To Him, Rap’s B.I.G. Business : Pop Music: Chilling lyrics and tension-packed delivery put Brooklyn rapper several notches above the rest

Rapper Notorious B.I.G.’s acclaimed debut album, “Ready to Die,” is a hard-as-nails look at both the ghetto underbelly and the drug-dealers’ lifestyle--a collection of gripping tales of violence, pain and desperation.

And the 20-year-old Brooklyn native, whose real name is Chris Wallace, claims much of it is based on his former career as a crack dealer--which he started when he was barely in his teens.

“I was making good money dealing crack,” said B.I.G. matter-of-factly, during a recent interview in Los Angeles.

So what made him switch from crack-dealing to rap? Did he see the gangsta path as a dangerous, dead-end street? Did he have a moral awakening? Or was it a nine-month jail term he served?

Rap was attractive, he replied, strictly because of the money.

“When I switched, it was a business thing,” he said, speaking in a dry, detached monotone that makes him sound as if he’s about to doze off. “If you’re good at rap--and I know I’m good--you can make a lot of money.”

For Notorious B.I.G., rap has certainly been good business.

In the early ‘90s, he built a reputation contributing raps to various projects at Uptown Records--including the Mary J. Blige remix album and the “Who’s the Man” soundtrack. But since his debut album came out last fall on Arista Records, B.I.G. has become one of the most promising new creative and commercial forces in rap.

“Ready to Die” has been hailed by Rolling Stone as the best solo rap debut since Ice Cube’s arrival in 1990, and one of its tracks, “Big Poppa,” just entered the national Top 10.

Funkmaster Flex, a deejay on New York’s hip-hop radio station WQHT-FM, says that B.I.G. is already one of the best and most credible rappers.

“He’s at the forefront of the hip-hop scene--the most exciting new rapper,” Flex gushed in a separate interview. “He’s a great lyricist--the new don of hip-hop. He’s very believable. The way he describes the streets is the way a lot of kids really see the streets. He says what a lot of rappers are trying to say but don’t really know how.”

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What puts B.I.G several notches above the rest of the pack is his booming, ominous voice, tension-packed delivery and the chilling lyrics of his tales. And surprisingly, for a tough guy, he’s not afraid to expose his soft side, which resonates through such tracks as the brooding “Everyday Struggle” and the very unsettling “Suicidal Thoughts.”

“The track came from my experience--I used to feel suicidal,” B.I.G. admitted. “You probably can’t find a kid in the ‘hood who will honestly tell you he never considered suicide. My music is dark, with a gutter feel to it because I spent a lot of my life living in a gutter.”

B.I.G., who’s also known as Biggie Smalls, was raised in the rough Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn by his mother, a preschool teacher. Bored by school, B.I.G. dropped out in the 11th grade to focus on his crack-dealing career. He says he spent nine months in a North Carolina jail on a crack-dealing charge when he was 17.

“I can’t say I’m proud of dealing drugs,” said B.I.G., a tall, lumbering, mountain of a man with a menacing stare. “My Moms sure didn’t like it when she found out, but you do what you can to survive in the ‘hood.

“Live in the real bad part of ‘hood for a while and you’ll see how desperate it can make you. Drugs are always in your face, so getting into dealing is easy.”

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Not long after his jail term, he stumbled into a rap career. “It was just something I always did for fun--as far back as I can remember,” he recalled. “I knew I was good at it, but I never planned for it to be a career. It started by accident--doing some tapes in a basement. I wasn’t sending tapes to record companies, but somebody from a label heard a tape and eventually a record deal came out of it.”

What about rap influences?

“I don’t really have any,” he replied. “I didn’t sit around listening to rap records--I just did it. Living on the streets is my only influence.”

Now that he’s out of the drug business, don’t expect B.I.G--like many artists who were formerly in that line of work--to denounce it.

“I’d be a hypocrite if I did that,” said B.I.G., as usual mincing no words. “I’m no role model. I’m not saying anybody should live their life like I live mine.”

If his record career ever turns sour, would he return to his old business?

“It’s hard to say . . . but if I wasn’t rapping I’d probably be hustling to get money to take care of my family,” replied B.I.G., who has an 18-month-old daughter. “Like I said, it’s not that I love hustling--it’s a business thing.”