Age, Biography, and Wiki
The Notorious B.I.G. was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Voletta Wallace and Selwyn George Latore. His father left the family when Biggie was two, and his mother supported him through her job as a preschool teacher. Biggie grew up in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn and attended Queen of All Saints Middle School. He found solace in hip-hop, which eventually became his career path. Biggie's life was tragically cut short at the age of 24 in a drive-by shooting on March 9, 1997.
| Occupation | Songwriter |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 21 May 1972 |
| Age | 53 Years |
| Birth Place | New York City, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Country | U.S |
| Date of death | 9 March, 1997 |
| Died Place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While there is no detailed information on his exact height and weight, The Notorious B.I.G. was known for his charismatic presence and imposing figure, which was often referenced in his music.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Wallace was the first artist to sign with Sean "Puffy" Combs's Bad Boy Records in 1993. That same year, he gained recognition for his guest appearances on other artists' singles. His debut studio album, Ready to Die (1994), received widespread critical acclaim and included signature tracks "Juicy" and "Big Poppa". This album made him the central figure in East Coast hip hop, helping to restore New York's prominence at a time when the West Coast was dominating the genre. In 1995, Wallace was named Rapper of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards. That same year, Wallace and his protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A.—which included longtime friends like Lil' Kim—released their debut album, Conspiracy (1995).
While working on his second album in 1995, he became embroiled in the growing East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. After Tupac Shakur was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, rumors circulated suggesting that criminal elements connected to the Bad Boy camp might have been involved, given Wallace's public feud with Shakur. In March 1997, six months after Shakur's death, Wallace was also killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles by an unknown assailant. Two weeks later, his second album, Life After Death (1997), was issued as a posthumous double album; it debuted atop the Billboard 200, yielded two Billboard Hot 100-number one singles: "Hypnotize" and "Mo Money Mo Problems" (featuring Puff Daddy and Mase), and received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Ready to Die reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart, sold 500,000 copies in its first week, and was certified four times platinum. The album shifted attention back to East Coast hip-hop at a time when West Coast hip-hop dominated U.S. charts. It received positive reviews upon release and has been widely praised in retrospect. In addition to "Juicy", the album produced two other hit singles: the platinum-selling "Big Poppa", which topped the U.S. rap chart; and "One More Chance", which sold onemillion copies in 1995 (the year of its release). Busta Rhymes recalled seeing Wallace handing out copies of Ready to Die from his home, which the former saw as "his way of marketing himself". In 1994, Wallace formed the hip-hop group Junior M.A.F.I.A., which included many of his childhood friends, such as Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease. The name is a backronym for "Masters at Finding Intelligent Attitudes".
In 1995, Wallace became embroiled in the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry, which involved his now-former friend, Shakur. In an April 1995 interview with Vibe while serving time in Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur accused Harrell, Combs, and Wallace of having prior knowledge of a robbery on November 30, 1994, during which he was shot five times and lost thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. They denied any involvement. Wallace stated, "I had nothing to do with that, it just happened to be a coincidence that he was in the studio. He couldn't really say who really had something to do with it at the time, so he just kind of leaned the blame on me". In 2012, Dexter Isaac, who was serving a life sentence for unrelated crimes, claimed responsibility for the attack on Shakur that night, stating that the robbery was orchestrated by entertainment executive and former drug trafficker James Rosemond. After his release from prison, Shakur signed with Death Row Records in October 1995. This made Bad Boy Records and Death Row business rivals, further escalating the conflict between Shakur and Wallace.
In June 1995, Wallace guest appeared with pop singer Michael Jackson on the album HIStory Continues, providing vocals for the song "This Time Around". Lil' Cease claimed that when Wallace met Jackson, he was made to stay behind, with Wallace explaining that he didn't "trust Michael with kids" due to the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson. The engineer John Van Nest recalled that Wallace was excited to meet Jackson and was nearly brought to tears when it happened. Wallace began recording his second studio album in late 1995, working on it over the course of eighteen months in New York City, Trinidad, and Los Angeles. The recording process was disrupted by injuries, legal issues, and the publicized hip-hop feud between Wallace and Shakur.
