Biggie Smalls is an icon in hip-hop and is highly respected as a lyricist who was taken away from us too early. However, the Biggie Smalls we know and love was different behind the scenes. In fact, behind closed doors, he was softer and more tame than he had presented to the world.
Not only was he physically large, but the Bad Boy frontman was a big presence in the 1990s, and the release of Ready To Die only boosted his profile. The ‘Who Shot Ya’ rhymer put forward a harsh exterior and was instrumental in popularising gangsta rap in New York. However, Christopher Wallace was different from Biggie Smalls, and he wanted to make sure the two were permanently separated.
Only four days before his death, Biggie was interviewed on the Bay Area radio station KYLD 107.7 FM. During the discussion, he spoke about his children, T’yanna and Christopher Jr. In the interview, he confessed to the host that in real life, he was quieter and far softer than his lyrics would suggest.
Biggie confessed that he was actually a “shy” guy and when asked if he was still that way in 1997, he asserted, “I’m still shy.” He added, “I’m a quiet dude, man. I kind of get the voice for certain things I want to say in my music.”
From the many biographies that have been written about the late lyricist, such as Justin Tinsley’s 2022 book, It Was All a Dream: Biggie and the World That Made Him, it is known that as a teenager, Biggie was a straight-A student. Furthermore, he was laid-back and a little bit of a joker who pulled pranks on his friends.
Still, during his heyday, the soft-spoken Christopher Wallace loomed large as The Notorious B.I.G., and he was not someone people wanted to mess with. This separation was done on purpose, as Biggie never wanted to mix his private and personal life for the sake of his children.
During his 1997 appearance on KYLD 107.7 FM, he detailed this, elaborating, “Biggie is an entertainer. He makes music, and he makes videos. That’s Biggie Smalls, but Christopher Wallace is the person. That’s the one that has to take care of the family. The daughter, the wife — all of that. That’s Christopher. That’s the real person. I leave all that Biggie stuff alone. We don’t blend too much.”
Biggie was murdered in Los Angeles in March 1997, only two weeks before the release of his chart-topping album Life After Death. Since his death, Biggie’s legacy has been kept alive by those who were closest to him, including his family and close friends. His mother, Voletta Wallace, who passed away in early 2025, gave the world a lot of insights into who the emcee was as a child and his day-to-day, kind-hearted demeanour.
As such, it was only after his tragic passing that fans got to see the softer and more nurturing side of Biggie Smalls that he kept separate from music for family reasons and Faith Evans, the mother of his son, has only had nice things to say about the ‘Juicy’ rhymer.