THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070651
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MARC TIBBS
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
With song titles to his credit like ``Me and My Bitch,'' ``Suicidal Thoughts'' and ``Machine Gun Funk,'' it's no wonder that mayhem reigned at a Portsmouth nightclub where Biggie Smalls was scheduled to perform.
Early Saturday morning, the Ebony Showcase was the scene of sheer pandemonium as a crowd of more than 1,600 people went scurrying for cover when automatic gunfire erupted inside the Airline Boulevard nightspot. Amazingly, no one was shot.
Officially known as ``The Notorious Big,'' the rap artist had just completed a set when the trouble began.
Club owner David Casteel, who opened the Ebony Showcase earlier this year to target a ``middle-class black clientele,'' decided to appeal to a younger crowd after spats with area homeowners and resultant bad publicity left the nightclub empty most weekends.
Casteel had complained that opposition to the club was racially motivated and didn't surface until nearby residents learned that the club would cater to a black clientele. Many residents have been quick to utter ``I-told-you-sos'' in the wake of last weekend's melee.
But anyone could have seen trouble coming when the club shifted to the younger, more raucous crowd that follows Biggie and his gangsta rap. Club insiders say it was only a matter of time before this volatile mix gave skeptical neighbors a valid reason for opposing the club.
An admitted drug dealer from Brooklyn, N.Y., Biggie, who in reality is 20-year-old Christopher Wallace, is described by his fans as a ``poet'' whose raps are a slice of the criminal street life.
His latest release, ``Ready to Die,'' is panoply of his so-called ``reality rap,'' which is described as ``listener friendly'' because the lyrics can be understood.
In his hit single ``Juicy,'' he poses such languid rhymes as this to describe his new lifestyle: ``My whole crew is lounging/no more, living in public housing.''
Here's Biggie's insight on daily living as he described it in a published interview examining his street lifestyle:
``The struggle is waking up every day, hitting the (street) corner and waiting for that check cashing gate to go up so that the crack heads can get their (Social Security) check and come see.
``At the same time you're dealing with stick-up men, dealing with the police, dealing with old-time hustlers . . . dealing with bitches (women), and dealing with niggas who've got taller capsule (better crack cocaine).''
Biggie's music is not to be confused with that of ``Biggy Smallz,'' a 16-year-old West Coast artist who has never set foot in Portsmouth but whose record sales have done well in the area as a result of The Notorious Big's popularity here.
``There has been some confusion in the listening market,'' said Smallz manager David Esterson. ``We've sold over 1,500 units in the Norfolk area, which is the highest of our small-market sales.''
The Notorious Big's stint at the Showcase came after his being turned away from the David's II nightclub in downtown Portsmouth on Labor Day. Crowds there knocked down a glass wall before the concert even got under way. David's II, like the Ebony Showcase, catered to the gangsta rap audience.
After his set last Friday night, Big uttered some disparaging remarks about Portsmouth from the Showcase stage just minutes before the melee began.
It wasn't the first time that the Showcase has endured an unruly crowd. Crowds overtook the club a week or so after Labor Day, emptying a cash register and trashing the place, one former employee said.
Police found bags of marijuana residue after the Saturday melee, and there are reports that teens smoked ``blunts'' - marijuana-filled cigar wrappers - throughout the club a few weeks earlier.
Now, a judge has ordered both clubs closed until further notice. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 27 for the Showcase, and David's will remain closed for at least the next 30 days, or until a court hearing can be scheduled.
Club owners may once have been justified in arguing that much of the opposition was racially motivated. But bringing in acts like Biggie Smalls and his ``Machine Gun Funk'' only gives ammunition to their critics. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Rap artist Biggie Smalls, known as ``The Notorious Big,'' from the
cover of his album ``Ready to Die''
by CNB