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Diddy finally has a new idea that doesn’t involve autotune. He suggests that in observance of the rap game’s greatest MCs death, that March 9th should be declared Biggie Day. I’ve got to admit, Mr. Diddy Bop is exactly right. We should make this official. Not talking about waiting on Obama to make it happen (it’s not that he wouldn’t, cus I can so see him blasting “Gimme The Loot” before his fundraising events, he just has other pressing issues to handle), it’s about us as a Hip-Hop community making it so. In so many ways though we’ve made that into reality these past 13 years since he’s been gone.

Whenever March 9th rolls around we all play his hits both mainstream and the rare underground gems. I tend to fall on amazing memories of seeing him rise from the around my way (second straight blog where I state I’m from Brooklyn) local hard rock to international superstar in the matter of a few short years. He did it all through music as well. Respect to Tupac, but his acting skills further propelled his status in the music game. People talk about Pac’s incredible work ethic which is nothing to sneeze at and damn near unmatched, but let’s remember that Biggie is Jamaican, “Hey Mon!” He put out his debut album Ready To Die in 1994, executive produced and wrote Junior Mafia’s debut Conspiracy in 1995, executive produced and wrote on Lil Kim’s debut Hardcore in 1996 and returned with his sophomore double disc album Life After Death in 1997, all while guest appearing on any rapper’s track, be they over or underground and doing this with crazy pressure from in city rivals and West Coast oppossion. Who would have been able to withstand all that and a physical setback (broken leg from the infamous car crash) and personal drama (wife, girlfriends and mistresses, plus lawsuits and court cases) but Biggie? No one in my eyes.

The epitome of standing tall in the face of adversity I look at his lyrics to tell the story of how he really felt. Yes he spoke of death and drew the haunting imagery closer to reality, but he also spoke of the hope of a better future for him and his fam coupled with success and living life to the fullest going forward. I often wonder why others hate those on top so much. Not the thorough critic of a body of work by an individual, but the all out, “f*ck dat n*gga” with no real background info other than what they heard or the fact they aren’t in that person’s spot. Regardless if you feel like Big had Pac shot or not, you should think about how placing blame without facts and spewing aimless hate can ultimately hurt people in the long run.

ike Pac’s fam, Big’s fam was cheated of a well-loved hero to them; BK lost a beacon of hope that showed that the trek to the top of the world could start from the drug-infested streets of Bed-Stuy. Thank the heavens for Jay-Z’s commercial success, or we’d be a blip in hip-hop’s storyline. But I say all this to shed light on a man that wasn’t perfect, but that didn’t deserve the tragic ending that sealed an era of tremendous promise and progress in the business man/mogul era of hip-hop. Even though his team endured all types of drama after his death, I’m sure he is cool in knowing that he did his part to set them up to get up off the block where they all started out.

Yet Diddy is doing it right today by honoring his brother with a celebratory party at the longstanding BK club called The Lab in the same hood where it all began, Do or Die Bed-Stuy. As Big would so gloriously state, ”Spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way!”