num_pages: 352
description: From a talented young journalist on the rise a deeply reported timely new biography of the Notorious B.I.G. publishing for what would have been his 50th birthday The Notorious B.I.G. was one of the most charismatic and talented artists of the 1990s. Born Christopher Wallace and raised in Clinton Hill/Bed Stuy Brooklyn Biggie lived an almost archetypal rap young trouble drug dealing guns prison a giant hit record the wealth and international superstardom that came with it then an early violent death. Biggie released his first record Ready to Die  in 1994 when he was only 22. Less than three years later he was killed just days before the planned release of his second record Life After Death .Journalist Justin Tinsleys It Was All a Dream is a fresh insightful telling of the life beyond the legend. It is based on extensive interviews with those who knew and loved Biggie including neighbors friends DJs party promoters and journalists. And it places Biggies life in context both within the history of rap but also the wider cultural and political forces that shaped him including Caribbean immigration the Reagan era disinvestment in public education street life the war on drugs mass incarceration and the booming creative and influential 1990s music industry. This is the story of where Biggie came from the forces that shaped him and the legacy he has left behind.
language: English
title: It Was All a Dream: Biggie and the World That Made Him
publisher: Harry N. Abrams