Today, Hip Hop fans across the world celebrate the legacy of Biggie Smalls and the music he left behind. Here’s a throwback interview with BET’s Rap City from February 24, 1997.

In the interview, Biggie promotes his upcoming album with BET. “I want my spot back,” he tells interviewer Jim Bean. He then continues to discuss his strategy – working with different sounding artists like Too $hort and R. Kelly on the same joint. “I want to show the versatility,” he says.

Tupac passed the year before this interview. Biggie Smalls recalls the tension between them, explaining that he never wanted to add into the grandeur of the situation, that he wanted to squash the beef.

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This was Biggie’s last interview before an unknown assailant tragically shot him down on March 9, 1997, two weeks before Life After Death’s release date.