Christmas missed us ♪

♪ Birthdays was the worst days ♪

♪ Now we sip champagne when we thirsty ♪

I was happy that he was making something

with his life.

You know, I wasn't worried about him anymore.

[P. Diddy] People were waiting for this album.

This was like a big deal for New York.

Then we hit 'em with Ready to Die, and it was over.

I mean, the game was over.

If you stood on 145th and 8th Avenue, if you stood on Flatbush Avenue,

you stood in front of Juniors…

I'm talking about every car

was playing Ready to Die.

[Chico] Lazy walking on this.

[Big] What the fuck, man?

[P. Diddy] I remember we got asked to go do a concert out in London.

[Big] It's like space shit.

We're out there. We're performing.

♪ I'm blowin' up Like you thought I would ♪

♪ Call the crib, same number Same hood, it's all good ♪

♪ Yeah, now do your sold out shit ♪

♪ And if you don't know, now you know! Ladies! ♪

And we can't even hear ourselves perform because they're singing and chanting.

Just so… They were giving us so much energy.

And we were like, "Wow! You know, they know us

all the way over here.

They love us!"

Every record, they feel what we're trying to express.

[audience screaming]

Oi, Biggie! Biggie!

Biggie, I want to fuck you!

[Big laughs]

How is it, being Biggie?

It's "Big, Notorious Big."

It's the first time, 'cause I got some papers in the mail.

The original Biggy Smallz said he gonna sue me

for everything I got if I use his name again.

So please, nobody…

My name is The Notorious B.I.G.

You can call me "Big," "Notorious Big," whatever…

No more "Biggie Smalls," that is dead, wacked.

He grew up quick, and he was like, "I wanna take care of my daughter."

- She's cute! Get a close-up. - You know what I'm saying?

[P. Diddy] "I want to make sure my mother's alright."

I want to become an entrepreneur.

"I want to have a life."

He wanted to live.

As ironic as the album title was, it was really a cry out

for life.

[reporter] My favorite cut on album is the one

with the red dot on the head.

That's what we shootin' today, "Warning."

When he did that song "Warning"…

♪ There's gonna be a lot of slow singing ♪

♪ And flower bringing ♪

♪ If my burglar alarm starts ringing ♪

I thought it was a movie. I'm like, "Whoa."

You shoot 'em up in the house like you Scarface.

We was actually in the video. He…

[mimics gunshots]

Right.

- [Chico] Haha! - [D Roc] Uh huh.

- [D Roc] Who's up? - [Big] You got that shit?

- …that mean? - [laughing]

[D Roc] Woo!

[Lil'Cease] D Roc! What up, man?

Hey!

Shit ain't working right. There it go.

Another day in the joint,

battery level look a type shiesty, but fuck it.

[Lil' Cease] I never traveled out of New York until I became a rapper.

That was the most exciting part.

[D Roc] Boo!

[Lil' Cease] A lot of people don't leave the neighborhood.

- [D Roc] Uh-oh. - [Chico] Up the ramp!

[D Roc] Woo! Up the ramp!

I love you, Biggie!

To leave it for a while, you get to see something different.

I was excited to come back and tell somebody I was down south.

They cribs look different. The highways is different.

They don't hang out on corners like we do.

…standing up here like this.

And I'm just peeping how the motherfucking sun is just going down.

Shit just look right. The mountains in the background. Peep it?

See the mountains, kid?

That shit is ill.

Motherfuckin' mountains, kid.

[P. Diddy] Biggie stepped into that role as the leader.

He learned about how to be, you know, that father figure.

Can everybody here make some noise for B.I.G.

for bringing it back to the East?

Bringing it back to the East!

People had crews.

But this crew, they was really family.

They had like… It was a lot of them.

And he took care of all of them.

And they took care of each other.

I'm seein' him, I'm like damn proud because…

I see where he came from.

You know what I'm saying? I see… I'm like, "Damn!"

Like, yo, that boy, he really a star.

[Donald] I was really happily surprised

when they started calling him "The King."

Of course, your chest is poked out, and you're happy.

"Look at my guy."

[P. Diddy] They were calling him "King of New York."

Now it's time for us to make the next album.

He started feeling that pressure.

- [D Roc] The Del Vec, pusher mack… - [Chico] We going back to the studio?

- [Big] What's up, son? What the f... - [Lil' Cease] Yeah, yeah, y'all.

I ain't trying to do no extra shit.

It ain't like I'm like, "Alright. Damn, I got a new album coming out.

Let me go shoot three niggas so I can make a song about how I shot three niggas."

I just rap about what I was going through. Now, I can rap

about this shiesty-ass business.

- Bad Boy forever, nigga! Mafia for life! - A'ight! Nigga, what?

[Big] This is what Puffy does.

Puffy will come up with an idea of a beat.

We may be in the club one night.

