Murder Of Biggie Smalls
| Author | Cathy Scott |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | True crime, Biography |
| Publisher | St. Martin's Press |
| October 11, 2000 | |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 210 |
| ISBN | 978-0-312-26620-2 |
The Murder of Biggie Smalls is a non-fiction true crime book by author and journalist Cathy Scott. Published in October 2000 by St. Martin's Press, it covers the March 9, 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G. in a drive-by shooting. Pokemon nds rom hacks.
Background[edit]
The book includes a chapter about accusations from fellow rapper Tupac Shakur, that Biggie, 24, and his producer, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, were responsible for Tupac being injured during a 1994 shooting at New York City's Quad Studios, where Biggie was recording that same night. Smalls denied the accusation, as did Combs, and no arrests were ever made in the case. In September 1996, Shakur, 25, was shot a second time, this time in Las Vegas. Shakur died six days later. That murder, too, remains unsolved, which Scott covered in The Killing of Tupac Shakur.
In what was promoted as a Sunday series with 'exclusive information' in the Los Angeles Times, the article quoted a single source saying Biggie Smalls had been in Las Vegas the night Shakur was murdered and that Smalls had paid for and ordered the hit against Shakur. When Voletta Wallace, Smalls' mother, gave proof to the Times that her son had, in fact, been in a New York studio recording music the night Shakur was shot, the newspaper retracted the story and ultimately removed it from its website. Scott commented on the article in a Las Vegas CityLife column. 'Wallace was a rapper, not a killer,' she wrote. 'He was an only child who attended private Catholic school and was raised by an over-protective single mom. While Wallace spewed violence in his songs, he wasn't a street thug like Shakur.'[1]
People magazine interviewed Scott about the claim, quoting her as saying, 'It's easy to point a finger at a dead guy. The dead can't sue.'[2]TruTV's 'Crime Library' quoted one possible scenario from the book that Combs could have been responsible for Smalls' death because 'dead stars sell records without the bothersome upkeep.'[3]
An earlier article in the L.A. Times, which accused Tupac's music producer, Suge Knight, and a rogue Los Angeles Police Department officer as also being involved in Smalls' murder, the informant for the article recanted his claims and described himself to the Times as 'a paranoid schizophrenic.'[4]
Biggie Smalls Unsolved Murder
Based upon the newspaper's earlier accusations against her son, Voletta Wallace filed suit against the City of Los Angeles and the LAPD in a wrongful death suit accusing police of taking part in a conspiracy to kill her son. She lost the suit when, in April 2010, a judge dismissed the claim.[5] The civil suit, along with LAPD's internal investigation, are included in The Murder of Biggie Smalls.
In January 2011, Anderson CooperAC360 reported that a new task force, composed of law enforcement officers based in the Los Angeles area, was taking a fresh look at the Smalls murder case, interviewing author Scott for AC360's blog about the probe that is said to also be looking into Shakur's murder.[6]
The book was optioned in 2000 for a feature film, Record Wars, by Jonathan Sheinberg's development and production company The Machine.[7]
Reception[edit]
According to Booklist magazine's Mike Tribby in his October 2000 review, 'Whereas others who have dealt with this stuff have often neglected to humanize the principals involved, Scott points up biographical details that bring them into focus as human beings. For setting the record straight as well as for limning a major pop music star, this is a valuable book.'[8]
The editors at Barnes & Noble wrote that 'the fatal shooting of rapper Notorious B.I.G. remains shrouded in a blanket of mystery, speculation, and grief, while his popularity is as strong as ever. Cathy Scott's The Murder of Biggie Smalls is an engrossing examination of the death of the beloved Big Poppa and the resulting investigation, which finally seems to be nearing a conclusion.'[9]
Nelson George with Africana-Magazine also reviewed the book, noting, 'The picture painted of the investigation of Biggie's murder is more detailed than anything found in the music press.[10] In 2000, The Murder of Biggie Smalls made Library Booklist's 'Realistic and Urban Fiction' for teens.[11]
The New York Post ran an excerpt upon the book's 2000 release.
Book editions[edit]
The Murder of Biggie Smalls has been reprinted in the UK by Plexus Publishing, a music genre publisher.[12] It has also been made into a talking book, read by narrator Bob Moore.[13]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Las Vegas CityLife, 'Death in Vegas: The Times claim that B.I.G. arranged the killing of Tupac Shakur simply doesn't make sense,' by Cathy Scott, September, 17 2002
- ^People magazine, 'B.I.G. Family Denies Tupac Murder Claim,' September 9, 2002
- ^Bruno, Anthony. 'Hip-Hop Homicide — 'Worth More Dead Than Alive' — Crime Library on'. Trutv.com. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
- ^Los Angeles Times, 'Informant in Rap Star's Slaying Admits Hearsay,' June 3, 2005
- ^The Guardian, 'Notorious BIG death lawsuit dismissed,' April 19, 2010
- ^' An AC360° Cold Case: Mystery still surrounds rappers' deaths,' January 6, 2011
- ^'The Station of the Nation - Internet Radio and E-Zine (scroll down)'. www.Rnation.com. Retrieved 2013-01-31.
- ^Booklist review, 'The Murder of Biggie Smalls,' October 15, 2000
- ^Barnes & Noble, 'Editorial Reviews,' October 2000
- ^Editorial Reviews, Africana-Magazine, October 2000
- ^Library Booklist, 'Realistic and Urban Fiction' (scroll down)
- ^Book listing, Plexus Publishing
- ^Talking Book Topics, Vol. 68, No. 3, May-June 2002 (scroll down)
External links[edit]
The Murder Of Biggie Smalls Book
Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace, also known as Biggie Smalls, were some of the most ground-breaking and influential rappers of our time.
Though the two artists dominated the hip-hop scene in the early ‘90s — with Tupac in California and Biggie in New York — they were both tragically killed in drive-by shootings. Their murders have remained unsolved until this day, and the duo’s heated East Coast-West Coast rivalry has fueled various conspiracy theories over the years.
Who was 2Pac?
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971. Although he would become synonymous with West Coast hip-hop, he was born in New York City. His parents were both members of the Black Panther Party.
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Murder Of Biggie Smalls
2Pac’s late mother, Afeni, became pregnant with her son while on bail. According to NBC News, she had actually been charged, along with other members of the Panthers, for conspiring to bomb police stations and department stores in New York City, and although the charges were later acquitted she had spent 11 months in jail.
2Pac’s father, Billy Garland, lost contact with the rapper when he was 5 years old. They wouldn’t reunite until 2Pac was 23.
In 1996, 2Pac told writer Kevin Powell in Vibe magazine that 'I thought my father was dead all my life. I felt I needed a daddy to show me the ropes and I didn't have one.'
A single mother with two children, Afeni moved the family often and struggled financially. They eventually moved to Baltimore, and 2Pac enrolled at the prestigious Baltimore School for the Arts. He met his lifelong friend Jada Pinkett Smith there and called the time “the freest I ever felt.”
Just this year, Jada opened up about her relationship with 2Pac on Sway’s Sirius XM show, admitting that she met him when she was dealing drugs.
“I've been having kind of an existential crisis around Pac because I was coming out, he was coming in, and there was a point at which we met. And then we kinda were going our separate ways. And I just felt like, 'OK, God, one day you're going to do for Pac what you did for me, which is, you saved me.' And that just never happened for him,' she said.