8 Search results for "biggie smalls"

Update: “We used to fuss when the landlord dissed us…” – The Notorious B.I.G. Biggie would be proud. A single landlord was the only thing in the way of an iconic mural in his honor remaining intact in his native Brooklyn. Everyone from fans of the late rapper, to the Brooklyn Nets to the artists […]

by Briana L. Ureña-Ravelo There has been much conversation regarding Blackness as of late. What it is, when and how it matters, and who can and cannot claim it. At times the conversation has been very illuminating and compelling, but more and more it has become overwhelmingly caustic and mired in elitist, ahistorical, and colonial […]

Hip-hop holds African-Americans back, author says Angela Woodall, Oakland Tribune | May 12, 2010 A group of teenagers armed with little more than an attitude and some turntables created a rebellion 30 years ago in the Bronx. The fire spread across the globe, from Beirut to Beijing, where youths use hip-hop to rap about being […]

“If I’m in yo city, I’m signing them tig-o-bitties.” –Nicki Minaj, 2010 When Kanye called for a sort of moratorium on gay-bashing he was simply talking about blatant disregard (i.e. calling a man a “bitch” or a “faggot.”) What he wasn’t doing is starting a revolution in hip hop to love thy neighbor as his […]

“Brooklyn we did it”. Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls, the larger than life hip-hop icon, carried a lot of weight, most of the load he carried was from his corpulent frame, but another portion was from carrying the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant on his back. As Brooklyn’s unofficial ambassador in the mid-nineties he gave a lot […]

Any of you following the NFL might have been slightly shocked when the details of Plaxico Burress’ sentence became public.  Even I was surprised by the severity of his sentence, and I’ve been watching NFL players tango with the (in)justice system since well before, um, Ray Lewis?  For those of you who have not diligently […]

LeRoy McCarthy’s quest to have a corner in Brooklyn named after legendary emcee Notorious B.I.G. has hit a bit of a stumbling block. The council members who have the power to grant or deny McCarthy’s request have several issues with naming a street after the slain rapper.

The deaths of Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse were two traumatic events in my life. What’s interesting however, is that I’ve never met them, let alone have even a superficial conversation with them. Yet, there’s something about the artist-fan relationship that makes us feel so connected to practical strangers that we shed a tear when […]