Inside the Magazine Column That Launched The Notorious B.I.G. to Stardom
Long before The Notorious B.I.G. was a world-renowned rapper, he made his money selling crack on the streets of Brooklyn and entertained people at parties with his rapping abilities. He became well-known around the neighborhood for his skills, but he was introduced to a much bigger audience in the March 1992 edition of The Source magazine.
‘The Source’ magazine’s Unsigned Hype column
The Source magazine was founded by David Mays in 1988 to serve as a news hub for all things hip-hop. One prominent feature in the monthly publication was the Unsigned Hype column, where independent artists were highlighted on their road to stardom. Some of the artists who were featured in Unsigned Hype: DMX, Eminem, and Mobb Deep.
In the early 1990s, The Source writer Matteo Capoluongo was charged with helming the monthly column. As part of his job, he received advance copies of upcoming albums, as well as demo tapes from unsigned artists.
Mister Cee, Big Daddy Kane’s DJ (and later Biggie Smalls’ DJ and producer), passed the demo tape he made with Biggie along to Capoluongo. According to the 2022 book It Was All a Dream: Biggie and the World That Made Him, the tape became a hit at The Source‘s office.
Former Ebony magazine editor Kierna Mayo was a reporter at The Source at the time and often joined Capoluongo for listening sessions. She reflected on the mood around Biggie’s demo tape. “I clearly remember feeling like something was happening. Like this cat was really incredible,” Mayo said. “When Matty was cosigning or leading in this case, it was all ears. Biggie was a star, and his talent was really crisp and clear from the very first moment.”
The Notorious B.I.G. became a household name thanks to ‘The Source’ magazine’s Unsigned Hype column
Coincidentally, Capoluongo recently moved to a house near The Notorious B.I.G. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. According to Biggie’s friend and future Junior M.A.F.I.A. rapper Chico Del Vec, the way Capoluongo and Biggie met was unforgettable. Capoluongo bumped into Biggie on his first day walking to the subway from his new home, and told him while he was with his friends that he heard his demo tape and wanted to feature him in The Source.
“We were all like, ‘Yo, n****! What the … man, if you don’t get up outta here!'” Del Vec laughed. “Like, c’mon, man. How somebody gonna walk up on us after we been hustling all day talking about, ‘Yo, I wanna do an interview on you. I work for a magazine.’ Not to be funny, but you gotta be careful.”
The group had to ensure that Capoluongo wasn’t an undercover police officer, so they made him smoke a blunt.
“We gave him some weed,” Del Vec said. “He rolled up and started drinking, we was like, ‘Yo, he ain’t no cop, Big.'”
Finally, Biggie agreed to do the interview. When it was published in the March 1992 issue of The Source, he caught the attention of Uptown Records’ Andre Harrell and a young A&R named Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The March 1992 edition of ‘The Source’ was in Biggie’s ‘Juicy’ video
One of Biggie’s longtime friends, Damion “D-Roc” Butler, recounted how excited everyone in the neighborhood was over B.I.G.’s feature in the magazine. “It was a big deal … Everybody had [the issue],” he recalled. “It’s like, ‘Yo, you see Big in Unsigned Hype?! Yo, this is my man! Oh my God!’ That s*** got crazy.”
Biggie being in The Source‘s Unsigned Hype column was pivotal in getting The Notorious B.I.G.’s rap career off the ground. Two years later, Biggie achieved the “dream” he always wanted on his breakout single “Juicy,” and acknowledged just how important his Unsigned Hype feature was: his mother, Voletta Wallace, appeared in the music video reading the March 1992 issue of The Source. He also shouted out the publication in the lyrics, rapping, “Smiles every time my face is up in The Source.”
