Rob Stone Talks Notorious B.I.G. Fader Icon Issue (EXCLUSIVE)

Every year, The Fader magazine ― known for celebrating what's au courant and innovative ―pays tribute to artists whose contributions to music, style, film and culture have laid a solid foundation for greatness. This year, it was almost kismet. The magazine's icon issue will be it's 73rd; the Notorious B.I.G. was born in '73; and Fader founder/CEO Rob Stone had the good fortune to have met and hung out with the hip-hop legend before his untimely death, so it was only right to honor Biggie.

And, let's not forget the definition of the word. Icon: an object of uncritical devotion. Hip-hop has been ― and forever will be ― devoted to B.I.G. The Fader Icon Issue with the late, great Christopher Wallace is available on newstands across the country today (May 3).

Global Grind: What went into the decision to have Biggie on this upcoming icon issue?

Rob Stone: Before I started The Fader I was working for Arista records. They brought me in to be the liaison for Bad Boy Records. At the time Puffy ― he’s now Diddy, but he was Puffy back then ― was starting his label and they brought me in, so I spent two years of my life working with Biggie, Craig Mack, Faith and Total and Puffy at the time ... And when we started the magazine in ’98, it was always in the back of my mind to put this issue together. As time went by, everyone was always caught up in the controversy and murders and what happened. It was always about bringing up old beef, but, to me, I always thought it was important to celebrate Biggie's life. It seemed like every time we were getting ready to do it there was more on the controversy and that was the last thing we wanted to focus on, so it just seemed like now is a good time.

There’s a lot of things that ended up working out ... the fact that Big was born in 1973 and this was our 73rd issue. Our icon issue comes out in May and his birthday is May 21st, so there were just a lot of things that lined up like that. We just always wanted to celebrate, respect and tribute Big and everyone that was involved in his career and really focus on him as a person and not just an icon.