Soon after Wallace's Suburban stopped at the red light, a black Chevrolet Impala pulled up to the right side of the car Wallace was in. The Impala's driver, described as an unidentified African-American man in a blue suit and bow tie, rolled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol, and fired at Wallace's vehicle. Wallace was struck by four bullets. His entourage rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where an emergency thoracotomy was performed, but he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m. He was twenty-four years old. An autopsy report, released fifteen years after his death, revealed that only the final shot proved fatal. The bullet entered through his right hip, damaging his colon, liver, heart, and left lung before coming to rest in his left shoulder.
Rolling Stone described Ready to Die as a contrast of "bleak" street visions and being "full of high-spirited fun, bringing the pleasure principle back to hip-hop". AllMusic noted "a sense of doom" in some of his songs, while Jon Pareles of The New York Times described a thread of paranoia in others. Wallace himself stated that he felt "broke and depressed" while creating his debut album. The final track on Ready to Die, "Suicidal Thoughts", portrays a character contemplating and ultimately committing suicide. On his follow-up album, Life After Death, Wallace's lyrics delved even "deeper", as observed by Rolling Stone. Krims observed that the record alternates between upbeat, dance-oriented tracks and gritty "reality rap," reflecting a thematic shift toward a more "pimp" persona. XXL Mag noted that Wallace "revamped his image" between the two albums, evolving from a "mid-level hustler" on his debut to a "drug lord" on his sophomore effort. AllMusic credited Wallace's storytelling ability as a key factor in the success of Ready to Die.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, AllMusic described Wallace as "the savior of East Coast hip-hop". The Source named him the greatest rapper of all time in its 150th issue in March 2002. MTV ranked him No. 3 on their 2006 list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, calling him potentially "the most skillful ever on the mic". In 2012, he was listed on The Source Top 50 Lyrical Leaders. Rolling Stone hailed him as the "greatest rapper that ever lived", and in 2015, Billboard named Wallace the greatest rapper of all time.
Wallace's lyrics have been extensively sampled and quoted by artists across genres, including Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Ludacris, and Kanye West. Tributes to him have featured prominently in hip-hop culture, such as at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, where Combs and Snoop Dogg honored him with an orchestral performance of his songs "Juicy" and "Warning". At the 2005 VH1 Hip Hop Honors, a tribute to Wallace headlined the show. At the same show in 2016, Rich Homie Quan performed "Get Money" but faced criticism after forgetting the lyrics. Before he died, Wallace had begun promoting a clothing line, Brooklyn Mint, focused on plus-sized apparel. The brand became dormant after his death but was relaunched in 2004 by his managers, Mark Pitts and Wayne Barrow, with assistance from Jay-Z. Proceeds benefitted several charitable organizations, including Christopher Wallace Foundation and the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation.
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Dating & Relationship status
Biggie was married to Faith Evans, a singer and songwriter, from 1994 until his death in 1997. The couple had a son, Christopher George Latore Wallace Jr., born in 1996.
Wallace was the only child of Jamaican immigrant parents; his mother Voletta Wallace (1947–2025), was a preschool teacher, while his father Selwyn George Latore (1933–1996), was a welder and politician. At the age of five, he began attending preschool at Quincy-Lexington Open Door Day Care Center, where he was already bigger than most of the other children. Three months before Wallace's third birthday, his father left the family, leaving his mother to raise him while working two jobs. He grew up in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill, near the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant. As a child, Wallace spent most of his time on Fulton Street, where he was introduced to drug dealing, alcoholism, and gambling. Raised as a Jehovah's Witness, Wallace attended St. Peter Claver Church in Brooklyn, graduating from the parish elementary school in 1982. He excelled in the English subject at Queen of All Saints Middle School. He attended Westinghouse High School, a public school attended by several future celebrities, including Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes.
While attending Westinghouse High School, Wallace weighed 91 kg, which earned him the nickname "Big". During this period, his interest in drug dealing intensified, having been influenced by the crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. A friend introduced him to buying and selling marijuana when he was around the age of twelve. Having grown up in a strict household, Wallace concealed the money he earned on the roof of his apartment. His mother had no idea about this; she only discovered it when he was twenty years old. Despite being an honor student, Wallace dropped out of school at the age of sixteen due to his growing interest in drug dealing. In 1989, he was arrested in Brooklyn on weapons charges and sentenced to five years of probation. The following year, he was arrested for violating that probation. A year later, Wallace was arrested in North Carolina for dealing crack cocaine and spent nine months in jail before making bail.
