Phill Branch
St. Louis Evening Whirl
March 1997

The pop world stood still as reports flashed that rap artist, actor, icon Tupac Shakur passed way. Tupac's death sent shock waves through the media and chills through the hip hop community. Not since O.J. has so much speculation taken place about who did what and why.

People from coast to coast gathered around water coolers, schoolyards, bus stops and homes expressing their feelings about the tragic ending to Tupac's life. Not all were sympathetic.

Big mouthed New York City deejay Wendy Williams, referred to Tupac as "1Pac," because he had one lung and one testicle. Williams was quickly booted out of the door and suspended.

Fast forward six months later. Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Biggie Smalls is shot dead in a hail of gunfire after a music industry party. Like Tupac, Biggie's death was a result of a drive-by that sent people running for cover. Both shootings occurred around huge celebrity events; Tupac after a Tyson fight and Biggie after the Soul Train Music Awards. Eerily, both were also shot sitting in the passenger seats of the vehicles they were in.

Touted as being one of the most "slammin" parties of the year, due to backers like Vibe Magazine, Qwest Records and hip hop clothing icon Tommy Hilfiger, the event was held at the Peterson Automotive Museum on Museum Row in Los Angeles.

The question on several people's minds who attended the event is, "Could this have been prevented?"

What is known, is that the Vibe party last year went off without a hitch on the lot of Paramount Studios on Melrose. Guests were required to show passes in order to drive into the studio parking lot. Those without passes were turned away. After parking, everyone went through security where their tickets and names were checked. Then, security did a metal detector search. I felt like I was going through the airport, Inside the party people from D'Angelo to Queen Latifah to Marlon Wayans were getting their groove on, networking and drinking.

This year's event was quite different. There was no security check before letting people enter the parking area. To my surprise no metal detector searches were done at the door. I don't think I've been to a party in years without getting patted down. I don't know what they were thinking, you need metal detectors at most house parties nowadays.

The party called for upscale attire, but for about a third of the people there, that meant jeans and sports jerseys. If you watch the Soul Train Awards, you see that they barely wanted to get dressed up for that...and that's on TV! Despite the casual attire worn by some, the mood was mellow initially and all seemed well.

People gathered around talking, some were on the dance floor getting buck wild and a few people took advantage of the jazz room where they could talk without screaming and nibble on gourmet finger food. Business cards were not the only thing being passed around the party though...the weed was flowing. The fire marshals warned the event hosts that the smoking had to stop. Busta Rhymes even hopped on stage and told folks to chill before the marshals shut down the party.

Biggie worked the crowd as his new single "Hypnotize" blared in the background. He was later introduced by his friend and Bad Boy Entertainment president Sean "Puff" Combs. Later, Puffy hopped around with some of his crew chanting "Bad Boy" in celebration of his company's success.

The crowd was just about to stomp a hole in the floor when the deejay began to play Case and Foxy Brown's "Touch Me, Tease Me" when the music stopped. Eventually the lights came on and a very disgruntled group of party-goers began filing out towards the exits.

Since the party ended abruptly, chaos set in almost immediately. The crush of cars and people quickly turned what had been a mellow vibe, into pandemonium. At one point, a bottle was thrown down an empty escalator, shattering and causing people to scatter. That was my cue to get out.

My crew and I decided to walk home, which was a couple blocks away, since we could not safely get our cars. Nothing had really happened, but the mood was to hectic and tense. About ten minutes after we made our way through my front door, we heard sirens.

Wilshire Blvd. was lit up with lights from police cars and fire trucks. Initially, I figured it might have been just another fight that had gotten out of control, perhaps someone disrespecting somebody's girl. But I was wrong, Biggie Smalls had been shot and killed.