"I represented with my life..." Sticky Fingaz (Onyx) - Live (Niggaz) 

"Yo, son Biggie's dead...", with mad sadness in his tone my cus, L told me the news early Sunday (March 9) morning. "Nah, son...stop playing...," I awoke to answer in obvious disbelief. "It's to early in the morning to be playing around like that," I snapped sharply. "I'm not playing, you know I wouldn't play like that, C-God just told me and he heard it from Hot 97, this sh!t is crazy!" By now I'm starting to feel all shaken, like when your moms is about to beat that ass. My eyes were getting heavy, yeah, I got emotional but numb at the same time. 

DJ Sincere in a rage: 

"This music is garbage!" "Who's next?" "I don't even listen to hip hop any more, I used to love hip hop." "If people stop supporting it (violent raps) then this would stop happening." "Every body want's to be Big Willie, (on that) Italiano bullsh!t." "Labels will not fu*k with us." "This is sick!" "You don't know who killed them (Biggie and Tupac) probably their own peeps, who knows..." 

My sister (9yrs. old) in her feather whisper: 

It's sad, I think the same person that killed Tupac killed Biggie. I don't think that the East coast-West coast thing is over. Crazy people shouldn't have guns, they're just jealous. 

Ed (hip hop analyst/writer) in his "I told you so." voice: 

I didn't like him, but I thought he made good music, the same goes for Tupac. I just felt that they shouldn't have let Puff and Suge hang over them and dictate their careers. This is what hip hop has become...violence. I'll probably write something on it, but I'm tired of writing about this sh!t. 

Dave (industry insider) nonchalantly spits: 

"I thought Puff would be first." "Come on...Puff must realize that everyone doesn't want peace." "Dey shoulda have been up in dare and up outta dare, but nooo, gotta chill and show love." "See what happens." 

Without evidence, we can't jump to conclusions about who murdered Biggie, but the link from his death to Tupac's is too close in time frame and style to ignore. For all we know it can be some crazed fan, living out his own thug dreams...who knows. 

Tupac's death was not as much of a shock to the public as Biggie's. Even with Biggie's life (as of late) following a troubling road filled with court cases, the car crash, down playing the rivalry and his personal life, no one had the presage of the big man's life coming to an end. Through out the whole Tupac ordeal, Biggie and the whole Bad Boy organization tried to distance themselves from any involvement to avoid any beef. Not to say it was a West coast retaliation to the murder of 'PAC, but what other situation could cause such violence against this so called "gangster rapper?" Even if the people from Tupac's set didn't order this murder, Tupac steaming from his first shooting, created a heated climate where tensions could be placed in anyone's direction. 

"All out warfare/eye for eye..." 

Tupac - Against All Odds 

From it's inception, rivalry in hip hop has been the fuel that brought out the best in artists' music. You have the KRS-One vs. MC Shan battle (that continues today as a novelty), MC Ehit vs. DJ Quick, and the very public feud between LL Cool J and Kool Moe Dee. Never did you think that those heated confrontations would ever end in death. That line was never crossed. The beefs stayed on records. 

"So ya wanna be hardcore/wit ya hat to da back/ talkin' bout the gats in ya raps..." 

Notorious B.I.G. - Machine Gun Funk 

Feelings of, why? Why did he have to die, because he rhymed about ghetto violence? Regardless of whatever violent scenes B.I.G. depicted, none of them was to far from the truth. If you have the skill to construct such lyrics, the streets are ill enough for you to write rhymes that contain many of the hellish scenarios Biggie rapped about. The streets is all he knew. 

Thug life representers in the industry are feeling it all across the board. 
Prodigy - Court cases pending 
Capone - Locked up (2 yrs.) 
Keith Murray - Recently released from prison 
Suge Knight - Locked Up (9 yrs.) 

