Notorious B.I.G.

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ABBA, Biggie, Blondie All Have Something New in Common

More than 2 dozen performers are added to Library of Congress' National Recording Registry

(Newser) - Songs and others recordings that are at least a decade old are eligible to ascend to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry, "based on their cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance in the nation's recorded sound heritage," per a release . This year, the registry welcomes 25 new...

Sting: Diddy Pays Me $2K per Day. Diddy: It's More
Diddy Forks
Over a Pretty
Penny to Sting,
Every Single Day
in case you missed it

Diddy Forks Over a Pretty Penny to Sting, Every Single Day

Rapper reveals he pays ex-Police frontman $5K daily for sampling 'Every Breath You Take'

(Newser) - Sting likely doesn't care whether the name on Sean Combs' bank account is "Puff Daddy," "Diddy," "P. Diddy," or plain old "Sean Combs"—he just wants his regular check in the mail from that account. That's because for years, the...

Biggie's Crown Smashes Auction Estimates

Sells for nearly 100K times what the photographer paid

(Newser) - The crown that the Notorious B.I.G. wore in his last photo shoot, three days before his death, cost $6 in 1997. On Tuesday night, it sold for nearly 100,000 times that amount, the New York Post reports. The plastic crown, purchased by photographer Barron Claiborne, was auctioned...

Crown Biggie Wore 3 Days Before His Death Is for Sale

Sotheby's sale also includes a teen Tupac's love letters

(Newser) - Letters from a lovestruck 16-year-old Tupac Shakur will be auctioned off at Sotheby's first-ever sale devoted to hip-hop history. The 22 letters to Kathy Loy, one of the rapper's classmates at the Baltimore School for the Arts in the 1980s, are expected to fetch up to $80,000,...

Rock Hall of Fame Picks Its New Class

Whitney, Notorious B.I.G. make the cut

(Newser) - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is out with its 2020 inductees, with six groups or individual artists making the cut, reports Billboard :
  • Who's in: Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, the Notorious B.I.G., Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, and T. Rex.
  • Who didn't make it:
...

Rock Hall Gives Noms to 2 Late Stars

Whitney Houston, Notorious BIG among 16 possibles for the 2020 inductee class

(Newser) - The late musical icons Whitney Houston and the Notorious BIG are among the 16 acts nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 2020 class. The prestigious organization announced Tuesday that Dave Matthews Band, Motorhead, Pat Benatar, Soundgarden, the Doobie Brothers, T. Rex, and Thin Lizzy join Houston...

Notorious BIG's Mom Considered His Music 'Noise'
Notorious BIG's Mom
Has Surprising Admission
interview

Notorious BIG's Mom Has Surprising Admission

She once considered his music 'noise'

(Newser) - During the late 1990s when the Notorious BIG emerged as rap's top performer, detailing street life in Brooklyn on songs and albums that dominated the pop charts, his mother didn't think much of his music, which she used to call "noise." Now, she can't live...

People v. OJ Director Tackling Biggie, Tupac Murders Next

USA Network orders 'Unsolved' pilot

(Newser) - The director behind FX's acclaimed People vs. OJ Simpson miniseries is set to tackle another true crime drama, this one based on the unsolved deaths of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious BIG, also known as Biggie Smalls, the AP reports. The Hollywood Reporter says USA Network has ordered...

New Documentary: Diddy Ordered Tupac's Murder

Retired LAPD detective says department covered up the truth

(Newser) - Two decades later, the mystery still hasn't been officially solved: Who killed Tupac Shakur? In a new documentary, a retired LAPD detective says the department actually did solve the case but covered up the truth: Sean "Diddy" Combs was behind the murder, alleges Greg Kading. His film Murder ...

10 Eerie Hollywood Deaths
 10 Eerie Hollywood Deaths 

10 Eerie Hollywood Deaths

Mysterious circumstances surround these celebrities

(Newser) - Brittany Murphy's sudden death has always been mysterious, especially when it was followed by the death of her husband, months later, apparently from the same cause. Now her dad wants the investigation into Murphy's death re-opened, because he thinks she was poisoned. The Huffington Post rounds up 30...

44 Celebs Who Were Classmates

Bet you didn't know these stars went to high school together

(Newser) - Apparently some schools just produce more stars than others. PopSugar rounds up celebrities you may not have realized attended high school together. Click through the gallery for a sampling, or check out the complete list .

Cop: Sean Combs Ordered Tupac Shakur's Death and Suge Knight Ordered Biggie Smalls Killed

 Sean Combs 
 Ordered 
 Tupac 
 Murder: 
 LA Cop 
in case you missed it

Sean Combs Ordered Tupac Murder: LA Cop

And Suge Knight had Biggie Smalls killed in revenge, says book by former LAPD detective

(Newser) - Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were murdered by the order of rival record company bosses, according to an LAPD detective who investigated Tupac's slaying in 1996. Gang informant Keffe Davis claims Sean Combs—then known as Puff Daddy—offered him $1 million to kill Tupac and Death Row records...

13 Years Later, Notorious BIG Investigation Back On

Task force investigating new leads, say sources

(Newser) - Thirteen years later, the murders of rappers Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur remain two of the music industry’s highest-profile unsolved mysteries—but that could soon change. Police “reinvigorated” the Notorious BIG murder case months ago, sources tell CNN , and they are actively looking into leads and new information...

New Site Decodes Rap Lyrics

Rap Genius breaks down Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, and more

(Newser) - Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ song “Empire State of Mind” is everywhere, even at the World Series. But do you know what the lyrics mean? If not, Rap Genius (formerly Rap Exegesis) can clue you in the way it educated Nick Antosca of the Huffington Post. Some of the explanations...

Brit's Dancers Fired for Drugs
 Brit's Dancers 
 Fired for Drugs 
GOSSIP ROUNDUP

Brit's Dancers Fired for Drugs

Also: Jamie Lynn goes country, more

(Newser) - Sean “Diddy” Combs tells the Huffington Post that, yes, that is the sound of the Notorious BIG receiving—ahem—oral sex during his Ready to Die track. “I think Big would be alright with it,” Combs said of his admission. Elsewhere:
  • Britney Spears’ “beyond strict” handlers
...

Notorious Aims Too Small
 Notorious Aims Too Small 
MOVIE REVIEW

Notorious Aims Too Small

By-the-numbers rap biopic fails to bring Biggie's world to life

(Newser) - The Biggie Smalls biopic Notorious efficiently recaps the murdered rapper's short life, but it's not a movie significant enough for one of rap's greats, say critics. Brooklyn rapper Jamal Woodard turns in a convincing performance, Chris Richards writes in the Washington Post, but he's rapping to a script that seems...

Ringtones Killed NYC Hip-Hop
 Ringtones Killed NYC Hip-Hop 
OPINION

Ringtones Killed NYC Hip-Hop

Southern rap out-blasts urban beats

(Newser) - Once the king-maker of neighborhood phenoms, New York no longer spawns hip-hop's best, and the rise of ringtones is the culprit, writes Matthew Mundy in the New York Press. Because Big Apple beats are less pop-friendly than their Southern counterparts, they're not making it to teenagers' cell phones. "Hip-hop...

Diddy Denies Tupac Claim
 Diddy Denies Tupac Claim 

Diddy Denies Tupac Claim

Calls newspaper story 'beyond ridiculous'

(Newser) - Sean "Diddy" Combs has vehemently denied claims that he, the Notorious BIG, and other rap figures were involved in an attack on Tupac Shakur in 1994. Shakur was shot outside a New York recording studio, triggering the East Coast-West Coast rap wars in which Shakur and others were murdered....

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