Notorious B.I.G.'s Success Journey | From Struggles to Triumph

Yo, check it out, Straight from Brooklyn.

Don't be a stupid rapper. A stupid rapper is a motherfucker that has somebody else tell them what to do.

Whatever you gonna do, just do it for a reason, you know what I'm saying? Don't be the fool to just sit back and do it because somebody else is doing it.

I wanted to get in the game and get the big house and the cars and with the pool, and I wanted to do all of that.

And that's one of the bad things about the game is when you get large, even your friends will turn against you, man.

He consistently ranks as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. When he released his debut album, Ready to Die, in 1994, he became a central figure in the East Coast hip-hop scene. He has certified sales of 17 million units in the United States. He's the Notorious B.I.G., and here's my take on his top 10 rules of success. Rule number 2 is my personal favorite, and I'm curious to figure out which one you guys like the best. And as always, if he's saying something that really resonates with you, Please leave it in the comments below and put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well. Enjoy!

Take control of your shit.

Don't be the type of rapper— don't be a stupid rapper. A stupid rapper is a motherfucker to have somebody else tell them what to do, which is not always wrong. But if it's something that you feel that you don't have to do, you really have to question it and find out why they want you to do it. Most niggas, they feel like, well, you see what Biggie's doing, you know, he has the hat, the Kangol, and, and this, and you have to be like that. But if you don't really want to be like that, you don't have to be like that, you know what I'm saying? A lot of just try to tell a nigga to do something so quick and, and give them examples of other that did it and blew up and make them think that they could do the same thing, which is not always necessarily true.

Whatever you gonna do, just do it for a reason, you know what I'm saying? Don't be the fool to just sit back and do it because somebody else is doing it, because the only thing you're gonna do is follow somebody else's footsteps and you're just gonna be a shadow who will be a shadow for the rest of their life, you know what I'm saying? If you got a little something that you know how to do, progress at it, keep trying. I mean, God knows what could happen, you know what I'm saying? That's what I did. Kept on rapping. It happened to get to the right ears, you know what I'm saying?

Oh man, I was just trying to do my thing, man. I kind of knew what I didn't want to do. I didn't want to be that ghetto corner rapper, you know. When I had my dreams of getting in the game, it wasn't just to get in the game and still be on the corner, like, you know. I wanted to get in the game and get the big house and the cars and with the pool, and I wanted to do all of that, you know. And I know in order to do that, there's certain things that you have to do. It's just a way you could pinch it off and just add your flavor to it. Me linking up with Puff, the old familiar old tracks, you know what I'm saying? That's gonna get the adult attention, you know what I'm saying? It's just the lyrics is just gonna get the younger dudes' attention. So to blend them both, I mean, hey, if they want to wear the Versace and the Coogies and the Kangols and yeah, Biggie, Biggie, it's all good with me.

I ain't got no problem with it.

Being a cat from Brooklyn and just being on the corner and being able to just spit something real quick and just murder that whole circle, you know, That's where you get your stripes and your stars.

Get the flag for the people over the block. Bad boy.

Ready to die.

Double flag. All right, we just gonna keep trying to feed our families, yo, you know what I'm saying? It's a job. It ain't nothing where somebody just felt like doing it and did it, you know what I'm saying?

He was hungry.

Everybody gotta eat, you know what I'm saying? I found something I was good at, I'm just trying to flip it, you know, keep it going. So I ain't trying to slack at all. It's representing for my peoples, my borough, my family, and I'm hot.

I'm just trying to just be that straight dude. I done went through so much, you know, being in the streets or whatever. I done been through so much. My mom's done been through so much. It feel good to just have her at ease, you know what I'm saying? Knowing her son is cool. He ain't in the streets doing no wrong. He trying to make it happen. I gotta stay on a positive vibe. All my people's got to stay on a positive vibe, you know. The negativity just brings failure, you know, and we ain't trying to fail in this game. We're trying to succeed.

Is your family the most important thing to you?

