Inked Mag Staff
May 20th, 2020
Celebrate Biggie’s Birthday with Notorious Tattoos
These tattoos are "Unbelievable"
This goes without saying, but Biggie Smalls also known as The Notorious B.I.G has had a tremendous influence on hip-hop. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York Smalls dropped out of school at 17 and became heavily involved in crime, spending nine months in jail for dealing crack cocaine. After getting out of prison, Smalls released a demo tape called “Microphone Murderer” that eventually caught the attention of “The Source” magazine’s rap editor in 1992. Getting some hype from the demo, Smalls was signed to Sean “Puff” Comb’s label, Bad Boy Records.
In 1994, Smalls debuted his single “Juicy/Unbelievable,” which peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and led to his debut album “Ready to Die,” which eventually went quadruple platinum. By 1995, Smalls was the top-selling male solo artist and rapper, going on to claim Rap Artist of the Year at the Billboard Awards.
On March 9th, 1997 Smalls was shot and killed while leaving a party in Los Angeles. His second and final studio album, “Life After Death” was released post-humorously sixteen days later and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 200. The albums singles “Hypnotize,” and “Mo Money Mo Problems” also debuted at number one. The album included a number of featured artists who would go on to become legends in rap and R&B, including Jay-Z, R. Kelly and Lil Kim.
In honor of what would be Smalls’ 48th birthday, we’ve curated some of our favorite Biggie tattoos from talented artists around the world. Take a peek at these sensational tattoos in the gallery below, then let is know your favorite Biggie song in the comments section on social media.
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