RIP The Notorious B.I.G.

It goes without saying that Biggie Smalls was a rapper ahead of his time and that his untimely death is one of the biggest losses in hip-hop. That said, the legacy he would have left had he lived is greater than most people could even imagine. B.I.G.'s death, along with other high-profile hip-hop deaths, caused a ripple effect throughout hip-hop. This is best seen in this rare footage (just released today) of Biggie and the rest of the circa-1995 Bad Boy Records roster. Take a look at that video and count how many of the artists and personalities, aside from Diddy, are still in the business today. I counted Lil' Kim, and that's really it. Biggie's death essentially sealed the fate of all of those artists, as Bad Boy had no headliner to bring their other acts up. The same can be said for deceased artists like Big L, Eazy E and Big Pun, though no one will ever truly know what their deaths did to hip-hop. I suppose it's just wishful thinking, but Biggie's potential is worth every second. All we can say today is RIP to Christopher Wallace...