I’ve known it from the moment that we met. Let’s make a deal.” I was like, “Uh… What? What do you want? Why would I make a deal with you?” I’m just not into him and his whole swag. But he kept on like, “It’s a deal for the city.” I was like, “Um, yeah, what you mean by city? Are you talking about where you live?” He’s like, “It’s the city. When we get to the hotel, you will be the biggest rapper in there.” I was like, “That’s not a deal.” When he first said that, I thought that he was going to have an AR man on the track, because he was like, “We got to do it fast. We got to make a quick video.” [“That’s a Rated G” sample] You’re probably aware of the scene we had with the shooting and the police had killed another black guy. They’re all just shooting black guys. They’re like, “They have guns.” When they pulled him out of the passenger seat of the car, they killed him. I thought it was time for me to start talking about the things that I see in the hood. I want to get people out of the hood. I think that’s my job, right? I might have a different opinion now, because they’ve shown me a lot. A lot of people said, “What are you doing?” I was like, “I’m trying to make it out.” [Chanting] “They shootin’ in the hood and they sayin’ go run and hide! Run and hide, run and hide! But no justice, no peace! No justice, no peace!” And a lot of people got in trouble for what they said or whatever. Even though it’s not a nice thing to say, a lot of people really aren’t even trying to get away. When I do my shows now, there’s a lot of young, young kids that are there. I asked for everybody that were here tonight that’s in the age group, from 20-29, and they all raised their hand. When we did “Hate Begets Hate,” I asked the same question, you all raised your hand. You guys are 21, 22, 25… you know what I mean. It’s so sad to be so young, but you know what I’m saying? It’s very sad. There’s a lot of young kids that came up. I didn’t have to grow up in the hood. When I first got into the game, I wasn’t in that environment. If I had my way, I wouldn’t be in the game. Just thinking about the things we’ve gone through, thinking about how it feels when we lose a friend, it’s just sad. When somebody asks me, “How was it?” I say, “It was OK.” Everybody wants to know, “How did you handle it?” “Did you cry?” It just makes me sad, because they don’t understand. When they say “you got to move on,” I can’t do it. I can’t do it! The people in my life, that I love and care for, they are in this life, and they can’t move on. My son, who’s six, came to the stage with me, and they had to take him off the stage. He had to go back to his mom. They took him out of the building, because he just lost it. When he walked out of here, he was crying. And he didn’t even understand. They had to take him off the stage. I had to pick him up from school today, and we just had the conversation. How he feels when he looks at me. The things he said he’s worried about. When you think about everything that we’ve gone through as a city in the last 30 years. You see all these pictures and images of a younger brother like myself, how I look, that it could happen to me. You’re young. This thing could be you, one day. My mother was so proud of me for what I’ve done, and the sacrifices I’ve made, for my future. She never wants me to get robbed again. She wants me to get home safe. She wants me to be here for her. My mother is 83. She can’t hear so well. She has dementia. She called me yesterday, because she was remembering how excited I was when I used to come home from school. And how excited I would be when I got the money. But she doesn’t remember any of that. She says, “I miss your daddy.” When I told her about the city’s name, she started crying. Because it means a lot to her, because she raised me with the name “Biggie Smalls.” When I say Biggie Smalls, I can’t help but think about her. When I call her mom, she started crying. It’s like seeing her son or grandson. It’s just so sad. If there was ever an award for the most influential mother in rap history, it’d definitely go to Big Momma. Just knowing what it feels like for me, my momma knowing what it feels like, every single day I step foot on the stage, or leave the stage, I know what it feels like for my momma not being able to hear me. She sees in my mind what it feels like. How it affects her heart and her soul. My mother, she gave me my name, “Biggie Smalls.” She gave me my name. She used to always say that, she always told me to try and have better days. She wanted me to keep looking for the next day. She wanted me to keep working. She wanted me to have a better life than her. And, she gave me everything in her power. When we was kids, my mother was a single parent. She was a single mom, raising us in the hood. She would go get her mail and stuff, and she was walking down the street with all of her shopping bags, with the whole world. She would get called, “Biggie Smalls.” I don’t know where she got that name. I guess it just stuck. They must’ve been watching her. I never really asked. I never knew how she got my name. When you got a family that’s watching you and you got fans that put that name out there, then I guess you get to reap the benefits. She didn’t have to go and get a loan. She didn’t have to go to anyone for a loan. She just did it. She just did it. I love my momma to death. This is me and my mother, my momma sitting here. She’s 81 years old. She has Alzheimer’s. She forgets me. She forgets what I look like. I’ll be talking to her, she’ll know who I am, but she forgets it after five minutes. It’s hard when you’re growing up, especially with your mom, and she has Alzheimer’s. You always think about it. I always think about it. Because when I die, I want to go to heaven. When I die, I want to go to heaven, and see God and my mother. I don’t want to have to say, “Hey, you my mom, right?” I want her to come and give me a hug and a kiss. I don’t want to have to do that. It’s hard as a young kid to think about, but at the same time, I’m proud that I got a momma like that. I can’t imagine anyone in the world hiding this, this disease. When you see a mother looking at her son, and she can’t move. It’s such