What was Biggie Smalls’ pre-fame rap name?
The Notorious B.I.G. went through a number of name changes in his career, some more public than others. The Ready To Die creator didn’t come onto the scene as The Notorious B.I.G. but, came as Biggie Smalls and many of his demos were recorded under this moniker.
The emcee rose to fame as Biggie Smalls while rapping on street corners in Brooklyn and took his name inspiration from Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier’s 1975 film Let’s Do It Again. The character was a gang leader and the enigmatic protagonist of the film. It also paid tribute to his childhood nickname, “Big”. However, the stage name had already been taken by a West Coast rapper, and although the California lyricist was spelling the name with a “Z” as opposed to a “S”, the Brooklyn artist decided to switch.
However, few know that before he even recorded a demo tape and when he was just rapping for fun at the same high school as Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes he went by the rather normal name of MC CWest.
Although many would read it as phonetically as “C-West”, during an interview for the 2021 Netflix documentary, Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell, one of his oldest rap friends, 50 Grand, explained why he named himself MC West.
Why did Biggie Smalls call himself MC West?
As well as being a rapper, the pair used to sell crack together while Biggie was living in Clinton Hills. However, he unveiled that he changed the name upon his move to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood. Detailing why he named himself CWest, Grand explained, “The name is pronounced like quest, but he changed the spelling to include CW instead — the initials for his government name, Christopher Wallace.”
This was the name he used until he was 14 years old, but it changed to Biggie Smalls thereafter. In 1994, before the release of Ready To Die, the emcee told Funk Flex why he had to change his name to The Notorious B.I.G. and blamed it on a “lame little 14-year-old ‘Cruisin’’ calling himself Biggy Smallz. He don’t know the true meaning, but it’s all good — we trying to make some paper.”
Only the closest friends of the rapper who knew him as a young teenager in Clinton Hills were aware of his original emcee name CWest, and although there are no recordings of his name under this moniker, it was how locals knew him before he even recorded his Microphone Murderer demo.