"I'm the rapper with clout everybody yap about, Check it out-guns I bust' em, Problems with my wife don't discuss 'em"(199). This quote comes from the song "Gettin Money", which is also mentioned at the beginning of the chapter in which B.I.G's life turns around. When Tupac Shakur died, the whole media pointed fingers at B.I.G, because for about two years they had begun their beef with each other. This was not a beef that we think of today, this was an all out lyrical warfare, which at any moment could have exploded into a gang warfare. When Tupac died, B.I.G was shocked, and was getting all the media's attention. He released this song in 1995, and this quote discusses how everybody is yapping about him, but he is "the rapper with clout". This means that his words have great influence on everyone, and whatever he says, he says it in an authoritive way. The subject of the matter was, that the media did not care what the king of the east coast was saying, they just wanted everybody to know that it was he who killed Tupac. The tone shift in his music is really evident in this song, because he has gone out on the offensive, saying he has guns and he can bust them, and has a protective line saying I have problems with my wife, do not dare discuss it. This single song shows how B.I.G was being chased by the media, and he went head on against them by making music like this. This is very important because people affiliated with Tupac took this as a way that B.I.G was trying to hide the fact that he killed Tupac, so eventually Tupac's boys went off and killed him also. It stood out in the book because I had listened to the song, and while reading this book I realized what the words meant, rather then just listening to the song because it had a nice flow to it.
Quote #2