Notorious B.I.G.

Can You Match The Eyes To The Rapper They Belong To?

This is a ridiculous thing, to be sure; a game birthed in the crevices of 2 a.m. emails and WAY TOO MANY mp3s and SoundCloud links. And it's as simple as it is stupid as it is infinitythings. On the following page you'll find a picture of eight separate sets of eyes. Underneath the picture you'll ... More >>

Russell Peters Chats About Why a Wildly Successful Comic Still Has Trouble Getting Traction in Hollywood

Russell Peters is probably the only arena-size comic right now who hasn't gotten into trouble for making homophobic slurs or punching a Target employee. Of Indian heritage, but raised Catholic, he's huge in his native Canada; he hosted A Russell Peters Christmas Special in 2011 with fellow Canadian ... More >>

Rap Genius Got $15 Million in Investor Financing. So Why Does Everyone Hate Them?

In Malibu last weekend, an ebullient crowd including rappers Mike G and Shawn Chrystopher have gathered for the birthday party of Mahbod Moghadam. Champagne is poured into red solo cups, while a volvano vaporizer circulates. Moghadam is an eccentric character who is the face of the extremely succes ... More >>

The 1997 Edition Was the Best MTV Video Music Awards

Tonight is the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. Now in its 29th year, it's had its share of memorable moments, none more so than during the 1997 broadcast. On the occasion of its 15th anniversary, here's the case for why it was the best VMA's ever televised.

Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop

Hip-hop is nearly 40, but many still find this slightly-disorienting world of beats, rhymes and oversize personalities a bit daunting. So consider this our hip-hop Cliff's notes; here are the albums you should know about if you don't want to look silly at cocktail parties. We're not saying these a ... More >>

Best of Coachella: Saturday, April 21

See also: Our complete Coachella coverage Saturday at Coachella meant tributes, tributes, tributes. From Levon Helms to Biggie, everyone got a shout-out. In between all that, some nasty partying and a little recreational drug use. Read our highly-trained writers as they tell you the the best things ... More >>

Life After Death

Biggie Smalls' Mom Wants Grand Jury on Murder

Food News Roundup: No More Starred Reviews, Mario Batali Settles Lawsuit Notorious B.I.G. Food Lyrics

Daily Dish: No more starred reviews in the L.A. Times, effective now. The Salt, NPR's Food Blog: Mario Batali settles lawsuit alleging he and business partner Joe Bastianich took employee tips. Gilt Taste: What Francis Lam learned about food from the Notorious B.I.G. ("The milks was chocolate; t ... More >>

Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List

Yeah, yeah, we know. The top 20 greatest musicians of all time, in any genre. Where do we get off? Well, we'll tell you where we get off -- at Accuracy Station. Our team of writers listened to thousands and thousands of hours of music for this list, digging deep into the annals of history and explor ... More >>

Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: #20-16

See also: *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #15-11 *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #10-6 *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #5-1 Yeah, yeah, we know. The top 20 greatest musicians of all time, in any genre. Where do we get off? Well, we'll tell you where we get of ... More >>

World Famous V.I.P. Records To Close

Long Beach shop helped foster the G-Funk era

The Worst Rapper Names Of All Time, Besides Shorty Shitstain

Why not Royce Da 5'9" 170 pounds, 10 shoe size?​See also: *Top Five Worst Ironic Indie Rock Band Names, Besides Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. *There's Three Of Us, But We're Not The Beatles: The Ten Most Illogical Rap Lyrics In History In the tarnished annals of rubbish musician names, rappers have ... More >>

Best Posts of the Week

This week Weekly staffers Chris Vogel and Simone Wilson broke revelations from the new book Murder Rap, in which former LAPD detective Greg Kading cites testimony implicating Suge Knight in the death of Biggie Smalls and Diddy in the murder of Tupac. On our sister blog The Informer, Wilson also brou ... More >>

Cop's Book Says Sean Combs, Suge Knight Ordered Tupac and Biggie Killings

Top detective on rap murders says LAPD pulled the plug despite confessions

Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls Murder Book Shoots to Top of Amazon

​Murder Rap, the book written by former LAPD detective Greg Kading implicating Sean Combs and Suge Knight in the slayings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, officially came out today. So far, only LA Weekly has interviewed Kading about his self-published book and the revelations he shares, which ... More >>

Tupac and Biggie Murders: An Up-to-Date List of Characters, Given New Evidence From Ex-LAPD Detective Greg Kading

Update: "The 'Keffe D' Tapes: 10 Highlights of Confession From Gangster Who Says Sean Combs Hired Him to Kill Tupac." Of the many theories that have emerged over the last 15 years as to who was behind the drive-by killings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, the closest thing we've seen to an invest ... More >>

Top Five Rapping Basketball Players Phil Jackson Might Actually Like

​Phil Jackson, of all people, recently had some harsh words for "Fix The Knicks," the odd, showtuney-tune penned by New York Knicks owner James Dolan. (You can hear it here.) Dolan needs either "a better lyricist or a better musician," Jackson said. Ouch! Of course, it's hard to disagree with ... More >>

Top Five Spike Jonze Rap Videos That Are Better Than "Otis"

Kanye and Jay-Z​The Spike Jonze-directed video for Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Otis" debuted late last week. In it, the two professional luxury shoppers (and occasional rappers) gallivant around in a modified Maybach while rapping in front of a giant flag. If you've somehow missed it, knock yourse ... More >>

Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G. Murders and ex-LA Times Reporter Chuck Philips: A Timeline

Chuck Philips, award-winning LA Times journalist, is out of a job.​Chuck Philips, once a top reporter for the Los Angeles Times, spent over a decade investigating the murders of West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur and his East Coast rival, the Notorious B.I.G. But in 2008, when it was revealed tha ... More >>

Dexter Issac Confesses to 1994 Tupac Shooting that Sparked East-West Coast Hip-Hop Feud

Tupac leaving the hospital after the 1994 shooting​On November 30th, 1994, Tupac Shakur was shot in Manhattan's Quad Studios. The night sparked the East-West coast feud that left legends Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. both dead less than three years later. Now, on the eve of Tupac's 40th bir ... More >>

New Leads In L.A.'s Biggie Smalls Murder Investigation?

Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Biggie Smalls.​The Los Angeles murder of the Notorious B.I.G. has led to a notoriously fruitless investigation, a few movies, magazine covers and many a conspiracy theory (Suge Knight, the LAPD ... ). But authorities have given rapper Chris ... More >>

LAPD Reopens Biggie Smalls' Case, "Actively Investigating" Notorious B.I.G. Murder Again

​The LA Weekly's news blog The Informer, quoting CNN, reports that the LAPD is once again "actively investigating" the 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G. According to the CNN report: A task force made up of local and federal law enforcement agencies is actively pursuing leads into the 1997 ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Cinderella, Schmutzigen Deutsche Kabarett

Also, Sweet Mama String Bean and more

FASTER

MP3 Exclusive: Black Beat Music from FlyLo Signee Lorn

Lorn lurks in the shadows.​With the excitement around Flying Lotus' Cosmogramma settled, say, a millimeter or two, his Brainfeeder label is already readying its next release. A full-length platter from New York-based producer Lorn, Nothing Else, is due out June 8. Not a whole lot is known abo ... More >>

Ice Cube To Play Bad Cop In LAPD 'Rampart Scandal' Movie

​Rapper-turned-film-star Ice Cube is reported to have taken a starring role -- ostensibly as a bad cop -- in the upcoming film about the Los Angeles Police Department's "Rampart Scandal" that rocked the city in the late 1990s with allegations that gang officers shot and beat suspects, planted ... More >>

P. Diddy Uses Notorious B.I.G. Tribute Song to Pimp Vodka Drink Invented 6 Years After Biggie's Death

The Notorious Fake Vodka P.I.M.P.​Oh Puffy... Insanely talented (and plain insane) rapper Jay Electronica has just leaked a track called "The Ghost of Christopher Wallace." Christopher Wallace, in case you don't know, was the Notorious B.I.G.'s birth name. Jay told MTV that "when Big was aro ... More >>

Happy (Dead) Presidents Day!

Happy (Dead) Presidents Day!

Talking Hip Hop (and Phil Collins) With At the Movies' Ben Lyons

By Brandon Perkins Perhaps if Ben Lyons' movie chops were as obvious as his hip-hop track record, then sites like StopBenLyons.com wouldn't exist. Ever since the E! personality took the helm of the Siskel, Roper and Ebert's beloved At the Movies, Lyons has been berated with more thumbs down than ... More >>

Movie Reviews: Hotel for Dogs, Notorious, Paul Blart, Mall Cop

Also, My Bloody Valentine 3D and Owl and the Sparrow

Last Night: First Look at Notorious, the Biggie Smalls Biopic

Twelve years after his death, the Notorious B.I.G. is still a favorite of both commercial radio and discerning hip-hop heads. His meteoric rise to fame, West Coast beef, and tragic death are a screenwriter's dream. Last night at the William Fox Theatre at the Fox Lot we were offered a first glimp ... More >>

Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) Critically Injured in Fatal Plane Crash

Read the news story from the LA Times. Last night while this tragedy was occurring, Samantha Ronson was spinning at the Roxy, and out front a street team was handing out Barker and AM's new mixtape (under their TRV$-DJAM moniker), called Fix Your Face. Oddly and weirdly, I took one, and listened ... More >>

Hip-Hop's Greatest Al Green Samples

The Reverend, replicated

Biggie Smalls Shuts Down Sunset Boulevard

Ah, if only. But shooting has commenced in LA for Notorious, the Biggie Smalls biopic slated to be released in 2009. Earlier today, the crew was working on the Sunset Strip near the Roxy, where a key scene occurs. It was kind of surreal cruising down Sunset in West Hollywood and seeing, during a bre ... More >>

Coachella Day Two: Yo! Majesty and Rilo Kiley

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Day 2 Yo! at the Gobi tent, 7:40 p.m. By Chris Martins Yo! Majesty kept it in their shirts. It's true - the Tampa-based, female-fronted answer to 2 Live Crew adroitly circumvented legal woes by neither rapping with their mams in the wind, nor outwardly wom ... More >>

Who Shot Tupac At The Quad: The LA Times teaser press release

On the afternoon of Friday, March 14, the LA Times' Stephan Pechdimaldji, senior manager of media relations, tossed out an email to his media list announcing the impending publication of Chuck Philips' now-debunked Who Shot Tupac story. There were a couple of red flags right off the bat. First, I'd ... More >>

Think Pad: Little Temple and Bar One

Check out weekly nights at these venues

Most Fabulous Dance Club Masquerading as a Tough-Guy Dive

The Study

Killah's Message of Love

Ghostface Killah at the Key Club

Pose and Mean It

Politically 4th Street

Ghosts vs. Boasts

Biggie & Tupac (remix)

Nick Broomfield imitates life imitating art

The Crack-House Rave

Lost in a Maze

More puzzles than clues in new Rampart book

Rampart East

Media from the other coast bungle the story of LAPD’s scandal

Word According to B.I.G.

Venice Riots II

Longest-Living Two-Headed Person

And other noteworthy people and events of the 20th century