Latest / DISGRACELAND / The Notorious B.I.G. Pt. 2: A Dead Rivalry, New Inspiration and a Murder Mystery for the Ages

Transcript

The Notorious B.I.G. Pt. 2: A Dead Rivalry, New Inspiration and a Murder Mystery for the Ages · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: The story about the notorious B.I.G., his background, his beginning
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: days as a crack dealer and an artist, and his
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: path as a man and a musician. Not to mention
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: his beef with friend Tupac Shakur. is so complex that
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: two episodes were needed to properly tell this story. If
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: you're just getting hip to this now, I suggest you
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: hit pause and go back to the last episode of Disgraceland,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: part one of the Notorious B.I.G.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Story.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Or, if you're looking exclusively for a deep dive into
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: the East Coast-West Coast beef between Biggie and Tupac, check
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: out the entire episode dedicated to this subject in season
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: one of Disgraceland. You'll also want to check out the
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: two-part episode dedicated entirely to Tupac Shakur, his career, and
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: his artistry that is available earlier in Season 7 of Disgraceland. Here,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: we get into the famous rivalry, but we also get
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: into the Notorious B.I.G. 's life after Tupac, his inspiration
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: as an artist, and the mystery behind his still-unsolved murder.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: We also, of course, get into the great music that
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: the Notorious B.I.G.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Made.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Unlike that music I played for you at the top
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: preset loop from my Mellotron called Gangster White Walls MK2.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: rights to Wannabe by the Spice Girls. And why would
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I play you that specific slice of greasy girl power
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: cheese could I afford it? Because that was the number
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: one song in America on March 9th, 1997. And that
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: was the day the Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: kicking off one of the most mysterious music industry murders
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: of all time. On this episode, a dead rivalry, new inspiration,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: a mysterious murder in the Notorious B.I.G. I'm Jake Brennan,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: and this is Disgraceland. The notorious B.I.G. was laid up
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: in the hospital with a shattered leg, a result of
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the car accident that had occurred the night before and
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: would keep him in the hospital for three months. His
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: head was full of confusion, his big belly filled with fear.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: His boys had come by to visit, brought him a
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: boombox and some of his old mixtapes to help him
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: pass the time. Who shot you? The B-side from his
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: hit single Big Papa came on and immediately began to
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: irritate This was the song Tupac used against him. The
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: song Pac claimed Big had written about him. The song
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: that supposedly proved Tupac's insane theory that Big and Puff
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: were behind Tupac's shooting at Quad Studios that night. The
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: song was instrumental in the beef narrative between the two men,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: despite the fact that Big and Puff had recorded Who
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Shot Ya before Tupac was shot. It made no sense.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: A lot of things about Tupac Shakur made no sense.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: For all his paranoia, fear, and public fretting about dying young,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: he liberally insulted some of the most dangerous gangsters on
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: both coasts. And for someone who frequently rapped about equality
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: and oppression and individual freedom, Tupac had no problem aligning
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: himself with a man who was seen as one of
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the most violent, oppressive forces in the music industry, Suge Knight,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: owner and label boss at Death Row Records. Unable to
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: move from the bed, Big grabbed an open can of
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Pepsi from his bedside table and launched it at the
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: boombox in hopes of nailing the stop button. He missed,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: laid his head back on his pillow, let the painkillers
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: do their thing, closed his eyes and passed out.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: The song played on.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: The Mitsubishi Montero wasn't known as a gangster's whip, which
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: suited its owner just fine. From the outside, it looked like.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Any other modern-day SUV tooling down Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Practical, but popular. Overbuilt by its Japanese makers with more
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: horsepower than needed, the Montero was a sneaky monster, just
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: like its driver. Inside, the SUV was tricked out with
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: a television set and VCR. Ridiculous indulgences for the interior
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: of a mid-market automobile, especially back in the 1990s. Now
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: the 80s-era Blah Punk wired to the massive subwoofer in
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: the back of the SUV? That was a necessity for
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: any player, low-key or not. A man's car stereo was
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: his calling card on the block. Without that bass rolling
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: out of your ride's windows at nausea-inducing volume and Middle
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Earth rattling low frequencies, well, let's face it, you were
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: just another geek on the street. Much like the geek
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: in the LTD who just pulled up next to him.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: What the fuck was he yelling about? Stupid motherfucker with
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: his men's warehouse shirt and tie telling him to turn
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: down his shit.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Fuck you, motherfucker.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: The driver of the Montero ignored the driver in the
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Ford LTD and then decided that he wasn't not only
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: going to turn down his music, he was going to
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: turn it up. He cranked the stereo. The sub raged.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: The driver of the LTD, white, middle-aged, was beyond offended.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: It didn't help matters that he hated rap music. the
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: same type of music that was inconsiderably blasting from the Montero,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: whose driver was black. So Mr. LTD began shouting out
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: of his window even more furiously.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Mr.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Montero shouted right back and was animated, now in fact
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: more angry than the originally aggrieved man in the LTD,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: who started this whole mess by telling him to turn
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: it down in the first place. Of course, Mr. LTD
