Getting back on early 1990's, there's a famous name comes up in mind when talking about Hip-Hop Music. Christopher Wallace, known better as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was started his career history in music as a rapper. Furthermore, He had a big influence in socializing and developing modern Hip-Hop music. He had taken place in a rivalry between West Coast and East Coast Hip-Hop music of this decade (1994 until 1997).
But the bad news that he is getting famous that day, not because of his song, but merely because of this West Coast and East Coast Hip-Hop war. Big and Tupac Shakur had become an important character at that age. The dispute between this two sides didn't look like which one is better at making a qualified hip-hop music, or any other things related to music talent in a healthy and positive way, but it is like a gangster war between those sides, not only in their music but including a real robbery and shooting. This commotion always catches media and society attention.
Actually, Big has a very good talent in music, especially at making lyrics. As always, he is said to be a very good storyteller through his hip-hop music. His lyrics are easy to understand, his rap style flowing like a dialogue between characters in his song. His message is clear, so the audience may understand the complexity of the rhyme structure, also with the wordplay he added to the song. We can see this clearly in one of his song, "Warning".
Big's music, as the other similar genres of rap music at that age, contains violence, alcohol, drugs, and criminals. He also encloses his actual life in his song. This is also the contents of his album, "Ready to Die". This album's concept is telling his life from when he was born, his rough childhood moments, grow into a teenager and meet drugs, his struggle in life, starts his career in music, until before this album was released. Ready to Die albums by Bad Boy Records, produced between collaboration with Sean ‘Puffy' Combs, Easy Mo Bee, DJ Premiers, and Blues Brothers.
Before release his first album ‘Ready to Die' in 1997, Big has been shot to death by an unknown assailant while driving in Los Angeles. That was the end of his full of story life journey. While still mourning for him, 16 days later, his album has been released. This album has become a big kick in hip-hop music industry. This is approved by this album becoming a number one in album charts in U.S. and receive a Diamond certification, which is rare for a hip-hop album to receive such a certification. It has become a classic, due to its no-doubt quality. It's too bad that he could just make this one album, and U.S. has lost one of the best hip-hop lyricists.
Biggie's life, as his story tells in his album, has not had a beautiful life. He has been through a lot of things and full of struggle. At childhood, he already has a rough life, surrounded by drug addicts and the dealers. Once he becomes a teenager, not surprised, he sells drugs. He also goes to jail for 9 months. After his debut in the music industry, he still lives in such a condition, because he has to deal with gangster life through gang-banging due to this West Coast and East Coast dispute. He feels the excitement for living such a life. But, despite that, there's also fierce of violence and a lot of threats happen to like a vicious circle, he cannot get out from. His commercial name ‘Notorious' might be coming from his story of life.