The Notorious B.I.G. Almost Got Arrested Before Signing His Record Deal
Before he was the world-famous rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G., Christopher Wallace made his money by selling crack at the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980s and ’90s. He had several run-ins with the law, and just as his career was set to take off with the signing of his record deal, he was nearly arrested once again.
The Notorious B.I.G. was a drug dealer before he was a rapper
The Notorious B.I.G. first started selling crack on the streets of Brooklyn when he was just 12 years old. At the time, Biggie saw how the quick money changed the lives of other guys in his neighborhood, and wanted in on the money himself — much to the ire of his mother, Voletta Wallace.
Eventually, Big took his business down south, splitting his time between Brooklyn and Raleigh, North Carolina, where he was able to make even more money selling drugs. He got a house along with a few other dealers, with his trap house effectively acting as his college dorm.
At the same time, Biggie had made a name for himself as a rapper in Brooklyn, getting on the mic and shocking everyone around him at parties around the neighborhood. He was eventually discovered by Sean “Diddy” Combs, who then worked at Uptown Records, and promised Biggie a recording contract to make his music career official.
The Notorious B.I.G. signed his record deal narrowly avoiding arrest
Biggie waited patiently for his Uptown Records contract to be drawn up while making money dealing drugs. The 2022 book It Was All a Dream: Biggie and the World That Made Him described his thought process at the time.
“I’m like, yo, okay, it’s all good. But let me just do what I gotta do, you know what I’m saying? And when you ready, just let me know,” he said of his reasoning to continue dealing while waiting for his contract to come through.
When Diddy learned that Biggie was in North Carolina selling drugs, he was none too pleased. “I know why you down there, n****. You know that is gonna only lead to jail or death. But you don’t need to be down there. I just got a call from your lawyer. Deal’s closed, man,” Diddy told Big over the phone. “You can come by the office Tuesday morning. I got a check waiting for you, ready to cash, right here.”
Big returned to New York to sign his deal with Uptown Records in 1993. According to him, he narrowly escaped being arrested in North Carolina.
“This is so crazy, and a lot of people don’t even know this, but the day Puffy called me and told me the contracts would be there … I was going to leave Tuesday, but something told me, yo, just leave Monday,” Big said at the time. “Don’t you know Monday night, police ran up in the house we were staying in and locked them n****s up.”
He became a superstar over the next few years
After signing his record deal, Biggie knew there was no going back to the streets. Diddy was soon ousted from Uptown Records, leaving Biggie to later sign to Diddy’s new label, Bad Boy Records. He got to work on his debut album Ready to Die, released in 1994.
At a time when West Coast rappers began to dominate the world of hip-hop, Biggie showed that New York — being the birthplace of hip-hop — was not to be messed with. Thanks to songs like “Juicy” and “Big Poppa,” Biggie showed that he could deliver a radio hit just as easily as he could rap about violence and drugs.
Biggie was one of the most revered rappers in the world in the mid-1990s. He died in March 1997, just two weeks before the release of his smash sophomore album Life After Death. His memory has continued to live on through his music and through the work of those who were around him, including Diddy and his mother Voletta.