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: would claim that Mr. Montero started the mess when he
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: had the disrespect to blast his rap music at ear-splitting
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: volumes in the middle of the day, on a public street,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: no less. It was offensive. The shouting continued until Mr.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Montero killed the volume so that Mr. LTD could hear
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: clearly what he was about to say next. And what
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: he said was this. You better shut the fuck up,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: white boy, or I'm gonna put a cap in your ass.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: And with that, he drew his piece. The light then
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: turned green and Mr. LTD blasted through the intersection. Something
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: clicked in Mr. Montero and he instinctively gunned it in
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: hot pursuit of the LTD. The chase was short-lived. At
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: the next stalled intersection, with Mr. Montero once again pulled
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: up alongside his Ford, Mr. LTD wasted no time and
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: drew his own gun. And before Mr. Montero knew what
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: was what, Mr. LTD, in a tragic case of reverse
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: road rage, aimed, fired, and very efficiently shot and killed Mr.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Montero.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: LTD, the shooter, it turns out, was a white LAPD
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: undercover narcotics officer named Frank Liga. Perhaps more shocking, however,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: was that Mr. Montero, the dead black dude who brandished
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: his piece first, was a seven-year veteran of LAPD's Pacific Patrol,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: another cop named Kevin Gaines. And perhaps most interesting about
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: this entire fiasco was that the green Mitsubishi Montero with
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: the tricked-out Blah Punk, the car Officer Kevin Gaines was driving, again,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Officer Kevin Gaines, was registered to Death Row Records. Officer
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Gaines was driving the Death Row Montero because he was
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: on Suge Knight's payroll, as paid security. Many LAPD officers
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: moonlighted as security detail, and many of them were gainfully
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: employed by Suge Knight and Death Row Records because having
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: cops on your payroll was smart for many reasons. Number one,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: people didn't fuck with cops. Number two, when they did
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: and shit hit the fan and you and your gang-banging
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: buddies found yourself in trouble with other cops, other cops
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: tended to believe other cops, as in the one Suge
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: paid to protect him slash pull him out of the
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: fan spitting shit when he needed them to. Further connecting
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Officer Kevin Gaines to Death Row was the fact that
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: he was dating Sharitha Knight, Suge Knight's soon-to-be ex-wife, and
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Snoop Dogg's ex-manager. Any way you cut it, Officer Gaines
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: was down with Death Row. So believed another officer, the
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: decorated detective Russell Poole, who was assigned to the case
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: to figure out why one white L.A.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Cop, Mr.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: LTD, shot and killed another black L.A.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Cop, Mr.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Montero, also known as Officer Kevin Gaines. And the press
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: was gunning for the easy narrative of undercover racist white
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: cop kills defenseless off-duty black cop. But the facts uncovered
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: by Detective Poole led him into an entirely different investigative direction.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: One that involved a different murder entirely. The murder of
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: the notorious B.I.G. 's friend and rival, Tupac Shakur. Tupac's death,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: the car accident that shattered his leg and felt like
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: a near-death experience, and the painful recovery time alone in
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: the hospital, it all gave Biggie Smalls a new sense
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: of creative urgency and purpose. He set out to not
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: only finish his next record, entitled Life After Death, but
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: to make it a better and more impactful album than
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: his highly successful debut, Ready to Die. With Tupac dead,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: with Suge Knight now in jail, sentenced in 1996 for
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: an attack on a Crips gang member, and serving a
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: nine-year prison sentence, and with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: making noise about leaving Death Row Records, the white-hot flames
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: of the East Coast-West Coast beef from the previous year
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: had been reduced to flickering embers. Big saw it as
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: his duty to use his platform, to use the deeper
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: success and brighter spotlight that his new album would bring,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: to do something more than rep the aspirational hip-hop highlife
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Blunt's Bra's expensive cars. He wanted to unite the coasts,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: bring the West Coast rap family peacefully into the fold
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: with his beloved East Coast. Perhaps it was hubris, but
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: for whatever reason, Biggie believed he could do this. And so, too,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: did Sean Puffy Combs, if for no other reason than
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: the financial windfall a bi-coastal audience would bring to bad
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: boy entertainment. Which was in part why they were both
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: currently out on the West Coast in February of 1997.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: With Suge in prison, L.A.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Was wide open.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: No more beef or so big and puffy thought. The
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: two and their entourage were able to come and go
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: as they pleased. During the day, they set up Big's
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: new record, video shoots, interviews, that sort of thing. And
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: at night, they freely bounced from this club to that
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: club without fear of any sort of beef. But old
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: wounds cut deep, and Biggie was still paranoid enough to
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: wish that on that night, as he and Puff and
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: their entourage made their way through the streets of Los
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Angeles in their fleet of rented GMC Chevy Suburbans, that
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: they'd opted for the bulletproof armored siding they'd scoped earlier
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: in the week at Beverly Hills Motoring. Nothing you can
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: do about it now. To ease his anxieties, He let
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: his head sink back into the suburban's leather headrest and
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: allowed the.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Music to wash over.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: The bass boomed.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Everyone get on the ground! This is a fucking robbery!
