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Lady_Smiley's blog
| Friday, March 9th, 2007
B.I.G Moments:
B.I.G. Moments:
A Special Tribute to Notorious B.I.G.
by Trent Fitzgerald
It's been 10 years since the untimely passing of Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace. On March 9, 1997, the 24-year-old rapper was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. Biggie's death still remains unsolved, and his mother, Voletta Wallace, continues her quest to find answers with her wrongful-death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department. Much like Tupac Shakur, who tragically met the same fate six months prior, Biggie's music continues to be immortalized by fans worldwide. Bad Boy Records just released a new greatest-hits album featuring 14 of Biggie's best-known songs plus two unreleased tracks to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Notorious B.I.G. In tribute to the late rapper, here's a look back at 10 big events in the life and death of Big Poppa:
1. Biggie Meets Puffy: After Notorious B.I.G. was featured in Source magazine's "Unsigned Hype" column in 1992, Sean "Puffy" Combs, who was an A&R executive at Uptown Records, heard Biggie's demo and went on a mission to find one of the top lyricists in Brooklyn, N.Y. "He had so much melody in his voice," Puff told Rolling Stone magazine. "And he was such a clever poet, the way he put his words together, the way he saw things. He saw things so vivid."
2. Gotta Have Faith: On Aug. 4, 1994, B.I.G. marries Bad Boy Records' R&B songbird Faith Evans after nine days of courtship. The couple met at a photo shoot and instantly fell in love. Some speculated that the marriage was a publicity stunt, but that wasn't the case. "I had my share of all kinds of women [and] I can't explain it," Biggie said. "I just knew Faith was different. I wanted her locked down." Faith adds, "He was funny. He was really smart, very intelligent, which attracted me. People seem to think he was mean, but he wasn't at all. He was really nice."
3. Keeping It Real: On Sept. 14, 1994, Notorious B.I.G. unleashes his debut album, Ready To Die. Producers working on Ready To Die initially felt like Biggie was trying to shock the world with his violent lyrics, grim depictions of urban life and the mackadoshis wordplays. But in the end, it was clear to those in the studio that this rap wunderkind was a lyrical dynamo and that Ready To Die was unlike any rap album ever recorded at the time. "I make music about what I know," the late rapper told MTV. "In Brooklyn, I see hustling, I see killing, I see girls and I see cars -- that's what I rap about, what's in my environment. If it's one thing I heard about Ready To Die, it's that it's a full, rounded album. I try to put a little bit of everything into everything. I'm not a one-sided person."
4. King of New York: On Aug. 3, 1995, at the second annual Source Hip-Hop Music Awards in New York, B.I.G. won four trophies, including the sought-after Lyricist of the Year and Album of the Year (Ready To Die) honors. "I knew I was gonna win something," Biggie told MTV. "Album of the Year, that's what I wanted more than anything. I worked hard on that piece. When I put the album together, I knew it was tight: I knew it was lyrically tight, I knew it had some cool songs, but I wasn't thinking multiplatinum." Among the night's highlights was Biggie's performance of "One More Chance/Stay With Me." However, his wins were bittersweet as tension grew between the Bad Boy and Death Row Records camps at the event. It was there that Suge Knight verbally attacked Puff Daddy with his snide remarks, which ultimately sparked the so-called East Coast-West Coast rivalry.
5. Recording Life After Death: Trying to top the critical success of Ready To Die wasn't going to be easy. But Biggie and the producers were more focused than ever to create another classic album. This time, the rhyme-slinger wanted to document his extraordinary climb to success and the problems that come with being a rap superstar. "It's to another level, it's some of the best work I've ever done, in my opinion," he told MTV about the collection. "It's a beautiful thing. We're just gonna keep trying to feed our families, yo. I found something I was good at and I'm just trying to flip it, keep it going. We gonna do our thing forever and ever."
6. Dead Wrong: On March 9, 1997, B.I.G. was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting outside of Vibe magazine's post-Soul Train Awards party in Los Angeles. Biggie was sitting in the front seat of his SUV when an unidentified car drove alongside the passenger side and fired multiple rounds into the vehicle. He was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as a result of his gunshot wounds. Biggie was 24 years old. Ten years later, the circumstances surrounding the late rapper's shooting death remain a mystery.
