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Back to Biggie's 15-Year Death Anniversary

Astro

Christopher Polk, Getty Images

If I had to define hip-hop in one word that word would be Biggie. He was and still is hip-hop personified. He didn’t just talk about the culture from a third party perspective like a lot of dudes; he lived it. More importantly he was true to hip-hop in his rhymes. Listening to Big, I was able to differentiate between a “rapper” and an MC. Big was an MC. I was fascinated by his storytelling; others painted stills with their words, Big made movies with his. I have always felt a special connection to Big even though I never had the honor of meeting him. Both of our moms were single parents and Jamaican. We were both Brooklyn babies and we both lived in Bedstuy when our careers took off. In the words of the great one himself, “Biggie Smalls is the illest!”