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: The police-issued M-84 stun grenade did the trick. Non-lethal, sure,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: it didn't kill anyone, but it scared the fuck out
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: of everyone inside the Bank of America on South Hoover
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: on that day in Los Angeles. A flash grenade of
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: thunderous proportions immediately upon its detonation, pants were pissed. The
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: taste of copper crept into everyone's mouths. Customers and bank
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: workers alike instantly feared for their lives. It was sudden chaos.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Despite there being only one assailant, the situation was immediately
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: well within his hands. With one gun drawn, the infamous
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Tech-9 semi-automatic, a gun that it seemed was designed for
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: one purpose and one purpose only. The quick massacre of
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: scores of people in seconds, a fact not lost on
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: anyone within the confines of the bank that day. The
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: bank robber beelined it to the pretty assistant branch manager
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: behind the desk, one of the only people in the
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: bank not rendered into a useless puddle of fear. She
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: loaded two bags with more than $ 700, 000 in cash and
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: calmly handed them to the bank robber, who instantly fled
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: the scene.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Brazen. Bold.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Stupid. The pretty assistant branch manager, it was later discovered,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: had ordered twice as much cash from the Brinks truck
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: on that day.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: When her cool demeanor at the scene was revealed to investigators,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: she immediately fell under suspicion as being an accomplice in
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: the bank robbery. A suspicion later confirmed when the pretty
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: assistant branch manager cracked under questioning and admitted that yes,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: she was indeed in on the robbery. Her boyfriend was
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: the robber. But it wasn't her idea. It was all his.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: And his name was.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Was, you guessed it, another LAPD officer who grew up
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: in Compton, a childhood friend of Suge Knight. Was arrested,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: tried for the bank robbery, convicted, and sentenced to 14
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: years in prison. Legal documents revealed in a 2017 documentary
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: that a quote-unquote reliable jailhouse informant went on record to
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: say that Amir needed the money from the bank robbery
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: to pay off a contract killer. A killer who went
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: by the street name Amir. We'll be right back after
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: this word, word, word. It wasn't known whether Amir was
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: at the party that night. but lots of Suge Knight's
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: other friends sure were. Suge may have been locked up,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: but this was still LA, still his town. As for
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: any quote-unquote Amir character, if he wasn't at the party,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: he was at least aware of one member of the
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: party's megawatt guest list. 1997 Soul Train Music Awards afterparty
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: was officially the hottest ticket in town on the night
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: of March 8th, which is saying something considering that this
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: was Hollywood. where A-list movie and music stars get after
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: it in public on any given night. Even still, this
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: party was different, especially for Big and Puff. The industry
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: was fully aware that the Notorious B.I.G. 's much-anticipated follow-up
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: album was about to drop at the end of the month.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: So this party, though not directly thrown by Biggie and Puff,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: did serve as a celebration of sorts for them. a
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: sort of unofficial record release party given the maelstrom of
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: industry hype surrounding Life After Death at that moment. Bad
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Boy Entertainment was in full flex out on the West Coast.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: If anyone in the history of the music industry was
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: ever serious about Manifest Destiny, it was the supremely ambitious
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Sean Puffy Combs. Conquering the West was high on his agenda,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: so on that night, Bad Boy rolled deep. The party
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: was held at the Peterson Automotive Museum on Fairfax in Wilshire.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: If you've been in Los Angeles any time during the
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: past few decades, you've probably seen this building. It's the massive, amorphous,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: candy-striped blob of architecture that looks like something out of
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: one of Jack White's nightmares. Which is to say, it's
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: a cool-looking building. And on this night, it was packed
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: with some of the coolest-looking people. And when I say packed,
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: I mean way packed. Like, way past whatever the fire
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: code allowed for. Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Tucker, Wesley Snipes, Whitney Houston,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Bobby Brown, Missy Elliott, Genuine, and too many other celebrities
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: to mention crammed into the venue, which was also stacked
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: with models, wannabe starlets, and industry suits all there to celebrate.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Biggie's new single, Hypnotize, came on and the place went nuts.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Big and Puff sat back in their booth and took
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: it all in. It was the success they long hoped for,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: playing out right in front of their eyes. Being celebrated
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: out on the West Coast like this, it was special.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Something that a year ago was unimaginable. 1997 was going
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: to be their year. The year of Bad Boy. But
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: real Bad Boys were also in attendance. A mix of
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Bloods and Crips gang members circulated throughout the crowd in