7. B.I.G.'s Final Ride: On March 18, 1997, friends and family members bid farewell to the late Notorious B.I.G. at a memorial service in New York. Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim, Queen Latifah and others were in attendance. Biggie's estranged wife, Faith Evans, sang at the service, while Puffy delivered the eulogy. After the service, Biggie's body (clad in a white suit and wearing a white hat) traveled via a 20-car motorcade through the streets of Brooklyn to let fans give their final goodbyes to the rapper. The caravan became unruly when bystanders got disruptive, and police began spraying mace. Authorities arrested 10 people, including a shaken-up New York Times reporter. Following the procession, the body of Biggie Smalls was cremated.
8. Biggie Still Lives: Released on March 25, 1997, Notorious B.I.G.'s double album, Life After Death, rocketed to the top spot of the Billboard 200 album chart. The collection moved 690,000 copies during its first week of release. Three years after its release, the Recording Industry Association of America awarded Life After Death a diamond honor for shipments of 10 million units (5 million copies of a double disc). Furthermore, Biggie's posthumous 1999 collection, Born Again, reached double-platinum status for shipping 2 million units.
9. Daddy Dearest: After taking some time to mourn the death of his beloved friend, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs released the single "I'll Be Missing You." The Police-sampled elegiac tribute to B.I.G. featured Faith Evans and 112 on background vocals. The song made its radio debut on May 14, 1997, simultaneously on more than 200 radio stations worldwide. For their efforts, Puffy and Co. won the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group trophy at the 1998 Grammy Awards.
10. B.I.G. Honors: Notorious B.I.G. was saluted in September 2005 at the second annual VH1 Hip-Hop Honors in New York. In a tribute to the late rhyme-spitter, Biggie's partner-in-rhyme Lil' Cease paid homage to his friend with a rendition of "One More Chance" with Faith Evans. Ludacris followed with a spirited performance of "Juicy." Then, Kanye West hit the stage covering B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize."
Posted By Lady_Smiley @ 4:40 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Friday, March 9th, 2007
2 Pac
Requiem for an Immortal:
10 Years, So Many Tears
by Trent Fitzgerald
On Sept. 7, 1996, after watching the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight championship fight at the Las Vegas MGM Grand Casino, Tupac Amaru Shakur (aka 2Pac) was riding in the passenger seat of Death Row Records executive Marion "Suge" Knight's BMW 750 black sedan. A white Cadillac pulled up beside them at a stoplight, and 2Pac was hit by a barrage of bullets. Ambulances rushed the wounded rapper to the University Medical Center. After nearly a week of being in a medically induced coma, 2Pac's fight for life ended on Sept. 13. He was 25 years old.
A decade later, the mystery behind the California-based rapper's slaying remains unsolved. But the memories of 2Pac's productive and creative life continue to shine through in a body of work that remains lucrative for his estate. 2Pac's mother, Afeni Shakur, had planned a trip to South Africa to commemorate her late son's death. However, she recently canceled her trip for undisclosed personal reasons, and instead will fly to the continent on June 16, 2007, to celebrate what would have been 2Pac's 36th birthday.
2Pac's music embodied a spirit of defiance and his lyrics reflected on the poverty and social injustice among the disenfranchised. He rapped about gangs, drugs, violence and despair with such brutal honesty and flair. Much of 2Pac's lyrics can be traced back to his black nationalist lineage. His mother, Afeni, was a former Black Panther Party member who was actually pregnant with her son while she was incarcerated in a New York prison. The rhyme-slinger's stepfather, Mutula Shakur, a prominent member of the Panthers, taught young Tupac the black-nationalist doctrine that would later shape much of the rapper's recordings.
Those influences can be heard on "Changes," a track that appeared on 2Pac: Greatest Hits. "Two shots time to fight back that's what Huey said," he raps. "Two shots in the dark now that Huey's dead." However, 2Pac will probably be most remembered for his social commentaries like the anthemic "Keep Ya Head Up," which addressed the issue of protecting black women against misogynism, and "Brenda's Got a Baby," a detailed look at the pitfalls of teen pregnancy.
His love for black women carried over into his 1995 song "Dear Mama." Through his heartfelt delivery, 2Pac thanked his mother, Afeni, from whom he was estranged, for her strength and encouragement. "When I was a young man and my mama had beef/ 17 years old kicked out on the streets," he rhymes on the endearing track. "Though back at the time, I never thought I'd see her face/ Ain't a woman alive that could take my mama's place."
