Arguably one of the greatest rappers ever to clutch the microphone, the Notorious B.I.G. celebrates what would have been his 37th birthday today. That's right, the late great Frank White would have been just three years shy of officially being considered "over the hill."

Since his untimely demise at the age of 24, there's been much speculation for the past decade as to where the Brooklynite would stand in today's rap climate. Would B.I.G. and his sidekick/boss Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs still be rocking together? What about Jay-Z? Lil Kim? Let's take a look.

Bad Boy: Although B.I.G. was the label's flagship artist and only on his second album (a double at that), a certain Mr. Comb's track record of retaining his artists for the duration of their contractual obligations is not an impressive one (check: Craig Mack, Total, 112, Faith Evans, Mase, G. Dep, Black Rob, etc.) So, it's hard to say whether Biggie himself would still be on the once-dominant Bad Boy.

Jay-Z: The two became bosom buddies and were on the verge of creating a supergroup together with Charli Baltimore, dubbed the Commission, before B.I.G. passed. But as history shows, money and power have ruined some of the strongest alliances in hip-hop. Many argue that if B.I.G. were here, then Hov's career wouldn't be as massive as it currently is.

Junior M.A.F.I.A.: Some of Biggie's rap peers turned their heads in disgust when turmoil within the M.A.F.I.A. went public. The Lil Kim/ Lil Cease/ D-Roc fallout and, most recently, Kim verbally attacking B.I.G.'s mother Voletta Wallace over her portrayal in the movie "Notorious" must have B.I.G. turning in his grave. But if Big were still here, maybe the group would still be intact.

Lil' Kim: Kim revisted the national spotlight these past two months with her appearance on "Dancing With the Stars," but B.I.G. had his own plans to turn the starlet into a household name long ago. Critics say Kim's rap career is on ice, but rest assured that if her mentor were still alive today, he'd have none of that.

Faith Evans: The married couple were on the outs when B.I.G. passed, even though they shared the birth of the first child together during their separation. It's a known fact B.I.G. was a ladies man, but his close friends say that his heart belonged to his "Big Fay." Would Faith and Biggie's son, C.J., have eventually reunited his parents?

Nas: Indirectly, the Queensbridge native and Bed Stuy's 'hood mayor were taking verbal shots at each other not long before B.I.G.'s death. Nas acknowledged that he use to hang with Biggie and Puff during Big's Ready to Die days. Then the two later got competitive with each other, tussling for that prestigious King of New York throne. Imagine Nas' "Black Republican" feat Jay-Z and Biggie, or even B.I.G.'s "I Love the Dough" feat Jay-Z and Nas. (Nas talks about the whole King Of New York thing) 

Tupac: Before his own death, Pac was shifting away from Death Row and possibly the whole East Coast vs. West Coast beef and working on an album with Brooklyn group Black Moon on the album "One Nation." Though Pac was piping mad at B.I.G. in his final days, working with a fellow Brooklyn act was a start to end their beef. Eminem brought together vocals from B.I.G. and Pac for the "Resurrection" film, but would the real reunion have eventually been in the works if the legends were still alive?

Happy born day, Frank White. We'll always love Big Poppa.

That's right, DJ Nick Cannon. The actor is known for making people laugh, but behind the turntables he's no joke. DJing has been a talent and passion Cannon had kept on the low until the last few years. Last night, he played records by New Edition, Madonna, Kris Kross and of course the whole Bad Boy Family (circa 1994-97).

Much of the cast, including the film's star, Jamal Woolard (Biggie), and Naturi Naughton (Lil' Kim) were on hand at the Vibe-hosted party. Big's real-life partner in crime, Lil' Cease, also came out, as did sexy model Melyssa Ford and Vibe editor in chief Danyel Smith.

The "Notorious" DVD comes out April 21, in both the original format and the uncut version.

It would go down as one of hip-hop's darkest hours: March 9, 1997, marked the untimely death of arguably the greatest rapper to ever grip the microphone: the Notorious B.I.G.