Yeah, at this time right now, yeah. I mean, I ain't gonna lie, at one point the music was more important because I knew that if I did good in the music, I could take care of my family a lot better. So I was more pushing towards making sure the music was tight, making sure every show I did was right, and just trying to get as much money as I could so I could take care of my family. Now that the job is basically done, I could chill. My wife's album is about to come out in like maybe a month or two, but I could just chill and just watch her, you know, just chill with her.

Who rock, cruise, and make moves with all the mommies. The back of the class, if they're awake, is where you'll find me. The back of the class, back at home's my crew behind me. Mad question asking, blood splashing, music blasting.

To me, I like the live stuff better than the stuff on the album, because the stuff on the album seemed more relaxed. You know what I'm saying? You gotta have a certain tone. You know what I'm saying? Puff may be like, don't get too excited, just chill, let it flow. But when you're on stage, sweat pouring down, I'm a big one too. Sweat be drenching. I just be representing, you know what I'm saying? Just doing my thing.

Now that hooch is blowing up like nitro, and they want to stick the knife through your windpipe slow.

When I first heard Big's demo, the first few bars of Big's demo, I felt the second coming of Big Daddy Kane.

Yo, check it out, straight from Brooklyn.

From the first time I heard Notorious B.I.G. was from a demo tape that I got from Matty C from The Source magazine. And I called him, I told him I was looking for some new talent, I wanted something real, real raw.

And he said, "It's crazy, but I have something that's incredible." The first time I heard Big was on the Supercat record with him and Puff. It was dope to me, 'cause you know what I'm saying, I like Supercat and, you know, I never heard Cuz Get Down before, so it was like a different voice, a different sound. And it was fly to me. And once I seen the video, seen, you know what I'm saying, what he looked like, how his approach was, I was like, "Yeah, he sharp, he slick." He'd be a rapper that I would like to get to know, you know what I'm talking about?

I mean, what Big did was he simplified, you know, the most intelligent things. He put it in layman terms for people to understand. Big was definitely like the professor of how it should be done. And if you're a student of rap, you gotta listen to him. And as you can hear it in everybody's music, you know, everybody's reciting Biggie rhymes.

Everybody.

He say whatever he wants to say and it's put together so well, you know? Like when he say, "You can consider my career like Mike's. Anyone, Tyson, Jordan, Jackson, Action, Pac, ridiculous." You know what I'm saying? Like that kind of shit. Like for rappers to do shit like that and come with that kind of thought-provoking wordplays, Far and few in between.

I never seen him jot anything down. I've never seen him. When the sample was looped up, he was just sitting down there like, had his eyes closed, and he would do this nasty thing with his ear like, and then he just starts spitting. And I was like, "Holy shit." And I saw the magic.

So you open every show with "Do a Warning." It's like one of your big songs right now.

Yeah.

How much are you exaggerating? With you now as a rapper, people coming to get you.

I ain't exaggerating at all, man. That's real, son. That's real, yo. I ain't exaggerating at all, man. The more money you make, the more problems you get. And jealousy and envy is something that comes with the territory, man. A lot of people, it's just negative energy, like my man Puff say. It just surrounds you. It makes you depressed, you know. So I gotta rap about it. And that's one of the bad things about the game, is when you get large, even your friends will turn against you, man. So I made a song about it.

But I mean, how real is your friend? Like, people constantly coming and wanting to kill you?

I mean, that's real. That's— I mean, I think about that every day.

Every day.

It's real. That's how real it is. I think somebody is trying to kill me. I'll be waking up paranoid. I'll be really I'll just be paranoid. That's just the way I am. You know, you be feeling me? Scared to death.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Derek Taylor asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it down in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know what did he say that had the biggest impact on you, on your business, on your life? What change are you gonna make after watching this video? Please leave in the comments below and I'm gonna join in the discussion. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to John D. Webster. John, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book and making that awesome YouTube video about it. I really, really, really appreciate it.

Evan inspired me to write my 6th book, which is a self-help book. Seriously, love that guy.

So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon.