Russell Simmons has reflected on the fateful night that The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered, revealing he had an eerie feeling that death was around the corner.
The embattled co-founder of Def Jam Records shared a rambling speech on Instagram on Monday (April 15) in which he recalled his last encounter with the late rap legend, who was gunned down in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997.
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“I walked Biggie to his car and I felt, that night, his death,” Simmons said. “I must have been involved in saving the lives of God knows how many rappers. I’ve solved so many rap beefs behind the scenes.”
He then shared his general musings on the current rap wars and real-life conflict in the Middle East before resuming his story.
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“I walked Biggie to his car the day he was killed. And that experience was — I got home and I got a phone call from Mike Concepcion [a leader of the Crips]. I was in L.A. I walked him to his car. That was the only time I ever really hung out with him,” he said.
“Mike Concepcion called me and told me he had been killed. The next day, I called and we set up a meeting at Mr. Farrakhan’s house. We had a meeting where East and West came together. It kind of stopped the war.
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“But it was a big deal because people were dying. Biggie and 2Pac were dead. Rap beef escalated to that. We had a meeting and I felt, that night, his death.”
Check out the video below.
Russell Simmons isn’t the only Hip Hop figure with a story to tell about the night that Biggie died.
Last year, former Bad Boy rapper Ma$e revealed he had an army of Bloods after him in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.
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The Harlem native was asked about Biggie’s death by Cam’ron on an episode of It Is What It Is, where he remembered being “trapped” in his hotel room in Los Angeles with roughly 70 gang members in the hallway outside.
Ma$e suspects they were “looking for more Bad Boy artists” to harm — or worse.
“I was in a hotel. I was actually in a hotel with a young lady,” he said. “I was trapped in the hotel. It was about, probably like, 70 or so Bloods in the hallway. I couldn’t even leave my room.”
He added: “After Big got killed, they were probably looking for more Bad Boy artists. And I couldn’t even leave the room ’til Gene Deal [Diddy’s former bodyguard] had to come get me.”
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“Damn, that’s fucked up,” an unusually somber Cam’ron replied. “Sorry.”
“I was left in L.A. And from that day, I always said, ‘I’m outta here,’” Ma$e continued. “I was left! I came there with people; I ain’t leave with those people. You know how it goes. Find your way home.”
