It's been 26 years to the day since hip-hop lost one of its most impactful, resonant, and powerful voices. While the tragedy of his passing isn't lost on anyone, millions around the world continue to keep The Notorious B.I.G. alive. For example, Diddy made an Instagram post on Thursday (March 9) honoring Biggie on the anniversary of his tragic death in Los Angeles. "There will NEVER be another," Puff wrote as a caption to a video of a B.I.G. interview. "The GREATEST RAPPER OF ALL TIME. Today we celebrate and honor you king. Love and miss you!!"
In that clip, the legendary MC spoke on maintaining his originality, freshness, and unique voice as an artist. "Don't be the fool to just sit back and do it because somebody else is doing it," the Brooklyn native expressed. "Because those of you who do just gon' follow in somebody else's footsteps, and you just gon' be a shadow. Who wanna be a shadow for the rest of their life, you know what I'm saying? If you got a lil' something' that you know how to do, progress that and keep trying. I mean, God knows what could happen. That's what I did. Just kept on walking, just happened to get to the right ends."
Diddy's Tribute To Biggie Smalls On Anniversary Of His Tragic Loss
Most recently, Nas spoke on how Biggie influenced his classic album It Was Written, shortly before the anniversary of his death arrived. "Biggie made it different, where you can’t just be the hot dude that they liked from New York to Connecticut to Virginia," he expressed. "You got to hit the mainstream. You got to touch the world." Elsewhere in the interview, he said that they inspired each other in many different ways. For example, Nas working with Dr. Dre possibly opened up the doors for Biggie to work with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Meanwhile, this year will also mark what would've been Big's 51st birthday in May. Last year, Lil' Kim penned an inspiring message for his 50th. "He was more than just a rapper more than an artist; he was an educator, he was a poet, obviously a writer. He was a prophet, he was here to do more than just make some songs or record a couple of albums, which is at the end of the day, that’s what he did. And he did way more than that in his spare time.” Join us in honoring Biggie Smalls with your favorite tracks, albums, or moments in the comments, and if you don't know, now you know.