“There are things about me that accentuate him that nobody knows.
So in this documentary, they let me yap a little bit.
“Ever since I was a little girl I liked stories,” she says.
The Notorious B.I.G. in New York, 1995.Credit: Adger Cowans/Getty Images
That was it for me; I’m a country girl at heart.
I became very attached to the beautiful voices and the stories they were telling.
I love my Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings.
Christopher Wallace, the future Notorious B.I.G., with childhood friends.Courtesy of Christopher Wallace Estate/Netflix
He listened to it all with me because he had no other choice.
“I remember Lou trying to teach him how to play guitar while Dave would be the singer.
At the time, I didn’t know anything about rap and I doubt Christopher did either.
When they were together, they were always playing their reggae music.
He really got a kick out of that and looked forward to those moments.
The documentary also includes Wallace’s early connection to jazz.
“Donald saw something in Christopher that I didn’t,” Ms. Wallace says.
“Evidently, Donald heard him and they were later introduced to one another.
I think he wanted Christopher to be a jazz musician.
Meanwhile, that whole time I thought he wanted to be a graphic artist.
But Donald was molding him to become a jazz musician, and he taught him about its origins.
Christopher had a lot of respect for Donald.
He told me he was a nice man and that he taught him a lot.”
Butler remembers his longtime friend’s evolution from avid music fan to a rapper with a story to tell.
“When Big was young, he was shy.
I think you should give it a shot.'
He always had a knack for it, it came naturally to him.
A lot of people don’t know he was a very educated guy, and so creative.
I’m not surprised at all at what he was able to achieve.”
