Jay-Z

JAY-Z, photographed performing on-court during The Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation’s inaugural “Think B.I.G.” basketball tournament, by Eurila Cave on August 22, 1998.

The event was created to promote awareness of The Christopher Wallace Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at creating education and employment centers for Brooklyn-area kids. It has traditionally been held at the Crispus Attucks Park in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

At the inaugural event Hov spoke to MTV News, saying his slain friend continued to be an inspiration to him and many others: “[When] someone like Biggie comes out the neighborhood you look at that like, ‘I could do that.’ That’s where B.I.G., that’s where Christopher is from, [the guy] who used to [hang] in front of the yellow store all day long.

It’s just the inspiration and the drive to know that if you strive, things could happen and you can come up out of here, Brooklyn, [or any other] tough neighborhoods.”