The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.
Mr. Cee, Big Daddy Kane’s DJ, called me one day and asked me if I would take a photo of a young rapper in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn for the back cover of a radio station sponsored compilation of rap music.
I had worked on several of Kane’s albums and thought that I could do a “freebie” for Mr. Cee.
...but I told Mr. Cee, I wasn’t about to go to Bed-Stuy with my cameras alone. That neighborhood was way too dangerous for me to go unescorted.
When Mr. Cee and I arrived at the corner of Bedford and Quincy Avenue, we were met by Christopher Wallace and his DJ 50 Grand. Christopher was decidely unfriendly or trying to play the tough guy.
As this was a “no budget” shoot, I only had one roll of 35mm at hand, I mean how much film did I need to shoot on this unknown weed dealing, gun totin’ wannabe rapper?
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Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.
I call this shot “Gimme Yo’ Money!” Biggie has a knife in your stomach and DJ 50 Grand is saying “Yeah, yeah, you better give it to him…
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Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.
I shot 34 frames of 35mm film and thought that I had a “sufficient” portrait of Christopher Wallace and his DJ 50 Grand.
I called a “wrap” and then Christopher asked me if I could shoot his “posse”.
What posse? I didn’t see anyone “hanging around”, but as I was looking for a different background than the Bedford-Utica street sign about 20 guys came out of the woodwork.
I asked them to stand against the wall across the street in the sunshine and after I got them standing close together and was focussing my camera, I saw that Christopher was pointing an Uzi machine gun at me.
Not knowing if the Uzi was loaded or not, I just asked Christopher not to point the gun at the camera...
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Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.
This is a closer crop of the “posse” shot that I made with Christopher Wallace in his neighborhood in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
Years after I made this shooting with the unknown at the time rapper, I was retouching the dust off the scan and had zoomed into the “posse” shot when my wife came in my office and said, “Oh! That’s scary!”
That it is...
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Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.
Didn’t ask for or get any smiles...
Just a tough guy look...
Notice the Old Gold malt liquor tag in the background.
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Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.
Didn’t ask for or get any smiles...
Just a tough guy look...
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Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.
While Christopher wouldn’t smile for anything, DJ 50 Grand seemed more happy go lucky…
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