The Greatest Rapper of All-Time Died on March 9th...

From http://keepittrill.com/online/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/notorious-big.jpg

This past Sunday marked the 17^th year anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.’s death.  If you’re reading this blog, I imagine you’re familiar with B.I.G. and already know his story, so I won’t waste time going over those details again.  In honor of his passing (you might not call it an honor after reading), I’d like to tell you about the time I saw Biggie in concert.

The year was 1995 and it was my senior year of high school.  I believe the concert was in April and it was supposed to be B.I.G., Craig Mack and Mobb Deep.  B.I.G. and Craig Mack had just released their debut albums in September of 1994 and Mobb Deep was getting ready to drop their second album, the soon to be classic The Infamous.  When I bought the tickets for the concert, my mindset was that as long as B.I.G. and Craig Mack showed up, I would be alright and because they were label mates, I figured they would both show up.  I had only heard Shook Ones from Mobb Deep, so while I wanted to see them, I wasn’t too pressed about it.  The concert was in Grand Rapids and I can’t remember the venue, but I believe it was a smaller venue.  Anyway, the concert came and we come inside and the sign says Craig Mack and Mobb Deep won’t be appearing, but it was still cool because Biggie would be there and he was the main attraction.

From that point, there was just a slew of opening acts.  Bad opening acts.  None were memorable.  I have no idea how long we were waiting for Biggie to come out, but at some point, the emcee that night had to try to settle the crowd down because the crowd had started to become anxious and was chanting Biggie’s name.  After what seemed like forever (it was probably two or three hours), B.I.G. finally hit the stage…for what seemed like five minutes.  I swear it seemed like he only did 3 or 4 songs.  Of course there was Juicy and Big Poppa.  I think he might have performed Warning.  I do remember that at one point he threw a bunch of dollar bills in the crowd and my boy Mike actually caught one of them and said he would never spend it.  At the time, this was only the second concert I had been to and it failed to live up to the hype of the first concert I had been to (Method Man, Gravediggaz, Keith Murray, etc.).  I’m not sure why B.I.G. mailed it in that night.  Maybe it was because the other acts hadn’t shown up or maybe it was because it was in a small venue and in a city he had never heard of.  Regardless, I have to say I was pretty disappointed after that concert and it’s probably the worst concert I’ve ever been to.  Despite this, I still love B.I.G. and he’s one of my favorite rappers of all-time and Ready To Die is one of my favorite albums, so I’m not telling this story to bash B.I.G.  I just wanted to share a story that I know most of you haven’t heard before.  In closing, I leave you with a video of Biggie performing at the Apollo in ’96. 

R.I.P. B.I.G.