Big had been out in Los Angeles celebrating the release of his highly anticipated sophomore album, Life After Death, and was leaving Vibe magazine's Soul Train Awards afterparty, when he was ambushed by gunfire while sitting in the passenger seat of a Chevrolet Suburban.

The news of Big's death hit hard back in his hometown of New York City. Local radio station Hot 97 was flooded with calls from a variety of hip-hop's finest, including Busta Rhymes and record spinner Mister Cee, who was credited with finding the hefty rapper and delivering him to a young Sean Combs.

Anger and questions filled the airwaves. "Was Biggie's killing payback for the Tupac Shakur murder?" Twelve years later, these same speculations remain as strong as Biggie's lyrics. It's hard for the average person to comprehend how a killer still manages to remain free after a federal investigation into a shooting witnessed by hundreds of partygoers, not to mention federal agents who were tailing B.I.G.

This past January, the life of Christopher Wallace was celebrated on the big screen with the successful release of "Notorious." But in reality, the ultimate celebration will come if and when justice is served, and someone is held responsible for this unwarranted crime.

Until then, "We'll always love Big Poppa."

"Cristal forever/ Play the crib when it's mink weather," the Notorious B.I.G. raps in Jay-Z's "Brooklyn's Finest." You gotta love B.I.G. Seriously, the man's lyrics are timeless, his energy was indisputable, and homey had class.

From the hats to the shades to the cane, Big had that "splash," to steal a word from Jim Jones. Among the many notable items B.I. brought to the forefront, Cristal champagne still, to this day, rings bells in your local club and liquor store.

Cristal will go down in the record books as one of the most celebrated spirits in the rap community. Although B.I.G., Bad Boy and later Jay-Z became the unofficial poster boys for the pricey bubbly, it was Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface and Raekwon who should be credited with first mentioning the gold bottle. This is just one reason Rae and Ghost labeled B.I.G. a biter and launched an attack on him on a skit from their Cuban Linx album.

As was the case with DKNY, Versace and Coogi clothing, B.I.G. introduced an über-expensive lifestyle to rap fans who believed if they could afford a bottle of Cristal or those $200 shades, they had pockets as deep as your average rapper. Not quite the case. Some rappers don't even possess the "rapper dollars." More importantly, similar to clothing empires Gucci and Louis Vuitton distancing themselves from the rap audience, Cristal came out and made it known that the obsession with their brand in rap music was "unwanted attention."

Soon after, Jay-Z would dismiss the Cris: "It has come to my attention that the managing director of Cristal views the 'hip-hop' culture as unwelcome attention. I view his comments as racist and will no longer support any of his products through any of my various brands, including the 40/40 Club, nor in my personal life."

And just like that, stocks in the Louis Roederer-made champagne dropped faster then shareholders who saw Bernie Madoff's demise coming.

MTV News has some B.I.G. things on the horizon surrounding "Notorious" — stay tuned for more this week!

If the Notorious B.I.G. were here today, he would say, "Brooklyn, we did it!" This morning, Biggie's mother, Voletta Wallace, and his son, Christopher Wallace Jr., rang the opening NASDAQ bell.

(More photos, after the jump!)

"I was happy to be a part of the film, and I hope you all go see it on January 16," young Christopher said of his dad's biopic, "Notorious." "Please support it."

Ms. Wallace called being there an "honor."

Surrounded by the likes of Puffy, Mrs. Wallace, Biggie's managers Marc Pitts and Wayne Barrow, Mary J., Lil' Cease, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Nas, Jadakiss, Faith Evans, a host of family and friends of the late rapper, virtually all of the cast from the film and just about anyone who matters in the hip-hop industry — it's hard to believe I even managed to score a seat in the theater! Besides being privileged enough to enjoy the premiere of the film in such company, I also got a chance to hear and see the reactions of the crowd during the movie and as we flooded out of the theater.

