Notorious B.I.G. is shot in Los Angeles
Leaving a Vibe magazine-hosted party at the Petersen Automotive Museum, Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace is in the front passenger seat of a GMC Suburban driven by Gregory 'G-Money' Young when a dark Chevrolet Impala pulls alongside at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax. The Impala's driver fires four shots; Wallace is hit and pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai. He was 24. The case remains unsolved.
Why it matters
Six months after Tupac's killing, the East/West conflict claims its second commercial and cultural anchor. *Life After Death* — completed two weeks before Wallace's killing — is released sixteen days later and debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200. The two unsolved killings define hip-hop's relationship with its own commercial scale for the rest of the decade; in 2024 the LAPD's investigation reportedly remains open.
Branches
Citations 3
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- B Los Angeles Times — 25 years later, the Notorious B.I.G. murder remains unsolved Retrieved 2026-05-24.
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