Has It Really Been That Long?

As you may or may not remember (more likely not), a week ago in my babblings about the members of G-Unit I linked to an article about the current feud between the Game and 50 Cent. I didn't realize it at the time, but today is eight years from when the Notorious B.I.G. was killed. I can't believe it has been that long. When this happened, the East Coast/West Coast rap war was at its peak. By this point, Tupac and Biggie had repeatedly exchanged barbs in lyrics and interviews, Tupac had been killed in Las Vegas and Biggie had been accused by several groups of masterminding the hit. I remember hearing about B.I.G. getting shot and wondering about how anyone could really feel that any of this was worth dying over. I understand wanting somebody to give you respect, but the concept of kill or be killed because someone insulted you was and is foreign to me.

Regardless of his early demise, Notorious B.I.G. was an amazing influence to an entire generation of rap artists and set the standard for clever lyrics that no one has been able to match yet. Without Biggie there would be no Jay Z, no Nas. They may have still been around, they may even have become stars in the rap world, but they probably would not have been able to be the big crossover stars that they have been. The entire East Coast scene was changed by a man who only released one album before he died.

Hopefully, somebody out there is able to take a look back at this and learn from Biggie and Tupac before allowing another feud to escalate to all-out war.

Until later...