The Notorious BIG was one of the realest rappers to live. His gritty rhymes portray the truths of living in New York City as a Black man in the 1990s, and the seemingly inevitable influence of crime.
In an interview in 1994, Biggie spoke about life before fame and how he got sucked into the drug trade as a kid in Brooklyn. He even remembered that his assigned turf was Fulton Street in the borough, specifically the stretch between St. James and Washington Avenue.
“Everything was happening on that strip of Fulton Street”, Biggie said. But before it became his place of business, it was simply part of his daily routine. “If I wanted Chinese food, if I wanted to play video games, if I wanted pizza, if I had to go to the corner store for a juice, I had to go on Fulton Street. So I was witnessing it every day”, he explained…