Like the scene in "Notorious" when Puffy is telling Big about the deal he made with Clive Davis — for $42 million — someone in the audience snickered out loud, "That's it!?" It got a good laugh. Seeing people's faces as the murder scene and funeral unfolded was pretty amazing too. You could feel the tension — and believe me, we had tears (yours truly got pretty caught up in the moment!).

Leaving the theater, I saw Diddy congratulating and hugging everyone from Mark Pitts to Lil' Cease. He took tons of pictures with fans and even Julia Pace Mitchell who plays Jan in the film, was excited to meet him and take a picture. You could hear everyone saying how good the film was, rappers and crews shaking hands and hugging it out. Industry execs and interns gave glances of congrats ... the love and feeling of accomplishment was there for fans, and for people who knew Big personally.

Back in 1995, after he had dropped one of the top 10 greatest hip-hop LPs ever (Ready to Die), after he was considered the best rapper in the game, after all the money, a string of commercially successful hits, he just wanted to be "hard."

Big had his eyes on the prize, but still, he wasn't trying pander to any audience or water himself down. He was trying to do him! That's something I see less and less nowadays from MCs. It feels like a lot of guys want to jump on whatever bandwagon has the hottest pipes at the moment.

Take it from Frank White: The only way to be bigger is to ride your own course.

There's a spine-tingling moment in "Notorious" when Biggie and Puff Daddy are surrounded by an auditorium full of angry Tupac fans during a performance at an Atlanta college. At the height of what had become a bicoastal rap war led by the two kings of hip-hop, B.I.G. and Tupac, Biggie Smalls had had enough of the heckling and decided to react.

"Who shot ya?" Big rapped. "Separate the weak from the ob-so-lete/ Hard to creep from Brooklyn streets/ It's on, n---a, f--- all that bickering and beef."

"Who Shot Ya" would become one of the greatest hip-hop records to date — and one of the most misunderstood. The song's interpretation played a role in the demise of the MCs' relationship.

With countless attacks sent B.I.'s way, "Who Shot Ya" was immediately digested as a dis record. The song brainwashed listeners into believing that Big was poking fun at 'Pac over the infamous Quad Studios shooting that left the West Coast rapper with three bullet holes — holes that 'Pac held Biggie, Puffy and others responsible for.

But was "Who Shot Ya" a response to the Quad shooting? Lil' Cease says no. Mr. Cee says no. Hell, even Diddy shot down those claims. Only the late, great B.I.G. could clear matters up, but we all know that's not possible.

Which leaves us with a bit of hard-core evidence. Upon our research for the "Notorious" movie and piling over our Big catalog, we stumbled across a freestyle rap from the late great Frank White who spit a few bars you may have heard before.

Check out the video, and judge for yourself.

It took nearly 12 years after the tragic shooting death of the Notorious B.I.G. to bring the larger-than-life rapper's story to the big screen. But now, as the release date of "Notorious" is creeping up upon us, the lobbying for which rapper's life should next be lionized in film has begun. Derek Luke — who portrays Sean "Puffy" Combs in "Notorious" — naturally says it should be Diddy. And it shouldn't be any surprise that Anthony Mackie, who plays Tupac in the same film, thinks the Thug Life icon should get a movie of his own.

Well, we here at MTV News have our own suggestions.

Since Luke and Mackie have already had their say, we're gonna skip those picks, for obvious reasons. And apologies to Hammer ("Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story"), Eminem ("8 Mile"), 50 Cent ("Get Rich or Die Tryin'") and even Russell Simmons ("Krush Groove"), but you guys can't be on the list since you've already told your stories. But we also wanna hear from you on this topic, so, after the jump, join the conversation and weigh in.