Later in his career, 2Pac struggled with his political roots, and chose to develop his "Thug Life" persona. On his final recording released during his lifetime, All Eyez on Me, songs like "Ambitionz az a Ridah" and "Heartz of Men" proudly display 2Pac's glory of thuggin' it out. It's only on "I Ain't Mad at Cha" where you find an emotionally warm 2Pac rapping about forgiveness and reconciliation. But it was the non-album B-side "Hit 'Em Up" that stirred up the most controversy. The diss track took aim at New York rapper Notorious B.I.G., whose untimely murder in March 1997 will forever be linked to 2Pac's slaying.
Two months after 2Pac's death, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released featuring 2Pac spitting rhymes under a rap alias named Makaveli. The collection sparked numerous conspiracy theories including one that 2Pac faked his death and was hiding in Cuba with his godmother, political prisoner Assata Shakur. Since then, there has been a seemingly endless stream of posthumous releases from the 2Pac vaults. His music continues to sell millions of copies, a testament to his popularity and influence within the hip-hop community and beyond.
And his immortalization doesn't end there. Next year, a 25-city trek called the Tupac Legacy Tour will get under way. The jaunt will feature a lineup of still-unannounced artists performing 2Pac songs backed with a live band and DJ. All proceeds from the ticket sales for the event will benefit the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Ga.
In an April 1996 interview, 2Pac summed up what it meant for him to be loved by legions of fans. "With all my fans I got a family again," he explained. "They made it more than just an artist thing . . . Instead it was like them saying, 'Hey, that's our homeboy and we support him.' I appreciate them stickin' up for me when everyone was kickin' me when I was down." Ten years after his death, 2Pac's family of fans continues to grow.
Posted By Lady_Smiley @ 2:47 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Thursday, March 8th, 2007
Check it out
Hey What Up!
Come check me Lady_Smiley out! Im just a homegirl who kicks back and Im also A tattoo artist. Ill have some of my work posted up each week! My borthers also rap and Ill have their jamz posted up in bout three weeks. More info coming soon! CHECK out the new pics and videos of the homies too! show me some luv on my sound board!:)
Sooo dont be shy Check me out.
want to know more just ask!
(:Lady Smiley
Posted By Lady_Smiley @ 9:39 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Thursday, March 8th, 2007
Size does matter
All Girls are straight up lying when they say that size does not matter, I got proof.
Heads up here for you guys, my best friend Pete has been getting all the girls at school and work after he has not had a girlfriend in the past 2 years. I asked him if he is drugging them or whatever so he told me his little secret. He has been taking these tablets, Copy and paste this address into your browser EHEDS.COM to see where he gets them from, they made his little magic stick grow almost double the size it was in about 2 months and he says it is still getting bigger.
I thought he was kidding around so I investigated a little bit into it and sure enough I found nine bottles of the these pills under his bed and to top that off, his 2 brothers are now taking them too, I don't know, but I am thinking now of buying them for you know who.. I know it sounds shallow but after seeing the results, it is hard to not do it.
I am telling you I have all the proof needed that they work, the place you order them from even guarentees that they will work on any guy or they give you what you paid right back. Don't pass up on this one guys, it is 100% confirmed and for real. Get them while they are still available by Going here Just copy and paste this address in your browser. EHEDS.COM
S74268435
Posted By Lady_Smiley @ 1:17 AM | Comments: 0 |
| Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
Check it out
LOWPROFILE RECORDS
Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 145
Mr..sancho's New Album
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Mr. Sancho's "foreplay" Album In Stores Now!!!!!!!!!
This Is His 3rd Album.....don't Forget To Request His Son "low-low" On All Your Local Radio Stations!!!!!!!
Posted By Lady_Smiley @ 3:57 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
PROUD!!!
Hey what up?
I just wanted eveyonez to know that Ive been dong tattoos for six years know. And in about a week im going to do murals on cars as well!! And Im really excited about it because Ive always dreamed of doing that! its kinda strange but since I was little I wanted to do tattoos and cars! Everyone said I could never do that cause Im a girl! Even my family said that to me! NOW IM THE MOST REQUESTED IN MY SHOP! AND IM PRETTY DAME PROUD OF MYSELF!!!!
Posted By Lady_Smiley @ 10:07 PM | Comments: 0 |
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