There was time when I listened to rap. Infact, I grew up on rap.

It wasn’t too long ago when rap influenced people. The message so powerful it moved people.
It was something to relate to, something hold true to.

There were no grills. No medallions.
It was all about music. Good music.

Honoring the legacy of RAP, Notorious (2009) celebrates life and death of The Notorious B.I.G. — one of the greatest in rap game.

Notorious - Trailer

Official Movie Website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/notorious/

What makes for a musical legend? Hard to pinpoint, but dying young helps a lot. I’ll have to bring you all to my generation - I was born in 1980, which means I was a teenager during Nirvana, Tupac, and Biggie. All three died untimely deaths, these last three are the most recent legends I can think of. Coincidence?

Nirvana’s Nevermind album hit the youth hard. At a time when Guns N’ Roses and hair were big, Nirvana felt like a breath of fresh air. It’s as if they were here to say, “Fuck the embellishing, let’s just make the point”. The title itself was the perfect word to sum up my generation - whilst the punk generation said “nevermind the bollocks”, the grunge generation didn’t even care to mind the “bollocks”. This is the culture that brought Kurt Cobain to the forefront - but while we all acted depressed and moped about existentialism, Kurt Cobain actually shot himself dead at the height of his popularity. Imagine if he had gotten over his depression and had not killed himself… what if he wrote albums that got worse with each new release? Nirvana could’ve been that band that wrote “Nevermind” and no more. Instead Kurt died and became an instant legend. He is currently the highest, money-earning, dead celebrity.

I remember hearing NWA in elementary school. Get this - my friend had a shoe box hidden under his bed. In that shoe box underneath newspaper clippings were unmarked mix tapes. It was within those cassettes that I got my first taste of gangsta rap. It was so bad ass, that I was sweating for fear that we would be caught listening to Dre, Easy, and the gang. That’s what hip hop was all about during my teen years; that danger, that energy, and that flow that came from hip hop. Although Snoop was huge (Doggystyle was released in 8th grade for me), Tupac and Biggie summed up the feeling I got when I first listened to NWA. All Eyes on Me and Life After Death… amazing. Two of the best hip hop albums ever; one released before one’s death, the other after. Just like Nirvana, could it be possible that if the two continued to live, they would’ve lost some of that icon status? Not only are their deaths related to a famous feud, but the music caught them at their creative peaks. Thirty years from now will Snoop Dogg be considered a legend? As important as his role in hip hop has been, I’m not quite sure. Will Tupac and Biggie still be legends? You bet.

So the lesson is - if you wanna ensure musical legend status, die at the peak of your career. You listening, Kanye?