He'll see a Diana Ross record, "I'm Coming Out."

♪ I'm comin' out ♪

He'll see how everybody just jumps up on the dance floor.

He'll be like, "Yo, I want to hook that up."

♪ B-I-G P-O-P-P-A ♪

♪ No info for the DEA ♪

♪ Federal agents mad 'cause I'm flagrant ♪

♪ Tap my cell and my phone In the basement ♪

We met at a photo shoot that Puff had arranged

for the artists on his new label.

[P. Diddy] He just started thinking bigger.

How you doing? Nice to meet you. What should I call you?

I love it when they call me Big Poppa!

[D Roc] He wanted to get into acting. He wanted to get into clothes,

and he actually wanted to run his own label and sign artists.

[Big] I wanna get my hands in everything that's gonna help me get paid.

- [DJ] Right. - Whatever it is.

- Whether it's movies, TV. You understand? - [DJ] Oh, yeah.

Having to sell drugs on the corner to this?

- [DJ] You like it all? - Yeah, like it all.

[C Gutta] There's pressure coming from so many places.

The environment we was in with the Tupac stuff and this and that,

it's a whole new set of pressures

that he thought would be eliminated from making the first album.

[DJ] People are gonna ask about Tupac.

Is that something you don't like to talk about?

- [DJ] Weren't you guys originally cool? - Yeah.

[P. Diddy] The relationship and the experiences

with Tupac, were friends.

They were very close.

- [Big] Ready, nigga? - [man] Yeah.

- Ready for that raw dog shit, nigga? - [man] Show me you know how to rap, bitch.

Okay. Alright.

Let me see how I'mma hit you with it. You want to set it off?

♪ You know how niggas be ♪

♪ They wanna see if Pac is real ♪

♪ Or is he like that nigga in the movie ♪

♪ I guess I gotta prove my point ♪

♪ Slicin' motherfuckers Now I'm doin' the joint ♪

♪ I got my nigga B-I to the G beside me ♪

That was before the beef. That was before the problems.

[DJ] Where did it go wrong with you and Tupac?

I guess after he got shot.

[news anchor] Police say controversial rap star Tupac Shakur

was entering the street level lobby of an eighth-floor recording studio

near New York's Times Square after midnight

when three robbers confronted him and his friends.

[DJ] He said in one of his songs he knows you sent somebody

to shoot him.

- Why? - True or false?

- No, it's false. Why would I do that? - Okay.

[Tupac] If you act like you a gangster or a G or the King of New York,

I'mma expect that.

And when you don't come through, then I'm gonna crush your Empire,

and that's what it's time for.

I mean, people…

Oh my God, I don't know how…

People just want to see things, you know?

You just got people just like that that just want to just edge things on and…

Remember that game "telephone"?

Where you would say something in somebody's ear

and you keep saying it. When it gets back to you, it's a different story.

That's basically how it is, but it started from here

and got all the way changed by the time it got to the East Coast.

I had nothing to do with that.

It happened to be a coincidence that he was in the studio.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

He just… He couldn't really say

who had something to do with it at the time,

so he was kind of like laying the blame on me.

It really broke his heart, you know, when everything kind of went left.

All these weak rappers, Nas, all these suckers,

they battling off east and west like this is a game.

This ain't no game.

If this was chess, we'd be yelling "checkmate" three m♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ years ago

'cause we been beat these m♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪. It's not a game.

We thought it was like some sort of theatrics

that we didn't get the memo on.

You know, and that,

you know, it was just going to blow over like any, you know, hip-hop rivalry does.

[news anchor] Shakur was on his way to a party

following the Mike Tyson, Bruce Seldon prize fights.

[gunshots]

[news anchor 2] Tupac Shakur died tonight in a Las Vegas hospital.

[news anchor 1] The 25-year-old rapper was in the backseat of a black BMW,

part of an informal convoy of ten cars, when Las Vegas Police say shots were fired

from a passing white Cadillac.

I specifically remember him calling me, crying, when Tupac was killed.

When he talked about Olie and Tupac were certainly times

that I saw him really become emotional.

Tupac's passing had a huge effect, you know,

just on the urgency,

him feeling like he wanted to get some music out

to kind of turn the energy around.

Life After Death was really about taking care of his family,

his mother,

and really just turning the energy around in hip-hop.

And then the record was done, and the first place he wanted to go,

he was like, "I want to go back to Cali.

I want to go and kind of set things right."

The body of work of music was…

You know, that was his strategy to really connect with fans

and to put all the negativity and the bullshit behind us.

He told me that he has to go to California.

I remember the last thing I said to him,

"Just be careful out there."

[Chico] We need a cart. That's what we need.

[Chico] Boo-ya.

I'm up in the joint. Sure cloudy up in here.

Ten niggas smoked like 30 blunts.