In 1992, Wallace's girlfriend, Jan Jackson, became pregnant, and he was signed to Uptown Records in March by Combs. Wallace's first chance to record a solo track for Uptown Records, rather than featuring on another artist's remix, came in 1993 when Combs was creating a song for the soundtrack of the hip-hop comedy Who's the Man?. The song was "Party and Bullshit", produced by the Brooklyn-based Easy Mo Bee. The song was heavily inspired by "When the Revolution Comes" by the Last Poets, which uses sarcasm, frustration, and humor to critique young Black people's lack of seriousness in the struggle for equality. In the track, vocalist Umar Bin Hassan delivers lines like "niggas will party and bullshit, and party and bullshit". Development on Wallace's first album began at Capoluongo's apartment in late 1992. Wallace appeared on Heavy D & the Boyz's 1992 album Blue Funk, on the track "A Buncha Niggas".
In 1996, Lil' Kim became pregnant with Wallace's child while the two were having a love affair, but she later decided to abort it. Wallace also started a relationship with Charli Baltimore, a Philadelphia native who portrayed Evans in the "Get Money" music video. Although Wallace shared his plans to include her in a supergroup called the Commission, she was aware that she was not the only woman in his life. On March 23, 1996, Wallace was arrested outside a Manhattan nightclub for chasing and threatening two fans who were asking for autographs, smashing the windows of their taxi, and punching one of them. He pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. Later that year, he was arrested at his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, on drug and weapons possession charges.
On October 29, 1996, Evans gave birth to Wallace's son, Christopher "C.J." Wallace Jr. Around this time, Wallace began recording the songs for Life After Death. The following month, Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Kim released her debut album Hard Core. Lil' Kim described herself as Wallace's "biggest fan" and referred to herself as "his pride and joy". In a 2012 interview, Lil' Kim revealed that Wallace stopped her from recording a remix of Jodeci's single "Love U 4 Life" by locking her in a room. According to Kim, Wallace told her she was "not gonna go do no song with them", likely due to Jodeci's association with Shakur and Death Row Records. While working on Life After Death, Wallace began to lose weight, losing around 30 lb, according to his mother.
Notorious is a 2009 biographical film depicting the life and career of Wallace, starring rapper Jamal Woolard in the lead role. Directed by George Tillman Jr. and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, the film was produced by his managers, Combs, Barrow, and Pitts, and his mother, Voletta. On January 16, 2009, the film's debut at the Grand 18 theater in Greensboro, North Carolina, was delayed after a shooting occurred in the parking lot before the screening. The film grossed $44.4 million worldwide with a $20 million budget, and received mixed reviews from critics.
In October 2007, open casting calls began for the role of Wallace, attracting actors, rappers, and aspiring performers. Beanie Sigel auditioned but was not selected, while Sean Kingston expressed interest in the role, though producers denied his involvement. Ultimately, Woolard was cast as Wallace, and Wallace's son, C. J., portrayed his father. To accompany the film, Bad Boy Records released a soundtrack album on January 13, 2009, featuring many of Wallace's prominent tracks such as "Hypnotize" and "Juicy".
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| Husband | Faith Evans (m. 1994) |
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Net Worth and Salary
At the time of his death, The Notorious B.I.G.'s net worth was approximately $10 million. Adjusted for inflation, this would be around $19 million to $20 million today. However, his estate continues to generate significant income, with estimates ranging from $50 million to $100 million. Some sources suggest his net worth could be as high as $167 million due to ongoing earnings from his music and brand. His estate benefits from album sales, streaming revenue, merchandising, and licensing deals.
In October 1995, Wallace revealed that he still had not received any earnings from Ready to Die, despite the album having sold twomillion copies at the time. With each CD priced at $15, the album should have generated approximately $30 million ($million in ) in revenue. Amid the rivalry between Wallace and Shakur, many speculated that "Who Shot Ya?", released in late February 1995 as a secondary B-side to "Big Poppa", was intended to taunt Shakur. According to Lil' Cease, the song was not intended to be a comment on the shooting, stating, "He knew that song wasn't about him[...] he was around at that time". Lil' Cease stated that the song was an introduction for Mary J. Blige's second album, however, "the shit was too hard, so Big kept it and said, 'I'm gonna put it out'".
