This Day In Rap History: Notorious B.I.G. Was Shot and Killed in Los Angeles

There are many events in rap history that are either unknown or forgotten, from album releases to deaths to random ass events most of us can't even recall. As an attempt to remember those moments, Complex will share an event that helped shape hip-hop in a sometimes minor, sometimes major way. Join us as we look back on This Day in Rap History.

March 9, 1997

The Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed in Los Angeles 17 years ago today. Biggie was in L.A. for the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards, where he presented and performed, and was killed after leaving an afterparty party thrown by VIBE. His untimely death happened six months after Tupac Shakur was also shot and killed in Las Vegas. While both murders were unexpected, the years leading up to the shootings were marked by the infamous "East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry" between Biggie's Bad Boy Records and Shakur's Death Row Records. The murders of B.I.G and 2Pac remain unsolved. In 2012, Complex interviewed a former LAPD detective who claims he knows who killed Biggie. RIP B.I.G.