"His Legacy To Me Is That Arguably He's One Of The Greatest Rappers Of All Time"

With the 15 year anniversary of late rap mogul Notorious B.I.G. just a few weeks away, Hollywood star Martin Lawrence has reflected on sharing camera time with Big Poppa.

Recalling B.I.G.'s special guest appearance on his "Martin" sitcom back in 1995, Lawrence described the heavyweight emcee as nothing less than great.

"The writers came up with it. They thought it would be a cool show and they asked me if we could get him, would I be open to it? And I said yes. The rest is history," Lawrence said when asked how B.I.G. got a special guest appearance. "He was super cool. He came to my house before and after we shot the episode. We smoked together, laughed and talked about all things life. He had a real sense of humor. It showed in the episode like he didn't even have to try. It came really natural to him. He was having fun and you could see in the episode it came off that way. He wasn't tripping at all. He just came in and did his thing and he was good. We had a great time. His legacy to me is that arguably he is one of the greatest rappers of all time." (XXL Mag)

B.I.G. was featured on the show's third season, in an episode titled "Blow, Baby, Blow."

Suddenly Gina, Pam and Cole can sing! But their talents are not appreciated by The Notorious B.I.G., who has asked for Martin's help in finding a new background vocalist. (Wikipedia)

Last year, fellow Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow said she favored Biggie over the late Tupac Shakur.

SC: Speed round: Miles or Coltrane? GP: Miles SC: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? GP: Beatles SC: Patsy Cline or Billie Holiday? GP: Billie H SC: Biggie or PAC? GP: Biggie by miles SC: Michael or Prince? GP: Prince! (Life & Times)

In the past, Brooklyn rap veteran Lil Kim reflected on the mid-1990's fatal shootings of Pac and B.I.G.

"I will say this though, I will say that I always felt like Biggie and Tupac's deaths were bigger than how they tried to make it out to believe it to be," Kim explained in an interview. "It's bigger than [former Death Row Records owner] Suge Knight being involved. I think it was even over his head. Them two were very powerful guys. They both could have ran for mayor just like Arnold Schwarzenegger and probably [have] won. You know, I think the government was looking at it like, 'We could not have these two hood dudes with this much power running for mayor and something like that and winning.' They would have lost control I think. I think it was way deeper than what people would like it to be." (Lady T Video)