Damion "D-Roc" Butler grew up with Biggie Smalls and knew him beyond the gangster rap persona he took on in the industry, USA Today reported. From all the time he spent with the late rapper, Butler acquired a library of footage he held on to as his "visual diary." After keeping the footage to himself for over two decades, Butler admitted to how "selfish" he felt keeping the rap icon's fans from seeing the private recordings. But after meeting filmmaker Emmett Malloy, Butler trusted Malloy's "integrity" in his Netflix documentary, Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell.
"The fact that he really wanted to know who Chris was — he wanted to know who the artist before the rapper was," Butler said to USA Today. "He was interested in everything that I cared about, that [former manager] Wayne [Barrow] cared about, our team cared about, so that's why I trusted to give him what he needed to pull this off."
His time with his friend included videos of them at hotels, walking through malls to screaming fans, Biggie's street rap battles, and even sold out performances. "I feel that there's a difference between the nostalgia of Notorious B.I.G. and the reality and life of Christopher Wallace," the late rapper's former manager Barrow said to USA Today. To those who knew him best, "B.I.G. wasn't a celebrity," Barrow added. "I think it's important for people to understand that B.I.G. never looked at himself as a celebrity. He never changed."
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