Ten years ago today, hip-hop and Brooklyn lost the greatest emcee who ever lived. I was coming from uptown. I’d had a late night partying with my man and I was heading home to Brooklyn when his crackhead brother told me the news. I didn’t believe it until I turned on the radio and … silence. So I had to get home. I’m like, “Damn, BIG.” How come I had to be uptown when I found out and not home in Bed-Stuy?
I saw BIG a couple of times. First time I met him was on 53nd and 6th Avenue working at Citi Post. He was just chilling by himself on the corner, probably thinking of some hot shit. Matter of fact, this PR kid told me that was really him. So you know me, I step up to him, “What up?” and give him a pound. I saw him and Junior Mafia ’bout to do the Garden. I missed out on 2Pac/BIG because of the rain, but just being able to meet him was cool.
3/9/97: After I heard the news, I just had to get home. I was with my man from Washington Heights, but he didn’t feel it like I did. I had to be in Brooklyn. I felt it like a bad taste in my mouth. So I’m on the C local from 135th street all the way to Ralph Ave in Brookln — like fifty stops. There had to be like six people in the whole car and we all had the same look . . . lost. Everything was in slo-mo.
First time I heard BIG was in ‘92. On my way to Rockaway Beach. Me and my boys blastin’ machine gun funk. “Gimme Da Loot.” “C’mon Mutha Fucka!” On the D train. Gettin’ all that attention was cool. BIG was saying some fly shit. Made sense. And it was fun. Party And Bullshit came out later. But this was some underground shit. No one knew who he was yet. I mean I had a tape with shit on it I still haven’t heard today — shit with Sadat X, Grand Puba, 3rd Eye . . . classics!! That’s why he’s the best. There will be another. (I don’t have the tape anymore. I used to skip school and mess with this girl in the projects. One day I left the tape there. Big mistake. The next day I went over there and I was looking around, asking “yo, where’d you put that tape?” She says “I think my little brother got it.” I knew I’d never see that thing again.)
I remember cuttin’ school just to listen to “Everyday Struggle,” “Hustlin’” — that’s what I was doin’ ]back then so that was my motivation. To this day, that’s my favorite. His most banga to me. BIG was shuttin’ up the WU ’cause he was from Brooklyn. He came and spit fire.
When B.I.G. died, Brooklyn took a big loss. The week of the funeral, I already had the double CD [Life After Death.] My man at Arista hooked it up. But I had to work that day at Citi Post. At 10:30 I ran into my homie on the corner — he worked across the street at Time Warner. And he was like, “Yo, let’s go to Biggie’s funeral on the Upper East Side!” I chained up my mail cart to the corner light pole and we walked up. All the way up to the upper east — 81st and 3rd Ave. There were helicopters, they had 5- 0 everywhere. Streets blocked off. I remember this old lady was lookin confused, “Who is Biggie??” She didn’t know who he was. My boy told her, “After today, you’ll know.”
It was hard to get up close to everything, but all the stars were there: Wyclef, Kim, JM, Run-DMC, Queen Latifah. It was sad. So we were there to spectate. After work, we hooked up with the funeral procession that went through Biggie’s neighborhood in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn — his last ride to St. James and Fulton. It was a whole lot different than in Manhattan with the expensive highrises. Brooklyn is the ghetto. But but it’s home. You gotta respect. It was out of control. People were standing on the mailboxes, throwing stuff. People had flowers. Old-timers in the game says it like we lost the Martin Luther King of hip hop. We followed the crowd about twelve blocks. Then we went out and partied. Got drunk and celebrated the passing of B.I.G., the king of Brooklyn. A whole lot of sorrow. Brooklyn’s never been the same. Long live the king.
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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