Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace was upstairs at a Quad Recording Studios session with the Rap group Junior M.A.F.I.A. when Tupac Shakur was being ambushed, robbed, and shot five times in Quad's downstairs lobby on November 30, 1994. The real story behind the Quad Recording Studios ambush has been treated like a sidebar story until now. What happened at Quad Recording Studios is a major story in itself, because people looked the other way and ignored what everyone knew, and they also knew what might eventually happen to Tupac Shakur in NYC. Even if the robbery was random, saying too much would have brought attention to other criminals within the industry.
From another perspective, the child [Tupac Shakur] of a prominent New York City Black Panther Party legacy was ambushed and shot five times, and no major inquiry took place to examine the people close to the situation. The music industry was littered with crack-cocaine era criminals, who ended up indirectly harming Notorious B.I.G.'s career. Executives were in music magazines talking about how they once sold drugs, yet full investigations never took place in the mid-1990s.
Media figures did not do enough to address how Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace's reputation was being wrongly smeared. Interscope Records should have taken the initiative and stopped Tupac Shakur from making negative statements against Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace in interviews and songs. Where were the investigative journalists and reporters to determine who was behind the ambush? The Quad Recording Studios ambush was not a deep mystery. It was either random or not.
The robbery and shooting was a small issue, compared to how criminals were being allowed to operate unchecked within the professional Hip Hop music industry. There is a reason why New York City stood by and allowed Christopher Wallace's reputation to be sacrificed, instead of demanding answers about the Quad Recording Studios ambush.
More journalists, networks, and publications should have stepped in and covered this story, since New York City is the media capital of the world. Investigative television shows like 60 Minutes, 20/20, and Inside Edition never thoroughly investigated the people involved in the Hip Hop music industry at that time. On the West Coast, Marion "Suge" Knight's antics were already well-known by 1994, yet Hip Hop journalists were slow to report the whole story, which is when law enforcement agencies usually get involved. Everyone saw the criminal influence on the East and West Coasts. The New York Police Department's Gang Unit was child-like, compared to the original surveillance agencies like the FBI that watched the Shakurs, long before Hip Hop culture was created. The ultimate argument was never whether Notorious B.I.G. had a hand in the ambush. He was blamed because he was non-criminally entwined with certain groups of New York criminals.
By the early 1980s, the stereotype of the "angry militant" Black Power Movement member always caused a comedic chuckle and was a joke within the "Black" community. With Tupac Shakur, a dynamic post-Black Power Movement figure had emerged. Tupac possessed the ambition, charisma, and potential to change the world, which is why investigative journalists and the local press should have investigated the ambush and the New York music industry more thoroughly. Up to this day, people never explained why criminals were allowed to muscle their way into the Hip Hop industry so easily.
There was a climate of hate surrounding Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, because his combination of intelligence, wit, and musicality made it difficult for a lot other Rappers to thrive around him. Various people openly or secretly rooted for Notorious B.I.G.'s downfall, because of the way his meteoric rise shook the music industry at its core.