Jay-Z: Like Biggie, Jay's story is a story about Brooklyn — Marcy Projects, to be exact. So it's about the streets — and by extension, the people — that paved the way for Jay to become the man he is today. And let's not forget his VH1 "Driven" special was filled with as many twists and turns as the curves on Meagan Good's body. Sounds like a no-brainer to us, and even more so after Hov scrapped his "Black Book" memoirs a few years back. Suggestion: Cast Idris Elba to play Jay.

Eazy-E: He was a mogul before anyone in hip-hop really even knew what it meant to be one, from launching N.W.A into hip-hop superstardom to signing Bone Thugs-n-Harmony to fathering enough kids to take up a full row of seats in the L.A. Coliseum. How chilling would it be to see a scene of estranged friends Eazy and Dr. Dre's last conversation before the pint-size gangster rapper passed away from an AIDS-related illness? Suggestion: Use Jerry Heller's book "Ruthless" as the starting point for the screenplay.

(See the rest of our list and share yours, after the jump!)

Run-DMC: They were the Beatles of rap, paving the way for generations of MCs. They were the pioneers, achieving many firsts in hip-hop, from landing on the cover of Rolling Stone to scoring an endorsement deal with Adidas. But little is known about Run, D, and Jam Master Jay's lives after their glory days. Sure, there's "Run's House," but watching the Kings of Queens go from superstars to super dads, husbands and CEOs — and then transition to elder statesmen as they coped with Jay's tragic death — would be a sobering reality check for those with Cristal dreams. (It's not always bottle poppin'.) Suggestion: Call Bill Adler (the original Run-DMC biographer) to work on the script, along with input from Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen and Rick Rubin.

LL Cool J: He still looks young enough to star as himself, for one, and, for flashback scenes, there's always his teenage son, who filled in for Todd Smith in the "Hush" video. And if you think (SPOILER ALERT) the scenes with Lil' Kim in "Notorious" were hot (hot, hot...), imagine the parental-advisory chapter of LL's book, "Make My Own Rules," brought to life. Suggestion: Somehow find a way to cast Melyssa Ford, or Angel "Lola Luv" Fershgenet, or ... You get the point. (Laugh and lick lips here.)

Scarface: OK, so he might not have the mass appeal of some of his more well-known contemporaries, but, if his lyrics are to be believed, 'Face has lived a life that only a few men walking this Earth could ever survive. And the story arc would be the stuff that makes film auteurs drool: a detached, dark, unbalanced youth overcomes adversity to transform into an introspective, grizzled, respected elder. Green-light this one, even if it'd be a Starz debut only. Suggestions: Have Clint Eastwood executive produce this project.

Who do YOU think deserves a biopic? Vote in the poll!

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we're kind of in tough economic times.

Unfortunately, that's about as far as my knowledge of money extends (no, Dad, I'm not proud of that), but you can't say I'm not proactive. See, in an effort to learn why we're all going to be working until we're 80, I've made a habit of watching/ nursing an obsession with Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" on CNBC. OK, so maybe I don't watch it for the stock tips as much I just enjoy watching the host — what with his sound-effects board, those squishy bulls that line his desk and whose heads he bites off, and his "boo-yahs." And, ideally, if I watch enough of the show, I'll gain worlds of financial literacy strictly through osmosis.

Anyway! Last night, I violently rolled up the sleeves on my button-down shirt and prepared to hear my favorite television personality (who isn't Tim Kash, Kim Stolz, Jim Cantiello or Sway) wax recession-y ... but something a little different happened.

I guess we here in the MTV Newsroom aren't the only people gearing up for the release of "Notorious," or maybe Mr. Cramer knew I was watching (a gal can dream!), but out of nowhere, he started plugging the flick, dancing to the Biggie classic, "Juicy," promising to help us "make juicy investments" and rounded it out with a plug for his book now in paperback. This all leaves me wondering: Will Cramer be at the film's premiere tomorrow? And what's prompted his obsession with the Notorious B.I.G.?

Unfortunately, the video of Cramer swaying to the beat has been removed, but fast-forward to the five-minute mark to take in the magic.

Signing off from Cramerica!