[Hubert] I knew he was in L.A.,

and with my knowledge, I knew that that was war time.

I was really worried that he wasn't preparing himself

for being out there.

You should've seen this blunt we smoked.

Man, shit took an hour to smoke.

I took a whole I, took all the tobacco out the I,

and stuffed two 50s and a 20.

That shit was like this fucking big, yo.

You woulda hit that.

- [Chico] Yeah, man. - You woulda hit that.

[Chico] Yeah, man.

[Big] I want to throw the little niggas a party.

[Chico] All the chronic.

Here we are. Alright?

[Big] We ballin' out here in Cali, you know.

East Coast Don in the house.

I just wanna let everybody know that I'm here. You know what I'm saying?

I ain't going nowhere. Bad Boy ain't going nowhere.

All the rumors. You know what I'm saying?

You shouldn't sit back and listen to rumors.

You know what I'm sayin'? Just take the chance to know the person,

before you judge the person. That goes with anybody, not just me.

If you hear something about somebody or whatever,

don't be so quick to be like, "I don't like him."

Try to find out what's going on.

Try to get the facts first.

I'm gonna continue to keep making those songs

that make you dance and make you groove

and have kids and all kinds of things, you know.

I'm here. Me and my man, Ceaselia,

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

[Gwendolyn] One Sunday morning, I turned on the television.

[news anchor 3] Early today, as he left a party in Los Angeles…

Saw it on the television,

"The Notorious B.I.G.

was gunned down at Los Angeles last night."

[police officer] Unknown suspects apparently fired multiple rounds

at one victim by the name of Christopher Wallace, age 24.

[news anchor 4] Shakur is also in the mural. Police say…

[Gwendolyn] Some hospital tried to perform an emergency operation.

He was pronounced dead.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

I can't understand why…

They had to take away his life like that.

[P. Diddy] In that last night, we were talking about

all the positive things we were gonna do.

He was ready to be who he was destined to become.

[D Roc] One red light could change your life.

Forever.

I was in the car with him.

If it wasn't meant for me to be there, I wouldn't.

Clearly, I'm here for a reason. You know what I mean?

Probably still ain't even figured it out yet.

[somber music playing]

[Voletta] Coming from that funeral…

I felt I was in a dream.

I wasn't crying.

That day,

it was just too heavy.

I never shed a tear.

I didn't have any.

With all those people along the way.

Sheets out the window, "Goodbye, Biggie."

When I hit Saint James Place

and I saw the crowd…

Oh my God, this kid was well-loved.

That's when I saw the love.

But it didn't really hit me

until when I listened.

And I only listened to it once.

Only listened to those albums once.

I didn't want to listen to it twice.

I listened to it once.

The tears came.

There was a time where I had to get Ms. Wallace on point.

She was going through it. She just lost her son.

I just lost a friend. The kids just lost a father.

Mommy!

[Big] When I look at my daughter and my son,

it's like it's something to live for.

And it's like I'm doing it for them.

Everything I do, I'm just doing it for them.

All the way to the back.

Motherfuckers blowing shit up!

[Lil' Cease] By the blessing of God, Big had a gifted talent

that saved a lot of people's lives but his.

You know?

It's just hitting me.

Every once in a while it hits me that I won't see my little buddy no more.

It's great to see Biggie's murals all around the neighborhood

and to see how far he has transcended

into the psyche.

He's an icon of the world now.

[P. Diddy] I knew after Big's passing

that we was in some sort of frequency

that was having an effect on millions of people across the world.

He gave me more of a purpose.

Taught me the importance of life, how short life was.

Also, the value of that level of belief.

He had a life that had such a profound effect.

It really gave birth to the future of hip-hop.

It wasn't all for nothing

in that he would live on forever through his music.

[Big] I've always said I'm like the eyes of the world,

'Cause I done did all the bullshit!

But you gotta learn from your mistakes.

Now it's my time to speak about it.

Not necessarily about making my story,

"You shouldn't do this,"

or, "You should do this."

But just making my story, it's like,

"This is how it is."

♪ Who y'all talkin' to, man? ♪

["I Got a Story to Tell" playing]