In January 1997, Wallace was ordered to pay $41,000 in damages following an incident involving a friend of a concert promoter who claimed Wallace and his entourage beat him following a dispute in May 1995. He faced criminal assault charges for the incident, which remains unresolved, but all robbery charges were dropped. Following the events, Wallace spoke of a desire to focus on his "peace of mind" and his family and friends.
Career, Business, and Investments
The Notorious B.I.G.'s career was marked by two critically acclaimed albums: "Ready to Die" (1994) and "Life After Death" (released posthumously in 1997). Both albums are considered hip-hop classics and continue to sell well. His music career was supported by Bad Boy Records, founded by Sean Combs (P. Diddy). Biggie's influence extends beyond music to film and television, with his life story depicted in films like "Notorious" (2009).
Jan gave birth to T'yanna Dream Wallace on August 8, 1993. Wallace promised his daughter "everything she wanted," believing that if he had experienced the same support in his own childhood, he would have graduated at the top of his class. Soon after he was fired, Combs started his own record, Bad Boy Records, and took Wallace with him. Combs discovered that Wallace continued dealing drugs and insisted he stop. When Wallace found out the name Biggie Smalls was already taken, he adopted a new moniker, settling on the Notorious B.I.G. Wallace explained that the acronym "B.I.G." stood for "Business Instead of Game". Combs and Clive Davis, then CEO of Arista Records, reached an agreement in which Davis provided Combs with a $1.5 million advance and full creative control. Combs promptly used the money to repurchase the tracks recorded for Wallace's album from Harrell.
Lateef of Latyrx described Wallace as having "intense and complex flows", while Onyx's Fredro Starr called him "a master of the flow". Rapper Bishop Lamont praised Wallace's ability to capture "all the hemispheres of the music". Wallace often employed single-line rhyme schemes to bring variety and depth to his flow. Big Daddy Kane noted that Wallace did not need an extensive vocabulary to impress; instead, he "just put his words together a slick way, and it worked well for him". Known for composing lyrics in his head rather than writing them down, Wallace occasionally deviated from his usual style. For example, he sang in a slow falsetto on "Playa Hater" and adapted to the rapid-fire rhyme flow of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony on "Notorious Thugs".
Social Network
Although The Notorious B.I.G. passed away before the widespread use of social media, his legacy lives on through these platforms. His estate manages his social media presence, keeping his memory alive and engaging with fans.
Early in his life, Wallace was influenced by Black artists like the Dramatics, Blue Magic, Teddy Pendergrass, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. He was also well acquainted with the performances of Parliament-Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, and Chic. During visits to Jamaica he was influenced by its prominent native genres, including jazz, reggae, soul, and mento. As Wallace entered adolescence, he started listening to artists like Run-DMC and LL Cool J. Wallace adopted the stage name MC CWest and formed the Techniques with his two friends Michael Bynum and Hubert Sams. Wallace met Donald Harrison, a saxophonist from New Orleans, and the Techniques worked on their first songs together at Harrison's home studio. As the trio grew older, their interests shifted; Sams became focused on high school football, while Bynum lost interest in the music industry. Wallace adopted his second stage name, Biggie Smalls, from Calvin Lockhart's character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again.
Junior M.A.F.I.A. began working on their debut studio album in 1994. On August 29, 1995, Conspiracy was released via Undeas Recordings. It achieved gold certification and sold over 500,000 copies. The first single, "Player's Anthem", features Wallace, Lil' Kim, and Lil' Cease, and was produced by Clark Kent. The third single, "Get Money", a battle-of-the-sexes track featuring Wallace and Lil' Kim, became their most popular song. "Player's Anthem" and "Get Money" charted within the top 20 in the US and also earned gold and platinum status, respectively. Wallace continued collaborating with R&B artists, working with groups like 112 on "Only You" and Total on "Can't You See", both of which reached the top 20 on the Hot 100. By the end of the year, Wallace had become the top-selling male solo artist and rapper on both the U.S. pop and R&B charts. In July 1995, Wallace appeared on the cover of The Source with the caption "The King of New York Takes Over," a nod to his alias Frank White, inspired by the character from the 1990 film King of New York. At The Source Awards in August 1995, he won Best New Artist, Lyricist of the Year, and Live Performer of the Year, while his debut album was named Album of the Year. He was also honored as Rap Artist of the Year at the Billboard Awards.
