In terms of rap music—or, perhaps any music at all—there were none better at penning a line than Chris Wallace, a.k.a the Notorious B.I.G.
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The rapper’s wordplay was stupendous, his rhyme scheme unparalleled. The Brooklyn, New York City-born artist, however, died too young. His life was ended by gunshots in 1997 at just 24 years old.
Still, though, the man gave many pearls of wisdom to the world. And here, we are set to dive into what Biggie, as he was affectionately known, had to say outside of his songs.
What were his thoughts when it came to life, love, the craft of music, the business of music, and much more? Well, without further ado, let’s dive right into the 15 best Notorious B.I.G. quotes.
1. “You gotta mature, you know.”
2. “Basically, I wake up at nine o’clock in the morning, go to different record stores, go to the studio, think up different ideas for songs. Just workin’.”
3. “My real life helped me sell a lot of records.”
4. “If I grew up in some suburb, I’d come out with a song about potholes in my lawn.”
5. “With big folks, either people think you look mean or it’s more of a jolly Santa Claus, ‘Oh, he’s just a pudgy little teddy bear pillow.'”
6. “How real can your music be if you wake up in the morning hearing birds and crickets? I never hear birds when I wake up. Just a lot of construction work, the smell of Chinese takeout, children screaming, and everybody knocking a different track from ‘Ready to Die’ as they pass down the street.”
7. “My mom is from Jamaica, and she was going to school in the morning, and in the evening she was working, and at night she would go to night school and then come in and go to sleep.”
8. “The second time I went to jail, I was like, ‘Okay, this is not the move.'”
9. “I hold grudges, but I can’t hate nobody; that’s not my nature.”
10. “Every true hustler knows that you cannot hustle forever. You will go to jail eventually.”
11. “I cleaned up my act, and I made this rap thing work for me. I thought people would respect me for that. But instead, it’s, ‘Oh, he’s sold all these records, and now he thinks he’s all that.”
12. “Growing up in the streets of Bed-Stuy, it was hard, yo.”
13. “Please, all you MCs out there, all you fans out there, don’t think Big gonna make a record dissing 2Pac or the West Coast because it’s not going down like that. I cant even see me wasting my time or my talent to disrespect another black man.”
14. “I can’t even say Puff and me are like brothers, ’cause we closer than that.”
15. “I married her after knowing her eight days, and I was happy. That was my baby. At the same time, with us being so spontaneous, we did it backwards. Maybe she won’t admit it, but I will. We should have got to know each other and then got married. The relationship kind of dissolved, but we’re still going to be friends. I love her.”
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