<human>: Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 - March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie, or Biggie Smalls, was an American rapper. He is ranked by Billboard as among the ten greatest rappers of all time. Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. When he released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he became a central figure in the East Coast hip hop scene and increased New York City's visibility in the genre at a time when West Coast hip hop was dominant in the mainstream.

On August 4, 1994, Wallace married R&B singer Faith Evans after they met at a Bad Boy photoshoot. Five days later, Wallace had his first pop chart success as a solo artist with double A-side, "Juicy/Unbelievable", which reached No. 27 as the lead single to his debut album.  Ready to Die was released on September 13, 1994, and reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually being certified four times Platinum. The album, released at a time when West Coast hip hop was prominent on US charts, according to Rolling Stone, "almost single-handedly... shifted the focus back to East Coast rap". It immediately gained strong reviews and has received much praise in retrospect. In addition to "Juicy", the record produced two hit singles: the Platinum-selling "Big Poppa", which reached No. 1 on the U.S. rap chart, and "One More Chance", which sold 1.1 million copies in 1995.  Busta Rhymes claimed to have seen Wallace giving out free copies of Ready to Die from his home, which Rhymes reasoned as "his way of marketing himself." Around the time of the album's release, Wallace became friends with Tupac Shakur, also a rapper. Cousin Lil' Cease recalled the pair being close, often traveling together whenever they were not active in furthering their careers. According to him, Wallace was a frequent guest at Shakur's home and they constantly spent time together when Shakur was in California or Washington, D.C.. It was claimed by Yukmouth, an Oakland emcee, that Wallace's style was inspired by that of Shakur. Wallace also formed a friendship with Shaquille O'Neal, O'Neal remembering his first time hearing Wallace, during listening to the song "Gimme the Loot", where Wallace mentioned him in the lyrics and thereby attracted O'Neal to his music. O'Neal requested a collaboration with Wallace, which resulted in the song "You Can't Stop the Reign". Sean Combs related that Wallace would not do collaborations with "anybody he didn't really respect", adding that Wallace paid O'Neal "respect by shouting him out." Daz Dillinger said in 2015 that Wallace and he were "cool". Wallace would travel to meet with him, and Dillinger recalled serving him cannabis and recording two songs with him. CANNOTANSWER

did they stay married?
<bot>: CANNOTANSWER