On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas and died six days later. Because of Shakur's accusations in his records, Wallace, along with other New York rappers like Mobb Deep, Capone, and Noreaga, became suspects in his murder. In a 2002 Los Angeles Times series titled "Who Killed Tupac Shakur?", journalist Chuck Philips reported, based on police reports and multiple sources, that the shooting was carried out by the Southside Crips, a Compton gang, seeking revenge for a beating Shakur had allegedly inflicted earlier that day. The report also claimed that Wallace had financed the gun used in the shooting. The night Shakur died, Wallace called Evans in tears; Evans recalled that "he was in shock[...] and it's fair to say he was probably afraid". Wallace expressed regret over Shakur's death but declined to attend his funeral when asked by a friend. He explained his decision by saying, "[Shakur] made my life miserable[...] he told lies, fucked with my marriage, [and] turned [my] fans against me". The Los Angeles Times editor Mark Duvoisin stated that "Philips' story has withstood all challenges to its accuracy,[...] [and] remains the definitive account of the Shakur slaying". Wallace's family denied the report, providing documents that claimed he was in New Jersey at the time of the incident. The New York Times called the documents inconclusive, stating:
Wallace featured on Michael Jackson's album Invincible, providing lead vocals for the track "Unbreakable", which was released on October 30, 2001. Wallace's vocals appeared on Ashanti's "Unfoolish" in 2002, and the track "Runnin' (Dying to Live)" with Shakur in 2003. Duets: The Final Chapter, a remix album, was released on December 20, 2005, which spawned the singles "Nasty Girl" and "Spit Your Game". "Nasty Girl" features Combs, Nelly, Jagged Edge and Avery Storm, and "Spit Your Game" includes guest appearances from Krayzie Bone, Twista, and 8Ball & MJG. The album peaked at No. 3 on Billboard 200, while "Nasty Girl" peaked at No. 44 on the Hot 100. Combs and Voletta both stated Duets: The Final Chapter would be the last album primarily featuring new material. A compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released on March 6, 2007—three days before the tenth anniversary of Wallace's death. It included tracks like "Juicy" and "Big Poppa", but was criticized by AllMusic for not containing hits like "Mo Money Mo Problems" and "Going Back to Cali". The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On May 19, 2017, The King & I, a duet album featuring Evans and Wallace, was released, showcasing mostly unreleased tracks. The album peaked at No. 65 on the Billboard 200.
Wallace had the vocal range of a baritone. He typically rapped in a deep tone that Rolling Stone described as a "thick, jaunty grumble", which became even deeper on Life After Death. Wallace was frequently joined by Combs, who contributed ad libs to his tracks. The Source "Unsigned Hype" column described his style as "cool, nasal, and filtered, blessing his own material". AllMusic noted Wallace's talent for layering multiple rhymes in rapid succession, while Time magazine highlighted his ability to deliver multi-syllabic rhymes smoothly. Scholar Adam Krims described his rhythmic style as "effusive". Wallace often used onomatopoeic sounds, like "uhhh" at the start of tracks such as "Hypnotize" and "Big Poppa".
Another biopic, the 2021 Netflix documentary Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell, explores Wallace's life before fame, and features "unprecedented access granted by the Wallace estate featuring rare access and insights". It was executive-produced by Voletta and Combs.
Education
Biggie attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn, where he excelled in English. However, he dropped out to pursue a career in music.
At the Soul Train Music Awards in 1996, "One More Chance (Remix)" was nominated for Song of the Year and received the R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year award in the same year. In June 1996, Shakur released "Hit 'Em Up". A diss track directed towards Wallace and other East Coast rappers, Shakur claimed to have had an affair with Evans, who was estranged from Wallace at the time, and accused Wallace of copying his style and image. Described as "manic", "Hit 'Em Up" disses Wallace, Combs, and their associates, including Junior M.A.F.I.A., Evans, and Bad Boy Records. In 1996, Wallace collaborated with rising rapper Jay-Z on his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, recording a duet titled "Brooklyn's Finest". The track used humor to address speculation surrounding Wallace and Shakur: "If Faith has twins, she'll probably have two Pacs. Get it? Tu... Pac's." According to Wallace, humor had always been his way of coping with hardship since elementary school, explaining, "I gotta make jokes about it [...] I can't be the [guy] running around all serious".
Conclusion
The Notorious B.I.G.'s impact on hip-hop remains profound, and his financial legacy continues to grow through his estate's ongoing revenue streams. Despite his short career, Biggie's influence on music and culture is enduring.