After awhile will these cats, and their peers in the industry, stop to think of the reasons for making this type of music. They want to please their fans but, they are trading in their lives to do so, living up to egos made by head record label honchos. When will they wake up? It takes real bullets and real cell bars to frighten them, but what makes real changes? 

The same way these hardcore cats were influenced by old school artists, new school chart toppers must realize the power of their presence. If rap acts are rhyming to let the younger listeners know how the streets are in a negative state, don't beat around the bush, let them know in a definite statement. Don't glorify. The next generation of MCs are on the rise. The only inspiration that they will have is the past recordings of knuckle head acts. When they will go back to check the video shows and hip hop mags to see big willies/big muggers what's a kid to do? Emulate. 

Hip hop's current state is not Puffs, B.I.G., Tupac or Shug's fault. The fingers need to be pointed at the rap industry, the media (that covers such topics with no heart) and you the buyer. The heads closest to Death Row should have stepped in and put their peeps on about the dangerous road ahead. Bad Boy got caught up in the mix, but are not fully innocent. If your image is tough guy, then that means your representin' that spectrum of hip hop, and you will be tested, as was Bad Boy Sunday night. As the buyer, if you sincerely want to put an end to the violence in hip hop, don't buy records that perpetuate crime. Labels will be forced to conform to your tastes, not the other way around. 

This music is as close to the streets as you can get. Some of hip hop's fans can not separate the rapper from the individual, the creative writer from the family man. Maybe in the other entertainment fields you can front like your super nigga and really be a punk, but in hip hop your true card will be pulled. 

Many high profile rappers traded in the drug game for a life of rhyme, only to find (as of late) the same problems in hip hop. Biggie was known around my Brooklyn neighborhood has the nigga who did his thing. He got up out the hood and represented "BK to da fullest", giving hope to all the aspiring rhymers coming from the same area. Big's release was so highly anticipated people were selling songs that they caught from the grapevine (poor quality and all) for like 8 to 10 dollars! Man...Crooklyn was buzzing. Anything affiliated with him or JM (Junior Mafia) was hotter than a burning blunt. 

The enemies (look man)/wanna see me locked up/shot up/Moms crotched up/over the casket/screamin', "Bastard!"/cryin'/know my friends is lyin'/ya'll know who killed him/filled him...I was high when they hit me... 

Notorious B.I.G. - My Down Fall 

All and all, his death means nothing if the hip hop community doesn't come to it's scenes. If you didn't like Biggie, cool. That doesn't mean that he wasn't loved by somebody. Life was taken away, let's not forget that. You may say, "Yeah, but he rhymed in detail about death, so he seen it coming." Does that make the situation any better? I'm sure at some point we all have come to grips with the subject of leaving this planet for good. Some of us are able to deal with it at a higher level than others. Big's way of dealing with death was smacking his audience with it and smacking them hard. In turn, he could use it to calm his own fears when the time came to take his last breath. Does that mean that he wasn't scared? We seem to take rappers and mold them into what we want to be, successful, intelligent, outspoken, sharp dressers, weathly, beautiful, world travelers...the list goes on. But, when something tradgic happens to that same artist we don't learn from their mistakes. We accept it and move on to the next entertainer that can temporarly fulfil our fantacies. 

Hold ya'll breath/I told ya'll/Death controls ya'll/B.I.G. don't fold ya'll... 

Notorious B.I.G. -"You're Nobody Till Somebody Kills You" 

In a recent interview, when asked what will happen on March 25th (his album release date) BIG annouced that, "The earth shall rumble!" We as a hip hop nation will have to see if that is still true after his untimely demise. The earth that hip hop stands on quaked and will continue to do so because of Biggie's death. I hope all the people yelling, "Eeff Biggie!", take notice that they are denouncing a life. The brother tried to make it against all odds, and regardless of what kind of music he made, death he did not deserve. Maybe now BIG and 'Pac are settling their differences, without the beats, minus the rhymes, the yes men, the money, the guns, the media and the hype. Just facing infinite's endless road in true peace.