(Originally published by the Daily News on March 19, 1997. This story was written by Chrisena Coleman, Mike Claffey, Tara George and Stephen McFarland.)
The body of slain rapper the Notorious B.I.G. was carried yesterday through the mourning Brooklyn neighborhood that gave him the raw material for his meteoric career.
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Thousands of people packed the procession route, with the largest crowds gathered near the former home of the rap singer also known as Biggie Smalls.
BIGGIE SMALLS IS KILLED IN A DRIVE-BY SHOOTING IN 1997
Ten people in the crowd gathered for the procession were arrested, police said. Four officers and two civilians were hospitalized for burns from pepper spray after a scuffle broke out between cops clad in riot gear and some of those in the crowd.
The procession followed a glittering service at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan, where the royalty of rap turned out for an early morning service.
As Biggie lay in an open mahogany coffin in a white double-breasted suit, crowned by a derbylike playa hat, his heartbroken mother, Voletta Wallace, read from the Scriptures in a room fragrant with roses.
Biggie’s estranged wife, singer Faith Evans, sang the gospel song “Walk With Me, Lord,” and Sean (Puffy) Combs, head of Bad Boy Entertainment, eulogized the artist whose street-smart talents Combs had cultivated and packaged.
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Prominent among the 350 mourners were the lords and ladies of rap: Queen Latifah, Flava Flav, Mary J. Blige, Lil’ Kim, Lil’ Caesar, Run-DMC, DJ Kool Herc, Busta Rhymes, Salt, Pepa, Spinderella, Foxy Brown, Sistah Souljah and others.
After the service, a procession of more than a dozen stretch limousines joined two flower cars and the hearse carrying the body of the man born Christopher Wallace.
Before he was Biggie, he had lived in a third-floor apartment on St. James Place at the edge of Bedford-Stuyvesant. He grew to be an imposing 6-foot-3 and 280 pounds, an unmistakable and popular figure in the neighborhood.
By his own admission, he dived head-long into street life, hanging out, even selling crack. He seemed like just another sad story of a young life being thrown away, but he found he could turn his street experiences into popular music.
His 1995 debut album, “Ready to Die,” both made him a star and prophesied his early end.
Biggie was killed in a still unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles on March 9. His second album, “Life After Death . . . ‘Til Death Do Us Part,” is to be released Tuesday.
Yesterday, a long line of cars moved down the FDR Drive from Madison Ave. and onto the Brooklyn Bridge. The procession passed through downtown Brooklyn, then proceeded on Fulton St. to Bedford-Stuyvesant, where it wound through Biggie’s neighborhood.
It took the motorcade more than 10 minutes to move down St. James Place, past No. 226, where the rapper grew up. Neighbors and fans had created a shrine there of flowers, candles, CDs and pictures. Partially emptied bottles of champagne and cognac were placed at the shrine along with malt liquor bottles reminders of good times, some mourners said.
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Dollar bills and coins also were scattered at the makeshift altar.
The crowds chanted and cheered, waiting for the procession. Some stopped at the shrine to pay their respects.
“I feel void. A huge part of Brooklyn, a huge part of New York and the rap industry, has been hurt,” said Hector Hills, 22, of Flatbush. “You don’t know what went wrong, and it’s hard to know how to solve it.”
“It’s such a hard thing for him to go so young,” said Benjamin Bush, 73, a neighbor who said he had known Biggie since the rapper was a child.
People crowded the sidewalks, hung out windows, perched on lampposts and climbed onto cars for a glimpse of the cortege.
As the procession went down St. James Place, rappers Lil’ Caesar, Junior M.A.F.I.A., Randy and Nino waved and flashed peace signs out limousine windows. Some held pictures of Biggie.
The motorcade headed to Fulton St., leaving the crowd with only Biggie’s music echoing from a storefront loudspeaker.
The hearse carried his body to the Fresh Ponds Crematory in Middle Village, Queens, where it was cremated. The ashes were to be turned over to his family.
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