#RIPBIG Poppa

Thirteen years ago today (March 9), Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace was gunned down in the streets of Los Angeles at the age of 24. In the time since the Brooklyn rapper’s passing, he’s become a musical icon, respected and loved by fans the world over. While his murder remains unsolved, Biggie’s legacy lives on through his music and even film with the release of last year’s biopic, Notorious. At the heart of the film was the story of a young man that survived the rough streets of his Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn neighborhood to become one of hip-hop’s most heralded artists. Despite his fame and fortune, Biggie never forgot where he came from, as he always represented BK to the fullest. That fact was made crystal clear on Jay-Z’s 1996 track, “Brooklyn’s Finest,” where Biggie and Jigga went flow for flow for the first time, resulting in a classic record that did their borough proud. With a big budget film recently borrowing its name from the monumental collaboration and today marking the anniversary of Big’s passing, XXLMag.com reached out to the legendary DJ Clark Kent—who produced “Brooklyn’s Finest”—to see how the record came to be, the day Biggie stopped writing his rhymes down and why we’ll always love Big Poppa.

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