Notorious B.I.G. Is Forever Synonymous With Brooklyn
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the death of rapper Christopher Wallace, the Notorious B.I.G. His rhymes were hugely influential and resonate, especially with those in his hometown of Brooklyn.
Before he was Biggie, B.I.G, Notorious, Big Poppa, he was Christopher Wallace.
And he drove Melvin Blackman nuts.
"Always running his mouth," he remembers with a chuckle. "He was a pain in the neck." Blackman was Wallace's pre-school teacher at Quincy-Lexington Open Door Daycare Center, in Brooklyn. He says Wallace was a brilliant kid, who came in already knowing how to read and write. And he was a charmer to boot.
"He used to talk the other kids out of their stuff," he says, slightly laughing. "It was like charismatic. And he always did it on the sly, and we'd catch him doing it. I would say, 'You
