Biggie's Final Masterpiece Was Ahead Of Its Time

CLEVELAND - Rap legend The Notorious B.I.G. blasted onto the music scene with a stunning debut that meticulously detailed the harsh realities of the crime infested streets of urban America.

His sophomore album took all of that to another level.

Today marks the 12th anniversary of the bittersweet release of Life After Death, a sprawling double CD produced by Bad Boy Records CEO and founder Sean Combs (as Puff Daddy) and starring the master of lyrical dexterity, Christopher Wallace (as B.I.G.). Of course, the fervor over the highly anticipated album was both dampened and elevated with Biggie's shocking murder in Los Angeles three weeks prior to the LP's release. Even still, the album was a true classic and further affirmed what we all knew; Biggie was a giant in his field and was getting better.

Life After Death was noticeably different from B.I.G.'s 1994 debut, Ready to Die. On this LP, he was more refined, polished and of course, accomplished. His life had become one of immense success and decadent pleasure. As a result, the gritty complexion of Ready to Die was present only in spurts. This album was a celebration of surviving the streets, while still tethered to them in the subtlest of ways.

Combs, then a 27-year old entertainment mastermind with a remarkable sense of what would best get his target audience's attention, was the man who urged Biggie to craft more mainstream music. It was his shrewd way of getting B.I.G. to appeal to a wider range of people while retaining his street credibility.

It was a flawless concept.

That 1997 album was clearly ahead of its time. Biggie's narrative was deliberately theatrical and it told the tale of a Brooklyn hustler turned Madison Avenue superstar. The hustler still existed in him and was even gangster-like if need be. But outwardly, the stunning ascension was something to celebrate and for his followers, even strive to emulate. Other rap albums of that time wasn't even close to being this complex. Study the epic set a little closer and notice Biggie adopting different rhyme schemes ("Notorious Thugs"), delivering a song in rap form, then delivering it again in conversation form ("I Got a Story to Tell"), and even paying tribute to the West Coast ("Goin' Back to Cali") even though he was clearly persona non-grata out there.

Life After Death will forever be Christopher Wallace's magnum opus. It will also always be the historical artifact that cemented his legacy.

Shakur's Friday the 13th Death Was Worst Than a Scary Movie

CLEVELAND - Rap music legend Tupac Shakur died on this date 12 years ago from wounds he suffered in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting six days earlier.

Hip-hop hasn't been the same since.

Shakur, 25 at the time of his stunning death had enjoyed a bittersweet meteoric rise to fame, rising to national prominence in 1991 with the release of the urban drama, Juice followed by his musical debut 2Pacalypse Now. By the summer of 1996, 'Pac (as he was famously called) had become the most controversial and insightful artist in all of hip-hop. On the heels of a nine-month prison stint, a deal with Death Row Records, film projects and the release of the epic double LP, All Eyez On Me, he was on the fast track to becoming an industry himself.

Then, he was gunned down on the Vegas strip after a Mike Tyson prizefight.

The hip-hop nation prayed for his speedy recovery and held vigils all over the U.S. By September 11, it seemed as if he were getting better. When the stunning news came down of his passing, it hit like a ton of bricks. I personally, even though I had not yet become a rap music fan, felt the enormity of the situation. In the days that followed, every person I knew (and some that I didn't know) paid tribute to the fallen star with clips of his music on their pager voice mails.

What made the entire saga horrific was the fact that no one was willing to come forward with any information they knew that could lead to solving the crime. There was also a sense that the Las Vegas authorities went about the investigation with very little motivation, urgency or desire for the truth. Shakur was seen as a militant and hot-headed troublemaker and his murder might have been a relief for law enforcement.

That's messed up.

Now here we sit, a dozen years hence and the crime is still unsolved. Forget 2Pac's celebrity and his money. This was a human being that lost his life at the hands of possibly another black man. I can only hope that the harsh reality of his life is never lost on ensuing generations of us black males.

Let us all get a clue and prove our manhood with our minds, not weapons.