When he recalls the surreal experience of meeting Michael Jackson, he can't stop laughing. "When I found out he wanted to do a joint with me, that just tickled me pink," says Big, who flew to the session in L.A. almost immediately. He heard the track for "This Time Around," knocked out the vocals, and was ready to bounce, when he heard Jackson wanted to meet him. "I was, like, `Do you like it? Make sure you use it. Please,' " says Biggie, who's hoping the song gets released as a single. "Just imagine us playing C-Lo in the video. It would be over."

Five minutes after getting on the highway to Chicago from Cleveland, the bus runs out of gas. As the driver disappears to get help, the crew chat on their cellulars and play spades for $200 a game. It's almost five hours later when the bus finally moves, and close to midnight before it arrives in Chicago. Everyone's tired and hungry, but happy they'll be in the city for three days and can finally do some laundry. "I ain't got no draws," complains Big.

The next day, the promoter takes everyone out to a couple of malls in a white van. Biggie's looking for Versace shades but instead settles for five pairs of multicolored Coogie socks at $17.50 each. At the counter, he flips through the Coogie housewares catalog of blankets, pillows, and curtains. "I can't wait to get my house," says Big. "I'm gonna get all this shit."

As soon as Big gets some of his big checks, he's buying his moms a house in Florida and moving out of Brooklyn with a quickness. "I'd be a fool-ass nigga to sit in the 'hood, on top of millions, thinking that nothing ain't gonna happen to me," says Biggie. But what about keeping it real by staying in the ghetto? "Keeping it real is taking care of your family," he says, "not taking all that money and doing stupid shit." That's why Big has a screenplay in the works, plans to open a chain of 24-hour diners called Big Poppa's, maybe even start a clothing company for big men. "I got the cars, the jewelry, the clothes," he says. "Now it's time to do something with the money instead of just spending it."

After the mall, it's off to a steak house, where the crew sit down to their first real meal in days. But when the check arrives, the promoter refuses to pay. Later that night, hotel personnel inform everyone that their rooms haven't been paid for either. The next day there are pins in everybody's doors, preventing them from using their keys. The promoter's actions are worthy of a beatdown, but Big's crew know better.