In an interview with The Art of Dialogue, former Death Row Records artist Danny Boy talks about Poochie. Police suspected Wardell “Poochie” Fouse of killing legendary rapper Biggie Smalls, but were unable to confirm the allegations. In the interview, Danny Boy talks about being uncomfortable around Poochie, “I was kind of eerie when Puja [Poochie] came around.”
The Cold Case
The Notorious B.I.G. was killed in a drive-by shooting on March 9th, 1997. Most people believe there can be only one reason for the murder: the death of Tupac Shakur in a strangely similar incident. Tupac and Biggie were famous rivals; many think that Biggie was involved in Tupac’s murder. Immediately following Tupac’s death, Biggie traveled to Pac’s home state of California and began rapping what many interpret as a diss track, insulting the recently departed Tupac. This, only added fuel to the fire. Danny Boy, part of the same label as Tupac, remembers it well.
“What really pierced my heart was hearing I’m going, going, back, back to Cali, like when I heard that after Pac’s death, you know for me it was kind of hard […] because we just lost them and it felt like a big taunting session.”
Although the reasons for Biggie’s murder are rarely disputed, to this day no perpetrator has been confirmed as the killer. There have been many theories over the years from corrupt cops, to distraught fans, to members of Death Row Records. Of particular note to this cold case, is that every theory generated a flood of wealth. Eventually, people began to create documentaries and put forth speculations simply to capitalize on the incident and make some cash.
Danny Boy on the Death of Biggie
Danny Boy’s interview with The Art of Dialogue began by discussing Suge Knight, the creator of Death Row Records, and documentaries made about the murder. The rapper is dismissive of the interviewer’s claims, but everything changes once he mentions Poochie.
“Tell me about Poochie.”
“Just want to shoot homies. Like that’s all I remember.”
The interviewer smells a story and presses for more. He’s clearly trying to get Danny Boy to say that he definitively believes Poochie to be the murderer, but Danny Boy keeps his cool.
“Yea I don’t know. I don’t think, no I don’t know. But do I believe that man was a killer? Hell yea.”
Poochie was killed in an unrelated incident in 2003. It wasn’t until 2006 when Poochie became a suspect in the cold case; a case that the police reopened in an attempt to prevent more wrongful death lawsuits from Biggie’s family. As a result, they had collected very little evidence (and zero testimony). Is this just a case of the police force framing a dead man? We’ll almost certainly never know.
by Chris Colasurdo
@cfcolasurdo on twitter