The day was March 9th, 1997 and the music world woke up to a shock. Notorious BIG (Biggie Smalls) was ambushed in the streets of LA. There’s no doubt that music, and the world itself lost so much that day.

Biggie is remembered by fans across the globe, and every year on March 9th, I see the DJ community remember him by creating and posting Notorious Big tributes.

For those who don’t know the story, it goes a little something like this:

Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Biggie Smalls was leaving an after party that had followed the 11th annual Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles. The after party that was held at the Peterson Automotive Museum was broken up by the fire department for being over capacity. Shortly after leaving the party around 12:45am the SUV that Biggie, Damion “D-Roc” Butler, Lil’ Cease, Gregory “G-Money” Young were in came to a stop light. That’s where a black Chevy Impala rolled up and opened fire on the SUV. Biggie was struck in the chest four times and rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead at 1:15am, he was 24.

Biggie’s murder has gone unsolved and no one has officially been charged for the crime. There are several assumptions as well as conspiracy theories circulating. Some theories, as listed by UsMagazine, imply that Puff Daddy was involved, the FBI was involved, or that corrupt LAPD had something to do with the hit. The best and most hopeful theory is that Biggie is still alive, along with Tupac.

We lost a musical genius and legend too soon. Music certainly misses Biggie and his smooth laid-back flow. This morning I spent a couple hours going through some of the Notorious Big tribute mixes on Mixcloud and put together some of my favorites.

DJ Switch

DJ Paradox

Red Bull Italia

DJ Sol

DJ Spinbad

DJ Wonder

DJ Nuñez