March 9, 2017 is the 20th anniversary of the shooting death of The Notorious B.I.G. in Los Angeles in 1997. The shooting happened after a Soul Train Music Awards after-party hosted by VIBE magazine.
Among those invited to that party by Biggie was Shaquille O’Neal, who was in his first season with the Lakers. O’Neal told The Undefeated’s Justin Tinsley that he had planned on attending the party, but accidentally slept through it, only to be woken up by his mother calling him, knowing he’d planned on attending the party, to check in after she had heard the news of the shooting.
To this day, O’Neal wonders what might have happened had he gone to the party with Biggie, and whether he would have ended up in the crossfire.
“I don’t say I could’ve prevented it,” said Shaq. “I was just saying … if I was out there by the car, would they still have fired? That’s the only thing I would say to myself.” Shaq’s been pondering this, has been haunted by that night for 20 years. “I don’t wanna make it seem like I could’ve saved him,” he said again. “I don’t wanna make it seem like if I was there, the shooters wouldn’t have shot. If I was there by the truck, after we all left and I’m dapping him up, would they still have shot?”
The Undefeated also interviewed a number of other Lakers from the time as well as athletes that lived in Los Angeles at the time about what they remember from the shooting and the aftermath. Baron Davis, who was a high school senior at the time, talked about the city’s energy being taken away and a cloud of sadness hanging over it.
“I was heartbroken because Biggie was one of my favorite rappers. It was a volatile time in L.A. anyway. I remember seeing a lot of the pro dudes … the next day or two and them crying about it. They was like, ‘We was right there, man.’ For me, just being in school and around, you hear rumblings in the streets. The streets talk. …
“It was like the streets kinda died. It was like all the wind had been let out of L.A. The whole city was depressed. A lot of people felt the same way I did. How could we be responsible?”
There has long been a deep connection between basketball and rap music, and for those in L.A. at the time of Biggie’s death, it felt extremely close to home because he was both an artist they looked up to and also someone they felt a bond with. Nick van Exel said he, like O’Neal, was supposed to be at the party but stayed in and still feels the pain of B.I.G.’s death when March 9 rolls around each year.
“I met Biggie two times in Atlanta. You had that sense of like, ‘Man, this was really one of the homeboys‘ … just because of the music and how inspirational he was and how uplifting he was for us. You could definitely feel it, the sense of change in a lot of people. … It’s still sad, man. I stay listening to Biggie. Every time [March 9] comes around it’s fresh. You start remembering and thinking about how things used to be back in the day — the music, the videos. It’s always a fresh wound that opens back up when this day comes around.”
The deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac, six months apart in 1996 and 1997, were massive blows to the hip-hop community and fans. For athletes in Los Angeles, Biggie’s death was a tragedy that felt especially close to home and one some wonder how it could’ve changed their lives had they been there.
