On this day, March 9, in 1997, 24-year-old Christopher Wallace, the rapper known as Notorious B.I.G., was gunned down at a stoplight in Los Angeles in what is believed to be a feud between rap music artists from the East and West coasts.
The slaying of the New York City-born Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, occurred just six months after Los Angeles-based rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas.
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Wallace’s album “Life After Death” was released 15 days later and remains one of a few hip-hop albums to hit Diamond status (10 million sold). MTV ranked him as the No. 3 rapper of all time.
Wallace’s murder remains unsolved. Police have speculated that Marion “Suge” Knight, the former head of Shakur’s label, Death Row Records, might have been involved.
– Scott McCabe
