MTV, Brooklyn celebrate Biggie Smalls day on March 9th

MTV is celebrating the life and work of Christopher George Latore Wallace today, better known to the world as Biggie Smalls, the Notorious B.I.G, or just Big. (Brooklyn stand up.)

Wallace’s biopic Notorious has been running in heavy rotation on HBO, and several documentaries about Big’s life have been cycling through on music channels. It was thirteen years ago today that Big was gunned down in L.A. by an unknown assailant, just months after the also unsolved murder of friend turned rival Tupac Shakur after a Mike Tyson fight in Vegas.

Puff Daddy P. Diddy spoke to MTV about the push to make March 9th Biggie’s day:

“We’re trying to make March 9th a national hip-hop holiday,” Diddy told MTV News. “It already is, on the low. MTV is going to have a big special. We’re doing a party. I’m going to Brooklyn. It’s gonna be the first time I’m throwing a party in Brooklyn. I’m from Harlem. Everybody in Harlem knows you don’t usually go over the bridge to Brooklyn. It’s a big, big deal. Me being such a Harlemite, I’m going over there to pay respect to my man. It’s gonna be a big party in Brooklyn with Mister Cee. It’s a big day. It’s a day to celebrate his life. It’s a day to celebrate the life of the man. We done did the movie, the records. It’s something that, I guess, as a label we’re obsessed with: making sure people don’t forget about this man in a positive way. March 9 is Biggie Day…. Bump Biggie all day, feel good and positive.”

I have to admit to not always being a Biggie fan- when he was alive he was ubiquitous, and my tastes ranged more towards indie rock. As an adult (and later Brooklyn resident) I slowly began to really appreciate his work, and Ready To Die is one of my top five albums of all time-still in constant rotation on this New Yorker’s iPod. Fans are taking to Twitter to proclaim their love for NYC’s most mourned rapper, and tweeting their five favorite Biggie joints with the hashtag “Top five Biggie” or “#ripbig.”