The Black Dahlia

Bucky: [voiceover] Mr. Fire versus Mr. Ice. For everything people were making it out to be, you'd think it was our first fight. It wasn't. And it wouldn't be our last. I already knew him by reputation, record down pat. A regular attraction at the Hollywood Legion Stadium. Lee Blanchard. 43-4-2 as a heavyweight. And he knew me, Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert. Light heavy. 36-0-0. Ranked tenth by Ring Magazine. Fighting no-name opponents in a no-man's-land division. In our first year at Central Division Station, we never spoke. Warrants was local celebrity as a cop. Warrants was chasing the real criminals and not rousting winos and wienie waggers in front of some Midnight Mission. Jew-boy D.A.s with hard-ons for fighters. Transfers, promotions, back then, I told myself I didn't care. I lost a lot of things in life, but never a fight for money. I was trading Warrants for a close-out on old bad debts. The eight grand I was going to clear was enough to maintain the old man in a good, clean rest home for three years. The late-round tank job, enough to convince myself I wasn't a complete coward.

Notorious

Biggie: [narrations] In the beginning, God gave me a clean slate. But where I grew up, I knew I couldn't stay clean. If you was a nice, ordinary kid, you was an easy mark for the wannabe gangsters and cutthroat girls in the school yard. My moms was from a small town in Jamaica where they left the doors unlocked at night. But in our neighborhood, the only time she let me off the stoop was when she walked me home from school. This was Brooklyn. Do-or-die Bed-Stuy. And there was just some shit Moms couldn't protect me from. Right then and there, I decided to stop being that little kid on the stoop. I wanted to be like them brothers on the block. They didn't hold their heads down for no one. I knew life was a fucked up game, and I knew D Roc was fucked up enough to show me how to play. Motherfuckers got addicted to crack after they first hit but I got addicted to money after my first sale. By the time I was 17, I wasn't no ordinary kid. I was paid. Me and D Roc were like factory workers and Fulton Street was the assembly line. But every now and then, D Roc would say, "Yo, can I get a rhyme?" See, drug dealing was like my wife. Rapping was just some chick on the side. Before I knew it, word got out about my skills and shit. Then this kid named Primo called me out. Everyone was jocking him, 'cause he never lost a battle.It was one thing to rhyme for your boys, but it was another to battle. I wasn't the man my moms wanted me to be. So fuck it. I was gonna be the man I needed to be. I got tired of that nickel-and-dime shit, so I stepped up my game. I had for young cats out on the streets. I wasn't hanging with my boys, wasn't messing with no chicks. I was too busy counting paper. But I was moving too fucking fast, and I slipped up. That was the first time in my life I thought if I was dead my fucking problems would go away. I started rhyming 'cause I was bored. Plain and simple. But then my frustrations turned into rhymes, and those rhymes told my story. Having a daughter made me want to be a different kind of cat. But not being able to support her felt like a whole other kind of jail. I saw Tupac about 20 times in Juice. Now here I was walking into a party with him. It was crazy. Females ready to jump out their clothes to get at him. And all the brothers gave him mad respect. I figured if it was this good starting out, then being as large as Pac must be the shit. Doctors got all the cancer out of her. my moms was gonna live. And me, I was going to finally change my life. That shit just clicked. Puffy gave it that gloss. The way them snares hitting them vocals dropped, he took that track from 100% to 200%. They started saying we brought the funk back to hip-hop. All I know is, I was doing what I always did. If they didn't know Puff Daddy and Biggie Smalls before, they damn sure knew us now. Watchin' Faith, all I could think was, "Damn!" She was like some chick fresh off a movie screen. We had been seeing each other for three weeks. But I ain't wanna wait another minute. Things got cool with me and Faith so I took Junior M.A.F.I.A. on the road. But the smoother shot got with me and Fay, the bumpier they got with me and Kim. That was Pac. A revolutionary one minute, a thug life motherfucker the next. Ask 10 people who Pac is and you'll get 10 different answers. But he was all that and more, and sometimes we was just someone who liked fucking with you. But like Pac told me, the best time would be when I was coming up. Because once you on top, you can only go down. Pac was right. That night at Quad Studios changed everything. TuPac didn't know who the fuck to trust. As far as he was concerned, everyone near was responsible, including me. Pac went to jail on the sex-abuse charge. We thought all the bullshit would die down, but Suge Knight, the owner of Death Row Records, had something else in mind. Me and Pac should have said, "Fuck that bullshit. Let's go somewhere and talk this shit out." But the fact is, we were both way beyond that now. The media went crazy. It had nothing to do with hip-hop but everything to do with selling papers and magazines. And in that one moment, I had that thought again. Dying would be better than dealing with this shit. West Coast rappers were still scared to come to the East Coast and East Coast rappers were scared to come out west, but it was time to put an end to all this shit. So I went to Cali to promote my album.

Biggie: It's perfectly normal for a mother to feel jealous when her son cares about another female.

Biggie: You're carrying my seed, it means you are my world.

Voletta and Biggie: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

Puffy: My business is about the streets, but my business ain't in the streets.

Puffy: Don't chase the paper. Chase the dream!

Biggie: Puffy, I don't know about a chinchilla, but if you throw me out to the jungle, I'll have them muthafuckers dancin.'

TuPac: When you startin' out, that's the best time. 'Cause as soon as you get on top, that's when the shit start.

Faith: So, are you a bad guy trying to be good, or a good guy trying to be bad?

Puffy: We can't change the world unless we change ourselves.

Voletta: [narration] My son, Christopher Wallace, told stories. Some of them were funny, some of them were sad, some of them were violent, but people listened. I'm saddened that his life was cut down at the age of 24 but I find solace in knowing that he became a man and he was ready to live. as i looked out at all those faces, something happened. Someone in the crowd turned on the radio and I could hear my son's voice.

Christopher Geroge Latore Wallace
May 21, 1972 - March 9, 1997

Christopher Wallace, aka Notorious BIG, did not live to see the release of his second album. That album, "Life After Death", went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.

With his life, he proved that no dream is too big. The sky is the limit.