♪ Uh ♪

♪ Check it out ♪

♪ I kick flows for ya Kick down doors for ya ♪

♪ Even left All my motherfucking hoes for ya ♪

♪ Niggas think Frankie pussy whipped Nigga picture that ♪

♪ With a Kodak, Insta-ma-tak We don't get down like that ♪

♪ Lay my game down quite flat Sweetness, where you parked at? ♪

♪ Petiteness but that ass fat ♪

♪ She got a body Make a nigga wanna eat that ♪

♪ I'm fuckin' with you The bitch official though ♪

♪ Dick harder than a missile, yo ♪

♪ Try to hit it if she trippin' Disappearing like Arsenio ♪

♪ Yo, the bitch push a double-oh With the five in front ♪

♪ Probably a conniving stunt Y'all drive in front ♪

♪ I'm a peel with her Find a deal with her ♪

♪ She fuck around and steal, huh? Then we all get laced ♪

♪ Televisions, Versace heaven When I'm up in them ♪

♪ The shit she kicked All the shit's legit ♪

♪ She get dick from a player Off the New York Knicks ♪

♪ Nigga tricked ridiculous The shit was plush ♪

♪ She's stressing me to fuck Like she was in a rush ♪

♪ We fucked in his bed, quite dangerous ♪

♪ I'm in his ass while he Playing against the Utah Jazz ♪

♪ My 112, CD blast, I was past ♪

♪ She came twice, I came last Roll the grass ♪

♪ She giggle, sayin' "I'm smoking on homegrown" ♪

♪ Then I heard her moan "Honey I'm home" ♪

♪ Yup, tote chrome For situations like this ♪

♪ I'm up in his broad I know he won't like this ♪

♪ Now I'm like "Bitch, you better talk to him" ♪

♪ Before this fist put a spark to him Fuck around shit get dark to him ♪

♪ Put a part through him Lose a major part to him, arm, leg ♪

♪ She beggin' me to stop But this cat gettin' closer ♪

♪ Gettin hot like a toaster I cocks the toast, uh ♪

♪ Before my eyes could blink She screams out ♪

♪ "Honey bring me up somethin' to drink" He go back downstairs more time to think ♪

♪ My brain racin' She's tellin' me to stay patient ♪

♪ She don't know I'm cool as a fan Gat in hand, I don't wanna blast her man ♪

♪ But I can and I will though I'm tryna chill though ♪

♪ Even though situation Lookin' kinda ill, yo ♪

♪ It came to me like a song I wrote ♪

♪ Told the bitch "Gimme your scarf, pillowcase and rope" ♪

♪ Got dressed quick Tied the scarf around my face ♪

♪ Roped the bitch up Gagged her mouth with the pillowcase ♪

♪ Play the cut Nigga coming off some love potion shit ♪

♪ Flash the heat on 'em He stood emotionless, dropped the glass ♪

♪ Screaming "Don't blast here's the stash ♪

♪ A hundred cash Just don't shoot my ass please!" ♪

♪ Nigga pulling mad G's out the floor ♪

♪ Put stacks in a Prada knapsack Hit the door ♪

♪ Grab the keys to the five Call my niggas on the cell ♪

♪ "Bring some weed I got a story to tell" Uh, uh ♪

♪ Yo man, y'all niggas ain't gon' believe What the fuck happened to me ♪

♪ Remember that bitch I left the club with, man? ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Yo, sticky, yo I'm up in this bitch crib ♪

♪ This bitch fucking one of them Ol' Knick ass niggas and shit ♪

- ♪I'm up in the spot, so you know ♪ - ♪ Who cuz? ♪

"♪ I don't know, I don't know which one? One of them 6'5" niggas, I don't know ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Anyway I'm up in the motherfucking spot So boom I'm up in the pussy, whatever ♪

♪ I sparks up some lye Pop Duke creeps up in on some ♪

♪ Get the fuck out ♪

♪ Must have been rained out or something He comes up in the spot ♪

♪ Had me scared, had me scared to death I was shook Daddy ♪

♪ But I forgot I had my Roscoe on me ♪

♪ Always, you know how we do ♪

♪ So boom the nigga comes up the stairs He creeping up the steps ♪

♪ The bitch all shook She sends the nigga back downstairs ♪

♪ To get some drinks and shit ♪

♪ Shit gettin' mad nervous So I said fuck that man ♪

♪ I know you was ready to clap him Man nigga, you know how we do nigga ♪

♪ Ransom note style put the scarf Around my motherfucking face ♪

♪ Gagged that bitch up Played the kizzack ♪

♪ Soon as this nigga comes up in the spot Flash the Desert in his face ♪

♪ He drops the glass ♪

♪ Looked like the nigga pissed on himself Or somethin', word to my mother ♪

♪ Motherfucker, this nigga runs dead To the floor, peels up the carpet ♪

- ♪ Start giving me mad paper ♪ - ♪ Oh shit ♪

♪ Mad paper ♪

♪ Yo, I told you that bitch Was a shiesty bitch, cuz ♪

♪ Word to your mama I used to fuck With her cousin but you ain't know that ♪

[laughter]

♪ You wouldn't know that shit ♪

♪ Really though ♪

♪ I put all that motherfucking money Up in the Prada knapsack ♪

♪ And uh, two words, I'm gone ♪

[laughter]

♪ No doubt, no doubt ♪

♪ Yo nigga, you got some loud? Y'all got some loud? ♪

♪ No doubt ♪

♪ Yo, you got that dust, baby? ♪

♪ The other day Was a good day for you, baby ♪