My First Year Remembering BIG Through Social Media - A Throwback
In honor of Biggie, I’m sharing a post I did for Global Grind during the short stint I blogged for them as an anonymous “Industry Insider” back in 2010 (super shout out to anyone who’s been rocking with me since back then, by the way). It was the first year I was really active on twitter, and I believe the first year we were really expericencing moments and events collectively through social media. The different dimensions added by this mass shared experience were fascinating to me (are still fascinating to me).
I left the writing largely untouched (an act of bravery for an eight year old piece, TBQH), but added a few reference points where I felt they were needed. There are some voices close to BIG that I didn’t touch on in the original post (I had a word limit), like dream hampton’s; but one of the pieces that best (in my opinion) illustrates the pain, anger, and confusion Big’s friends felt after his death is dream’s “Somebody’s Gotta Die”, written the year follwing. It’s not long, at all, but it hits the mark (no pun intended), using Big’s own lyrics to mine her feelings.
Anyway, below is more about the celebration of Big, through friends and fans. #ThinkBig #BigDay
REMEMBERING BIG - 2010
This week started big…well, B.I.G. The Hip Hop Nation as a whole - and New York especially - remembered the greatest MC of all time, the Notorious B.I.G., on the thirteenth anniversary of his death: March 9th.
There was Mister Cee’s annual B.I.G. tribute, and Puffy plus friends and fam journeyed to Brooklyn to celebrate BK’s finest at what I heard was a completely off the hook party (I get to call him Puffy in this post because he reverted back to the moniker this week in honor of B.I.G). But those aren’t the tributes I want to talk about.
Social networking (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc) has revolutionized the way that people share and acknowledge events, experiences and monumental moments. This hits me during every big sporting event or awards show, or any other happening that catches collective attention; but it especially hit me on Tuesday. Almost everyone I know spent the day posting Biggie videos, Biggie photos, and Biggie lyrics. (By the way, you can gain a good bit of insight into a person by what BIG lyrics they post). #RIPBIG was a trending topic on twitter almost immediately after midnight.
But what was especially interesting to see/read were the first hand accounts and memories shared by people who had personally known Big, had been part of that era, or part of his story in some way.
Some of the BIG stories I saw:
One of my first industry bosses, Reggie Ossè (now known to the internets as Combat Jack), talked about the day of the funeral: the somber mood, how much love Brooklyn showed, and Lil’ Kim’s near breakdown.
Reggie, Mary J Blige and Kim leaving Biggie’s funeral
Phil Pabon, VP of Marketing for urban apparel brand Enyce at the time of Big’s death, recounted running to LA’s Beverly Center to grab something to wear to a party, and seeing Big in there shopping, just chillin’. When he asked Big why he wasn’t with security with so much beef on the West Coast, Big simply replied, “If it’s my time, it’s my time.”
Writer and industry vet Big Ced shared that his first interview ever was with Biggie, and at the time, Big said he wouldn’t be alive in 10 years.
Several people talked about the B.I.G. MACK campaign: promo for Craig Mack’s Project: Funk Da World and Biggie’s Ready To Die. The print ad featured Big, Puff and Mack behind a fast food restaurant counter, with the tag line “Serving Up The Hottest Platters On The Street.” When the promotion launched, packages landed on tastemaker’s desks with a styrofoam burger container (Yeah, styrofoam. This was pre-environmentally conscious paper wrapping for fast food), B.I.G. MACK prominantly printed on the top. When opened, the Biggie promo cassette (Yes, cassette. Again, different era) was on one side, and the Craig Mack cassette on the other. Bad Boy’s answer to the McDLT.
I need to say here that a lot of people also used this opportunity to give Puffy props for his hustle and innovation, and big up the Bad Boy movement in general. And be clear, it was an actual movement (and as Bad Boy alum, I’m proud to have been a part of it, even though I was post-Big).
Then there’s my boy Slim Pickens. Slim was in marketing and promotions at Uptown Records, then went to Bad Boy to help launch the company, working on all their street promotions and marketing initiatives. He was also later one of the co-founders of Black Diamonds Entertainment, curators of the best events for bougie young urban professionals set out to conquer the world in the mid-to-late 90s (former 106th and Park host AJ Calloway is also Black Diamonds alum), but that’s another blog post.
Slim is a part of Big’s family. He was there from the beginning, and was in the hospital the night he was shot (he posted yesterday that he sent the first skypages from the hospital. Everybody who had a skypager raise your hand). Slim has arguably one of the most extensive amateur photo archives in hip hop, going back to the early days of Bad Boy and Uptown, and of course, the Big moments. Slim’s photo roll yesterday included pictures of the B.I.G MACK promo; the flyer BIG’s album completion party (not even album release, album completion! The Grand, NYC, June 14th 1994); pics from Big’s first show ever (Philly, 1993); Big at the legendary Palladium nightclub (now an NYU dorm); Big and Puff in LA; and more.
pics from Slim’s collection
To see Biggie remembered through the people who knew him and loved him most was beyond moving. It was one of those moments that makes you remember why you love Hip Hop, why you love the industry, why you love New York. You remember where you were when you first heard “Who Shot Ya”, or “Real Ni**as Do Real Things”, or when you were bumping the “One More Chance” remix (I was in my little red Nissan Sentra with the sunroof open driving through my college campus). You remember how much a Big song got a party jumping (STILL gets the party jumping). And of course you remember where you were when you heard the news that he was gone. People always want to say that artists are “game changers”, but Big truly did change the game in the span of what, in retrospect, seems an impossibly short career; and everyone made sure that wasn’t forgotten this week.