Such is the case of Cornwall’s Biggie Smalls, a cat who was recently used as target practice for a gang of thugs toting air guns. Biggie, who is only two years old, was hit in the eye and blinded.

Nor is he alone. Police suspect that this same gang is responsible for shooting at least five other cats in Cornwall in the last month. Unlike Biggie, however, these cats have all died - so Biggie can count himself lucky in this case.

Still. That’s pretty sick. Isn’t losing one Biggie Smalls to gunfire enough for this world?

Biggie Smalls was actually his name as of his demo tape. It was a reference to both his physical stature (he weighed over 300 pounds and stood over six feet tall) and to a childhood nickname he’d been given. The tape wasn’t made seriously but it nevertheless won Biggie Smalls attention. But Biggie learned that somebody else was already using that same name, so he decided on something new.

That new name was, of course, The Notorious B.I.G. And it’s that moniker that’s stuck with him most, both before and after his death. The majority of his albums were released under this name, and when he’s referred to it’s usually as B.I.G., not Biggie Smalls.

Featuring fellow rappers Puff Daddy and Mase, the song’s video takes place in a wide variety of futuristic locations, often with very inventive camera work. One particularly inventive scene has the two rapping while spinning in anti-gravity. The video was noted for its extremely flashy outfits which would soon become a staple of music videos.

Lyrics (courtesy Seek Lyrics):

Now, who’s hot who not
Tell me who rock who sell out in the stores
You tell me who flopped who copped the blue drop
Who jewels got robbed who’s mostly Goldie down
to the tube sock, the same ol pimp
Mase, you know ain’t nuttin change but my limp
Can’t stop till I see my name on a blimp
Guarantee a million sales pullin all the love
You don’t believe in Harlem World nigga double up
We don’t play around it’s a bet lay it down
nigga didn’t know me ninety-one bet they know me now
I’m the young Harlem nigga with the Goldie sound
Can’t no PHD niggaz hold me down, Cooter
schooled me to the game, now I know my duty
Stay humble stay low blow like Hootie
True pimp niggaz spend no dough on the booty
And then ya yell there go Mase there go your cutie
[singers come in over this last line]

I don’t know what, they want from me
It’s like the more money we come across
The more problems we see
[repeat 2X]

[Verse Two: Puff Daddy]

Yeah yeah, ahaha, from the C-to-the-A-to-the-D-D-Y
know you’d rather see me die than to see me fly
I call all the shots
Rip all the spots, rock all the rocks
Cop all the drops, I know you thinkin now’s
when all the ballin stops, nigga never
home got to call me on the yacht
Ten years from now we’ll still be on top
Yo, I thought I told you that we won’t stop
Now whatcha gonna do when it’s cool
bag a money much longer than yours
and a team much stronger than yours, violate me
this’ll be your day, we don’t play
Mess around be D.O.A., be on your way
Cause it ain’t enough time here, ain’t enough lime here
for you to shine here, deal with many women
but treat dimes fair, and I’m
bigger than the city lights down in Times Square
Yeah, yeah yeah

I don’t know what, they want from me
It’s like the more money we come across
The more problems we see
[repeat 2X]

[Verse Three: Notorious B.I.G.]

Uhh, uhhh
B.I.G., P-O, P-P-A
No info, for the, DEA
Federal agents mad cause I’m flagrant
Tap my cell, and the phone in the basement
My team supreme, stay clean
Triple beam lyrical dream, I be that
Cat you see at all events bent
Gats in holsters girls on shoulders
Playboy, I told ya, bein mice to me
Bruise too much, I lose, too much
Step on stage the girls boo too much
I guess it’s cause you run with lame dudes too much
Me lose my touch, never that
If I did, ain’t no problem to get the gat
Where the true players at?
Throw your rollies in the sky
Wave em side to side and keep their hands high
While I give your girl the eye, player please
Lyrically, niggaz see, B.I.G.
be flossin jig on the cover of Fortune
Five double oh, get the phone number
your man ain’t got to know, I got the dough
Got the flow down phizat, platinum plus
Like thizat, dangerous
on trizack, leave your ass flizzat

I don’t know what, they want from me
It’s like the more money we come across
The more problems we see
[repeat 3X]
What’s goin on?
What’s goin on?
I don’t know what, they want from me
It’s like the more money we come across
The more problems we see
[repeat 3X to fade]

Biggie had attended an after party and left with his entourage a little after midnight. The streets were still filled to the brim with celebrants, however, and Biggie’s vehicle was stopped a number of time by people in the street. As his GMC slowly rolled its way towards his hotel, however, his truck and another he’d been traveling with were cut off by a pair of vehicles.

One of these trucks pulled up beside the window of Biggie’s vehicle and a well-dressed man fired a gun multiple times. Biggie was hit four times in the chest. He was rushed to a hospital by his entourage after the two trucks withdrew but pronounced dead a little after 1 am.

Police have yet to pin the murder of Biggie Smalls on anybody despite a number of potential suspects.