NEWS
(L-R) Christopher Wallace (Biggie) with 50 Grand.
Netflix/George DuBoseWe've heard every version of Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace's life over the past two decades...and that's a good thing. Yet, getting the ultimate story of hip-hop's poet laureate from those that knew him best, his family and true friends is the best way to learn about the MC that changed the game and left us all too soon.
Netflix and Wallace's estate announced the forthcoming documentary, Biggie: I Got A Story To Tell a few years ago in 2017, and with plans to release the massive project a few years ago, life happened and March 1st, 2021 became the target date. What makes this edition of replaying Wallace's moves and music, is the fact that his Mom, Voletta Wallace, and his former management Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts, and Bad Boy Entertainment founder, Sean "Diddy" Combs all had their hands in the creation as executive producers. Emmett Malloy (and his brother Brendan) handled the director duties.
"So many stories have been written and produced on the life and death of Christopher Wallace...," says producer and estate manager Barrow. "We felt it was important to humanize our brother and tell the story that made the legend, not the story of the legend. That's what this documentary represents."
One of the perks of being a rap journalist in the 90s was the access to major artists and their fam. While working on a music feature for Biggie's little bro, Lil Cease, during his debut solo album press run for The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo in 1999, I was presented with a shoebox full of mini camcorder tapes to view various personal moments of Biggie and his wild and crazy crew's travels around the globe. It was amazing to see the carefree movements they enjoyed as well as the tense situations that started to form towards the end of his life. We tend to romanticize the times in hindsight, yet we must realize that Big was murdered in cold blood...and the case isn't solved over two decades later.
To put some of the negative energy to rest, and to properly frame his meaning to those close to him and the people that loved him, this doc is most necessary. Watch the trailer, catch a vibe and get ready to view the project in full on Netflix on March 1st.
NEWS
Lil Yachty usually does a great job at feeding his fans new music. It seems like every other week he's got new snippets to tease or loosies dropping on DSPS whenever he feels like it. Just several hours ago, the Georgia multi-hyphenate hopped on over to his SoundCloud page, tHE CONCRETE LeaK sYstem, to share some long-lost recordings.
Per HipHopNMore, there's 11 in total and the origins of them range from 2022-2025. Some of you may remember that Lil Yachty updated this account almost a year ago with 14 tracks. Back then he unleased some unheard collaborations with his 2016 XXL Freshman classmate 21 Savage and singer Vory.
In the time since then, Yachty did drop off a pair of freestyles as well. But this is the latest major collection to be added to tHE CONCRETE LeaK sYstem.
Overall, the cuts here feel reminiscent of his earlier material in that they are more trap focused. However, the main some extra charm with most of the beats featuring some slightly left-field quirks.
They definitely don't relate at all to what Lil Boat has been experimenting with solo catalog wise. His 2023 album Let's Start Here. was a psychedelic rock exploration. Then, there's his 2024 collaboration joint with James Blake, Bad Cameo.
On that, Lil Yachty stepped into the London artist's soundscape in some ways by bringing his warbly singing voice to neo-soul, alternative R&B, and ambient pop.
But unfortunately for the 27-year-old, him sharing of all of this music with his fans has been interrupted to some degree. That's because Yachty is still going back and forth with former Concrete Boys group mate, KARRAHBOOO.
Her initial split from Boat's collective was a shocking development when it originally happened about a year ago. However, as the two rappers repeatedly went at each other's throats, we began to learn more. Yachty was claiming that KARRAHBOOO was incredibly disrespectful to those involved with the group.
Moreover, it led to him claiming that he was writing all of her verses and tracks. KARRAHBOOO has since retaliated, of course, but she really went after him recently. Just two weeks ago, she alleged that he mistreats women poorly overall. "U have a daughter and u treating women like this is mindblowing like I know u never see her but still that doesn’t make sense how evil this man is to women (not just me)," she said in part.
