The Notorious B.I.G. once had dreams of swapping the mic for a movie role, revealing interest in portraying Fat Albert before his life was cut short in 1997, according to his former business partner.
Lance “Un” Rivera, who worked closely with Biggie during his rise, shared that the Brooklyn rap icon warmed up to the idea of acting after his hit “One More Chance” took off.
“I remember coming to B.I.G. in the first part of his career and I said, ‘Yo, man, I think you should play Fat Albert in the movie.’ And he was like, ‘Man, yo, you bugging, Un.’ And then after ‘One More Chance’ came out, he said, ‘I’ll play Fat Albert now,” Rivera said during an interview with The Art Of Dialogue.
Rivera added, “So yeah, he understood, man.”
The rapper had already dipped his toes into acting before his death. He made a memorable guest appearance on the sitcom Martin in the episode “Blow, Baby, Blow,” which aired on September 23, 1995.
In the episode, Biggie played himself as a music producer scouting for backup singers, with Martin’s wife, Gina and her friend Pam hilariously trying to land the gig.
That appearance marked his first on a scripted television show. He also showed up as himself in other mid-90s projects like New York Undercover, The Show, and Rhyme & Reason.
Rivera recalled Biggie’s creative flair behind the scenes, especially while making the “Crush on You” video.
“With ‘Crush on You,’ the video idea that he had, he wanted to play all these characters… he wanted to play a security guard, he was funny like that. He did a little acting on Martin, that’s where he wanted to be.”
Biggie’s acting ambitions never had the chance to fully develop.
On March 9, 1997, he was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24. According to CNN, he was sitting at a red light when a black Chevrolet Impala pulled up beside his vehicle and opened fire.
His murder remains unsolved.
The live-action Fat Albert film eventually hit theaters on December 25, 2004, with Kenan Thompson in the lead role. By then, Biggie had been gone for nearly eight years.
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