How A 14 Year Old Rapper Made Biggie Change His Name
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The Notorious B.I.G., also known as MC CWest, Biggie Smalls, and Biggie, was one of the most influential rappers of the 1990s. Biggie Smalls was a name he took after a character in the 1975 film Let’s Do It Again, where Biggie Smalls was played by actor Calvin Lockhart.
However, in the early 1990s, a young rapper from the West Coast named Tim Bigelow was already performing under the name Biggy Smallz. He started recording music at just 12 years old in 1991 and released three songs: Save Mr. Perkins, Cruisin’, and Nobody Rides For Free. All three were released before B.I.G.’s breakout.
As B.I.G.'s popularity grew, he was threatened with legal action from the original Biggy Smallz, so he changed his name to The Notorious B.I.G. before releasing more music.
The original Biggy Smallz did benefit from B.I.G.’s album Ready to Die, which was released in September 1994, due to the confusion around their names. However, not much is known about the original Smallz. He was reported to have died in 1994 after being shot outside a liquor store, but it was never confirmed.
In Tupac's song "God Bless The Dead" he raps,
"Rest in peace to my mo*****r Biggy Smallz / That's right boy, it's goin' on"
This line is widely interpreted as a tribute to the original Biggy Smallz.
It is unclear if Tupac was aware of the legal troubles that had led to The Notorious B.I.G.'s name change, but his use of the name "Biggie" in the song seems to suggest that he was paying tribute to the late rapper.
It's common for rappers to take on an edgy stage name as they start to perform publicly, but it's uncommon to see an artist change their name well in the middle of their booming career. But, B.I.G. had to change his name to avoid legal trouble.
B.I.G. explained the name change to rapper Funk Flex, saying that on the Ready to Die album cover, it would say 'The Notorious B.I.G.' because of a "lame little 14-year-old ‘Cruisin’’ calling himself Biggy Smallz. He don’t know the true meaning, but it’s all good — we trying to make some paper."
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Comments
Matt —
GBTD is actually about an Grafitti artist named Big Dric who was affiliated with Tupac and Stretch’s group Live Squad and was killed in the early 1990s: https://www.instagram.com/grandimperialmusic/p/CQzkRpbLQtS/
Matt —
Just a correction, Tim Bigelow A.K.A. Biggy Smallz isnt dead, the liquor store thing is either a misconstruing of the actual guy God Bless The Dead was about’s death, or just a complete fabrication, Bigelow continued making music well into the late 90s, changing his name to “Shadowcast” after confusion stirred up about him and Biggie as people still called The Notorious B.I.G. Biggie Smalls and then pursued a career in finance and talent management, he works at Adobe now.