He was born Christopher George Latore Wallace in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on May 21, 1972, the only child of Jamaican immigrant parents.

He transferred from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Downtown Brooklyn, which future rappers DMX, Jay-Z, and Busta Rhymes were also attending. According to his mother, Wallace was still a good student but developed a "smart-a**" attitude at the new school.

In 1989, he was arrested on weapons charges in Brooklyn and sentenced to five years' probation. In 1990, he was arrested on a violation of his probation. A year later, he was arrested in North Carolina for dealing crack cocaine. He spent nine months in jail before making bail.

"I love it when you call me Big Poppa
Ya got a gun up in your waist, please don't shoot up the place
'Cause I see some ladies tonight
That should be havin' my baby"

After his release from jail, Wallace made a demo tape, Microphone Murderer, dubbing himself Biggie Smalls, an allusion both to Calvin Lockhart's character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again and to his own stature and obesity.

Wallace signed to Sean "Puffy" Combs' label Bad Boy Records as it launched in 1993. He gained exposure through features on several other artists' singles that year.

Three versions of the song were released, the single version featuring three verses from Shaq, the album version, which featured 2 verses from The Notorious B.I.G. and a remix that was made by DJ Quik. The Notorious B.I.G.'s verse would later be re-used on "Unbreakable", the opening track of Michael Jackson's 2001 album Invincible.

"Yeah, this album is dedicated
To all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothin'
To all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustlin' in front of
Called the police on me when I was just tryin' to make some money to feed my daughter
It's all good"

Faith Evans married Biggie on August 4, 1994, a few months after meeting him at a Bad Boy photoshoot.

2Pac not only attacked Biggie's street cred, but claimed to have slept with his wife. "Hit 'Em Up" had a large role in exacerbating the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry, and Shakur was murdered just three months after its release.