Thursday, March 13, 1997
Two superstar rappers have been murdered in the past six months.
Will the violent streets that spawned the gangsta rap community
eventually tear it apart?
Nelson Saldua
Early Saturday morning I drifted off to sleep with my finger on
my phone’s redial button and my radio on. I had tried repeatedly
and unsuccessfully to win tickets to the Power 106 Fourth
Anniversary Friday Night Flavas concert, which was to feature live
performances by OutKast, Cypress Hill, Da Brat, Wu-Tang Clan and
Notorious B.I.G. With such an all-star line-up, the show promised
to be momentous.
But Power 106 wasn’t selling tickets to this show; people had to
win their tickets on the radio. I still want to go to the show, but
my anticipation is somewhat different now.
On Saturday night, rapper Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Biggie
Smalls) was fatally shot by an undetermined number of assailants
while leaving a post-Soul Train Music Awards party. This horrible
murder comes a scant six months after the murder of Biggie’s bitter
rival, rapper Tupac Shakur. In less than half a year, the hip-hop
community has lost two of its biggest stars, a loss which leaves
hip-hop with an uncertain future.
For the past few days, Biggie’s fans have flooded the phone
lines of both The Beat 92.3 and Power 106, expressing their disgust
and confusion over the shooting. Why does something like this
happen? When did hip-hop music stop being fun?
Back in the day when L.L. Cool J and Kool Moe Dee had a beef
with each other, they settled by battling with lyrics. MC Shan and
KRS-One expressed their disputes with one another by dissing each
other on wax. And even though hostility was evident in the
Casual-Saafir battle, it never erupted into gunfire. Somehow during
the evolution of rap music, some rappers added guns to their
lyrical arsenal.
The most popular speculation regarding Biggie’s shooting
revolves around the ongoing rivalry between East Coast-based Bad
Boy Records and West Coast-based Death Row Records. The rivalry
between these two camps has led to the murders of members of both
Bad Boy and Death Row.
The two groups have publicly dissed each other, the most notable
example being Death Row Chief Executive Officer Suge Knight’s
sarcastic comments regarding Bad Boy’s CEO Sean "Puffy" Combs’ high
profile in artist’s videos and songs at last year’s Soul Train
Music Awards. The rivalry has been implicated as a possible,
although unlikely, motive for Tupac’s murder last September. Lately
it seems as if Tupac’s murder had served as an impetus for
change.
Combs and Death Row recording artist Snoop Doggy Dogg had called
a press conference to call for an end to the hostility. Perhaps
Tupac could be a martyr, a sacrifice that made hip-hop heads
re-evaluate their thinking. Watching Combs and Snoop together on
"The Steve Harvey Show" made me think that they were making real
progress.
This is what makes Biggie’s shooting all the more tragic. In
addition to the loss felt by his two young children and the rest of
his family, in a more universal sense his death was a set-back to
the entire hip-hop community. Just when progress was being made,
Biggie’s murder has put things back to square one.
On Monday morning, Junior M.A.F.I.A. rapper Lil’l Kim, who was
very close to Biggie, screamed on the radio, "Fuck you on the West
Coast! Someone’s going to die over this!" It seems as if both
rappers died in vain.
There are surely some people who think that Biggie, and Tupac
for that matter, got what they deserved. After all, they reason,
Biggie was an admitted drug dealer who had probably led a violent
life. This lifestyle was strikingly portrayed on his multi-platinum
debut album "Ready To Die."
He was able to eschew the dealing for a recording career. A
marked change will be evident on his forthcoming double album,
"Life After Death," which is eerily prophetic.
One of the most haunting lines I’ve ever heard on a rap song is
from Biggie’s "Suicidal Thoughts." On this dark song he rapped,
"When I die, fuck it I want to go to hell/ Cause I’m a piece of
shit it ain’t hard to fucking tell."
Where Biggie is right now no one is entitled to say, but
hopefully his listeners will learn a lesson so that his death is
not pointless. If an overzealous Tupac fan did shoot Biggie in
retaliation for Tupac’s murder, I hope that he and all listeners
will learn not to overly identify with their favorite rappers. Fans
should not feel inclined to get involved in personal grudges
between artists.
Saldua is a fifth-year biochemistry student.
Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, left, and Sean
"Puffy" Combs leave a party late Saturday, shortly before Wallace
was fatally shot by an unknown assailant.