Today is the 26th anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.‘s death, and social media is awash in posts praising the Brooklyn rapper’s impact and legacy. Of course, that includes B.I.G.’s friend and business partner, Sean “Diddy” Combs, who shared a throwback video of B.I.G. giving some motivational advice in an old interview alongside the caption,”There will NEVER be another. The GREATEST RAPPER OF ALL TIME. Today we celebrate and honor you king. Love and miss you!!”
In the video, Biggie explains the importance of remaining true to yourself. “Don’t be the fool to just sit back and do it because somebody else is doing it,” he says. “Because those of you who do just gon’ follow in somebody else’s footsteps, and you just gon’ be a shadow. Who wanna be a shadow for the rest of their life. If you got a lil’ something’ that you know how to do, progress that and keep trying. I mean, God knows what could happen. That’s what I did. Just kept on walking, just happened to get to the right ends.”
Even though so much time has passed since The Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down in Los Angeles, his peers and contemporaries never seem to get tired of talking about him and his game-changing effect on hip-hop. Recently, Usher called Big “the most profound talent I think I’ve ever seen in an MC.” Meanwhile, Biggie’s hometown, New York, honored what would have been his 50th birthday last year by lighting up the Empire State Building with a crown on its mast along with citywide celebrations like murals and limited-edition MetroCards.
