Hip-hop royalty headed to social media to honor the life of the Notorious B.I.G. on March 9.
Affectionately known as #biggieday on the internet, the date marks the anniversary of the day the man responsible for moving the culture forward with cinematic videos and raw portraits of life in pre-gentrifed Brooklyn lost his life to senseless gun violence on a California street.
Diddy, Lil Kim, Faith Evans, DJ Clark Kent and more shared photographs and videos of the rapper on their Instagram pages, accompanied by heartfelt messages.
“There will NEVER be another. The GREATEST RAPPER OF ALL TIME. Today we celebrate and honor you king. Love and miss you!!!!!!!!! Happy Biggie Day,” wrote Diddy.
Lil Kim posted a video made by a fan that featured clips of her at the rapper’s side.
“Thank you to whoever made this video. It’s so touching, it’s beautiful,” she wrote in the caption. She ended the message with the hashtag #biggieday and an emoji of a broken heart.
DJ Clark Kent posted a picture of himself alongside a portrait of Smalls painted by Ryongko, wearing a sweatshirt that read “Ain’t No Other King,” featuring a picture of him. “
Always With Me. Rest In Power To The Notorious BIG,” he wrote in the caption.
Evans posted a vintage shot of her smiling brightly beside her former husband. She expressed her dedication to his memory by using the hashtag #BIGFOREVER.
However, not everyone was comfortable the annual tradition of celebrating Biggie’s death on social media.
Many have murmured that they found the new “tradition” odd, and on his podcast State of The Culture, host Joe Budden and his co-hosts stated that they weren’t fans of the tradition.
“Every time we get to March 9th I be like uh he has a birthday and we can acknowledge it,” said Budden.
Smalls’ son CJ put a more positive spin on the slightly morbid practice, using the occasion to announce the cannabis company he created to honor his late father.