short video: funeral of rapper The Notorious B.I.G. /Biggie Smalls. The murder of Christopher Wallace, an American hip-hop artist better known by his stage names “the Notorious B.I.G.” and “Biggie Smalls”, or “Frank White”, occurred in the early hours of March 9, 1997. The hip hop artist was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, California.