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: their respective reds and blues. An ominous presence. But on
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: this night, so far anyway, there was no static. No
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: gang signs being thrown. No flexing of any sort. It
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: was that kind of party. People just wanted to get down, celebrate,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: blow off steam. Until the cops showed up with the
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: fire department to shut the whole event down. The place
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: was packed to dangerous proportions with thousands of people jammed
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: inside and hundreds more outside still waiting to get in
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: at well past midnight. Biggie, Puff and their entourage hung
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: back a bit while most everyone else made for the exits.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: They took photos with fans, enjoyed the last sips of
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: their drinks, took it all in, savoring it. When they
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: finally got to their cars, they broke out from the
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Peterson Automotive Museum in a five-car entourage. Puff was being
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: driven in the lead Suburban. Big chauffeured behind him in
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: a green Suburban. Behind him, some friends in a Chevy Blazer.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: An off-duty cop they'd hired for extra security trailed that vehicle,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: and bringing up the rear, some more friends in a
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: white limousine. And they were, of course, headed to the
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: after-after party. But not if the man in the black
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Chevy Impala had anything to say about it. The 64 Impala,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: particularly the lowrider model from 1964, is the gangster whip,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: especially for West Coast gangbangers in the 90s. Eazy-E had
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: both a 64 Impala and a 63 model. Dre featured
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: the car in his videos for Nothing But a G-Thing,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: Let Me Ride, and Still Dre videos. Ice Cube, not
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: to be outdone by his former bandmates, shows off the
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: 64 gangsta Impala in his iconic tribute to South Central
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: LA in the video for It Was a Good Day.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: And that's just the former members of N.W.A. Ski-Lo did
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: the same in his hysterical I Wish video, as did
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: countless other hip-hop stars. You didn't need a fancy tricked-out Cadillac,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: provided you whip around in a 64 Impala. Or so
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: went the thinking of gangsters, real players, and West Coast
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: car aficionados in the 90s. The 95 Impala was not gangster,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: but its gangster lineage would have been impossible to overlook.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: In fact, for the criminal-minded, the 64 Impala's gangster appeal
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: would have most certainly given a special shine to its
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: late model offspring. Owning a 95 Chevy Impala SS back
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: in the day was kind of like owning a Mini
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Cooper now. Lame as those cars are, if you own one,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: you're at least signaling an understanding of something cool from
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: the past, I guess. Except to understand the Impala's past coolness,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: you need to be aware of a gangster life, and
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: by extension, the criminality that accompanies gang life. But again,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: the 95 Impala was not gangster. It was a cop car.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Gangsters could give a shit about the 95 Impala. But
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: wannabe gangsters and cops, well, that was a different story.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: The 95 Impala was a low-key muscle car, which was
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: rare in the 90s and was why cops loved them.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Different departments used them all over the country. The 7th
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: generation Impala had a big V8 and was built like
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: a tank. But still, in comparison to the 64, the
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: 95 was pretty lame. Even the SS model, even in black.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: And especially on that night, contrast against the glittery Beamers, Benzes, Limos,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: and SUV caravans. The SUV at the head of the
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: bad boy caravan. The one with Puffy in it made
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: it through the light at Fairfax and Wilshire. Biggie's SUV
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: just behind Puss didn't make the light and rolled to
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: a stop in the left-hand turn lane at the intersection.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: As it stopped, a black 95 Chevy Impala SS rolled
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: up quietly next to it. The driver of the 95
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Impala did not take his eyes off the road ahead,
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: despite the fact that it would have been pretty clear
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: to anyone with a sense of Hollywood that there was
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: more than likely a famous person sitting just feet from
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: him in the passenger seat of the car next to him.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: There was music blaring from the SUV that was obviously
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: part of a fleet of SUVs, and they were so
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: close in proximity to the Peterson Automotive Museum that was,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: at the very moment, surrounded by beautiful people exiting into
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: the night. Given the glitz and hubbub, it was beyond
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: odd that the driver of the Impala didn't turn to
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: his left to sneak a look at who the famous
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: person riding next to him might be. It was like
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: he already knew who it was. Like he was the
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: one trying to go unnoticed rather than the celebrity next
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: to him. Lil' Cease in the backseat behind Biggie, street
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: smart that he was, immediately grew suspicious. The man behind
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: the wheel of the Impala was dressed in a sharp
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: white shirt with a bow tie. He was black, wore
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: black glasses, kind of had a Nation of Islam look.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Cease noted that he had his left hand on the wheel,
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: his other hand in his lap. And then he saw it.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: The gun. A. 40 caliber automatic. It appeared in a
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: flash and immediately started blasting. Seven quick shots at close range,
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: direct into the passenger side window and door of the
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: SUV parked next to him. Five of the shots hit
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: the notorious B.I.G., The man in the Impala slammed his
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: foot on the gas and took off into the night.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: The shots rang out loud. Up ahead, Puffy's SUV slammed
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: on the brakes. Puff immediately sensed what had happened and
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: bounded out of the truck in an instant and began
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: sprinting back toward the intersection. And there was chaos all
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: around him. The partygoers outside Peterson immediately picked up what
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: had happened. They were shouting, they just shot big, they
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: just shot big. Scream, squealing tires, and the final bars
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: of going back to Cali still bumping from Big's truck
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: with the track's author bleeding out in the passenger seat.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: A little C screwed out from behind Big in the
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: back and started pointing in the direction of the escaping Impala.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Puff made it back to Big's Suburban in what seemed
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: like an eternity but was really no time at all.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: His own driver arrived on foot behind him. They both
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: jumped into the Suburban. Puff began to comfort Big, who,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: by the looks of it, was in bad shape. Puff's
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: driver put the truck in gear and floored it in
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: the direction of nearby Cedars-Sinai Hospital. They ran every red
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: light along the way, but it didn't matter. Despite arriving
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: in minutes, the damage was done. Biggie was hauled out
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: of the truck and into the emergency room, unconscious and
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: barely alive. And the doctors did their best, but the
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: five bullets to the chest and abdomen did more damage
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: to the big man than they could handle. Twenty minutes later,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Christopher Wallace, Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G., was pronounced dead.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: The Notorious B.I.G.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: 24-year-old Notorious B.I.G., also known as Biggie Smalls, gunned down
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: in a drive-by shooting outside of Music Industry Party in L.A.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: early Sunday. We're going to attack you if you want to,
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying? It's just your job to
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: bother with, you know what I'm saying?
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I need the security. He was articulate, his raps were
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: very descriptive, and he proved to be a very philosophical presence.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Biggie's death comes almost exactly six months after the drive-by
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: slaying of his.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: Arch rival, California rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: A federal law enforcement task force currently is investigating the
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: rap music industry.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: And possible links to drug and gun violations and other crimes.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: It didn't take long for Detective Russell Poole's phone to
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: start ringing. He was a detective in a city full
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: of rats. Rats now emboldened by the white-hot light of
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: celebrity and the opportunity to alter music industry mythology in
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: real time. As far as informants connected to gang and
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: hip-hop culture in Los Angeles in the mid to late
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: 90s went, the death of the notorious B.I.G. was like
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: that light that shines suddenly in a dirty apartment.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: With an army of scurrying cockroaches.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: One of Detective Poole's first tips indicated that Officer Gaines,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: he of the Mitsubishi Montero, the dead man in the
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: cop-on-cop murder he was investigating, the security guard for Death
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Row Records, that guy. The tipster told Poole that Gaines
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: had something to do with Biggie's murder.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Poole chased it down but came up empty.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: But more tips followed. And despite coming up with anything
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: immediately tangible, it was clear to Detective Poole that the
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: street certainly thought that the dead officer he was investigating,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: the one with the Suge Knight connection, had something to
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: do with the murder of the notorious B.I.G. Other tips
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: also indicated that Biggie's murder was connected to Tupac's murder
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: six months prior, though Detective Poole could find no hard
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: evidence directly connecting the two killings. In fact, his gut
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: initially told him that the two murders were pretty different.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Tupac was murdered just after a massive melee in a
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Las Vegas casino with gunmen frantically shooting at Tupac, gangland style,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: spraying bullets from the back of a flashy Cadillac. Tupac
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: would hang on for days before succumbing completely to his
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: gunshot wounds. Biggie's murder was almost surgical by comparison, a
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: clearly disciplined shooter using patience, cunning, and quiet used an
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: unassuming car favored by police to get up close to
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: the target, avoid eye contact, and then at the last minute, point, aim,
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: and shoot off seven shots, connecting with five of them
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: and killing his target almost instantly. This isn't to say
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: that Detective Poole didn't chase down tips with better results.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: He did. Poole, after some time, became convinced that the
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: two murders had some connection. It wasn't long before we
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: figured out that his former fellow LAPD officer, remember him?
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: The dude who robbed the bank using his pretty girlfriend
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: as an inside mole to help him make off with
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: 700 large. Yes, that dude, who is now sitting behind bars.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Detective Poole learned was also, like Officer Gaines, connected to
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Suge Knight. Grew up in Compton, a childhood friend of
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Suge And it was learned, as we mentioned previously, he
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: supposedly robbed the bank to pay off a contract killer
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: who went by the street name of Amir. Through his investigation,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Detective Poole learned that the name given by one of
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: Amir's first visitors at his new digs in federal prison
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: was Amir. And the photo taken of this so-called Amir
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: upon entering the prison looked eerily similar to the description
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: of the shooter that was given on the night.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: The notorious B.I.G. was shot.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: The description of the man in the bow tie with
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: the receding hairline. Detective Poole gathered his evidence and handed
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: it over to the brass at LAPD in hopes of
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: pouring gasoline on the investigative flames he'd stoked and to
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: smoke out the killers. Instead, the brass shut him down,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: without any real investigation. Supposedly, the FBI was on the case.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: It was no longer part of the department's purview.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Detective Poole, an LAPD veteran with a decorated past, the
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: son of an LA County Sheriff, a man with policing
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: in his DNA, retired in protest. He then dedicated his
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: life to solving the murder of the notorious B.I.G.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Detective Russell Poole died in 2015 of.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: A brain aneurysm.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: There are many theories about who killed Biggie Smalls, some
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: less far-fetched than others. But in almost all of them,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: certain names continue to pop up.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Big died on March 9th, 1997.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Eight days later, Officer Kevin Gaines died. The mysterious Amir
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: is in the wind. Suge Knight is back in jail.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: He swears Tupac is still alive. Who stood to gain
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: from the death of the notorious B.I.G.? It's just another
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: question from a murder mystery that is short on answers,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: short on facts. But there are facts there, out in
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: the open. Detective Poole found them. You can, too. Like
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: the fact that after his arrest for bank robbery, his
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: house was searched. Among the items found, the very rare
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: police-issued Gecko 9mm armor-piercing bullets. The same bullets used to
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: kill Biggie Smalls. And perhaps most illuminating, in his garage,
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: a 1995 black Chevy Impala SS. Behind it on the
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: garage wall was what was described as a quote-unquote shrine
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: to Tupac Shakur, with numerous posters of the slain hip-hop star.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: An icon, like his friend and rival, the slain Notorious B.I.G., who,
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: it turns out, is more than notorious. He's immortal, having
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: achieved life after death. Forever in the hearts and minds
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: of hip-hop fans everywhere, despite his killer's disgraceful motives. I'm
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced in
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com. If you're
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: you can become a member right now by going to
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: disgracelandpod.com slash membership. Members can listen to every episode of
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland ad-free.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Plus, you'll get one brand new exclusive episode every month.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: to merchandise and events. Visit DisgracelandPod.com slash membership for details.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Rate and review the show and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: and Facebook at DisgracelandPod. And on YouTube at YouTube.com slash
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: at DisgracelandPod. Rock and roll up. All right, guys, I
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: want to know what you thought of these Notorious B.I.G. episodes.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Who do you think is behind the murder?
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Let us know. 617-906-6638.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Voicemail and text at DisgracelandPod on the socials DisgracelandPod at gmail.com.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: If you want to email me. Coming up next in Disgraceland,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: our very new episode on Dolly Parton. Don't go anywhere.