Christopher Wallace a/k/a The Notorious B.I.G.
Born in Brooklyn to Voletta Wallace and a Jamaican politician and welder named George Latore, Christopher Wallace is widely considered to be greatest rapper of all-time, and still maintains a hugely influential presence in music more than 15 years after his death. The most remarkable thing about Biggie’s career was the impact he made in just under five years—the amount of time between his earliest collaborations with Mary J. Blige and Heavy D, and his death in 1997. —Jesse Serwer