Notorious B.I.G, another of the unsolved high-profile celebrity murders

Police recently arrested Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the only living witness of the 1996 shooting incident that claimed the life of hip-hop great Tupac Shakur. With that now nearing a closure after 27 years of unanswered questions, there remains one name that also has questions around his death that remain unanswered as well, Notorious B.I.G.

The murder of Notorious B.I.G was murdered just six months after the death of Tupac Shakur and his murder still remains unsolved. Davis, who was arrested in late September was affiliated with the criminal gang South Side Crompton Crips, the faction that was largely part of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop feud. The gang was associated with the Bad Boy Record in the rivalry against Tupac Shakur, Marion “Suge” Knight and his Death Row Records.

Born Christopher George Latore Wallace in 1972, Biggie Smalls, also known as Notorious B.I.G or simply Biggie, the Bad Boy Record signee was assassinated on March 9, 1997. Wallace was raised in Brooklyn and signed for Sean “Puffy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records when it was launched in 1993. He made prominent features and was a popular figure in the West Coast-East Coast hip-hop rivalry which had Tupac Shakur on the other side with the death Row Records headed by Marion “Suge” Knight.

He released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994 and it included his signature songs “Juicy” and “Big Poppa”. The album received critical acclaim and cemented his status as one of the best in the genre. Wallace was murdered by an assailant while he was in Los Angeles, six months after Tupac, whom he had a feud with was murdered. Two weeks after his murder, his second album Life After Death was released.

On the night before his death, Wallace attended a Soul Train Awards after-party at the Petersen Automotive Museum hosted by Vibes and Qwest Records. The party was closed early due to overcrowding and Wallace was returning to his hotel with his entourage when the car he was in stopped at a red light close to the Museum and a Chevrolet Impala pulled up alongside. The driver of the Chevrolet rolled down his window and fired with a 9 mm pistol at Wallace’s truck. Wallace was in the front seat and was in the truck with his associates Damion “D-Roc” Butler, Lil’ Cease, and driver Gregory “G-Money” Young. An autopsy report was released 15 years after his death. The report said of the four bullets that Wallace took, only the final shot was fatal and it entered through his right hip and struck his colon, liver, heart, and left lung before stopping in his left shoulder.

The cases have seen several twists with many different allegations and theories. As recent as 2021, the Daily Mail reported that an ex-FBI agent said he knew who killed the rapper. According to the report, Suge Knight, the owner of Death Row Records hired a hitman from the Nation of Islam to kill Sean “Puffy” Diddy for the murder of Tupac Shakur.

Up till now, no one has been convicted of his murder and the murder still remains one of the numerous high-profile unsolved cases.