Smalls was from New York and had almost single-handedly reinvented East Coast hip hop - overtaken in the early 1990s by the West Coast 'g-funk' sound of Dr. He was 24 years old when he was gunned down in 1997 in Los Angeles, a murder that has never been solved. Who Was Biggie Smalls?Ĭhristopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls and the Notorious B.I.G., lived a short life. Biggie Smalls, also known as 'The Notorious B.I.G.,' was a revered hip-hop artist and face of East Coast gangsta rap.
