Trial Time - Music

Bigg Whose Real Name Was Donald Maurice Pears II Spent Most Of His Formative Years Growing Up In California's San Francisco Bay Area With His Mother. He Spent His Summers With His Father In A Money Green House In The Maysville Community Of Mobile On The 1800 Block Of Kibby Street. Living In The Projects Of Oakland San Francisco And Richmond Pears Took To Inner City Crime At An Early Age. Prone To Trouble At Home And School His Teenage Years Proved To Be Too Much On His Mother. "He Was About 15 When Momma Was Like 'You Know What Enough Is Enough. You Gotta Go Back To Your Daddy '" Nneka Pronounced Like Nicky Pears Pears' Sister Says. "There Were Things Going On That No Matter How Much My Mother Said 'Get In The House ' No Matter How Much She Said 'Stay Away From This Crowd ' We Were In The Middle Of Trouble." Pears' Reputation Preceded Him Once He Arrived In Mobile For Good. And His Infatuation With Street Crime Only Festered In New Surroundings. Interestingly His Father Donald Pears Sr. Enjoyed A Tenured Career With The Mobile Police Department. " We All Asked 'How In The Hell Do You Do This When This Is Your Dad? Your Dad Is Someone Who Is Really Looked Up To In The Community.' But He Had His Own Way Of Living And His Own Way Of Thinking " Nneka Pears Says. "No Matter What My Daddy Said To Him No Matter How Many Whoopings He Got Maurice Had His Own Mind. Maurice Wanted To Do What He Wanted To Do. And He Did It." Becoming Bigg Pears' Love For Music And Performance Blossomed In The Late 1980s When He Began DJing At Local Talent Shows At Clubs Like Solid Gold Galaxy And Hi-Five In Moss Point Miss. Longtime Radio Personality DJ Rodski First Met Pears When He Didn't Have A Stage Name To Complement His Raw Talent. "He Was Just Maurice Then " Rodski Says. "This Dude Was An Entertainer. He Had A Glove. He Did A Little Temptations Thing. He Was All Over The Place. The Crowd Loved It." Rodski Took Pears Under His Wing Teaching Him The DJ Trade And Helping Pears Learn His Way Around A Drum Machine. "When He First Started Off People Called Him 'Big Boy.' But He Was Never A Big Guy. He Was Just Tall For His Age. It Got Shortened To Just 'Bigg '" Nneka Pears Says. While Burgeoning Interests In The Entertainment Sector Might Have Kept Pears Busy He Still Made Time To Facilitate The Illicit Lifestyle He Subscribed To As A Juvenile On The West Coast. "He Was Pimping. He Was Selling Dope. He Was Always Shooting At Somebody. There Was Always Something Going On With Bigg In The Early Days " DJ Dirty Dan Says. Pears' First Bout With Serious Trouble In Mobile Came After A Mid-90s Incident In Which He And His Friends Began Shooting Guns In The Air While Partying In Rickarby Park. Pears And His Sister Came Home After The Incident. Nneka Says She Pleaded For Her Brother To Stay Inside The House That Night. He Refused Insisting That He Wanted To Go And Hang Out Some More. But Bigg Didn't Make It Back Home That Night. Instead He Wrapped His Car Around A Pole On Houston Street. When Police Made The Scene Pears Was Charged With Offenses Related To Driving On A Suspended License Reckless Endangerment Resisting Arrest Possession Of Narcotics And Violation Of Probation. He Was Imprisoned For Three Years. While In Jail He Switched His Focus From DJing To Rapping. Unable To Copyright His Music He Sent Lyrics Home And Told His Family Not To Open The Envelopes He Sent Hoping He Could Prove He Wrote His Material While Behind Bars. Pears Returned From Prison During The Mardi Gras Season In 1998 Determined To Reintroduce Himself To The City Of Mobile As A Rap Star. "He Got Out Of Prison And He Started Saying He Was 'Mr. Bigg '" Nneka Says "I Told Him 'Y'know We've Got Too Many People Calling Themselves Mr. Big. We've Got Ronald Isley. We've Got 8Ball.'" "He Said 'You Know What Sister You Right. I'm The Last Mr. Bigg.'" DJ Krook Who Acted As Pears' Manager In The Years Before His Passing Grew Up In Maysville Seeing From Afar The Larger Than Life Character Of The Last Mr. Bigg In Its Formative Stages. "I Remember Seeing Him After The High School Baccalaureate Service When Everyone Goes To Pensacola Beach. He Had All His Green Cars Out There. He Was A Tall Dude But He Was Sitting Down In A Little Bitty Corvette. All The Rims Were On There. It Was A Like A Show That He Was Putting On." Taking It To Trial After Finishing Her College Finals In November 1998 Nneka Pears Came Home To Get Ready For A Night Out On The Town With Her Family And Friends. She Remembers Having An Eerie Feeling About Being Home That Day. "We Had Been Noticing A Lot Of Unfamiliar Cars Coming By. A Lot Of Traffic. So I Was About To Leave. Before I Could Make It To The Car Police Came Out Of Everywhere In Unmarked Cars " She Says. "They Kept Asking 'Where It's At? Where It's At? We Know You The Kingpin.' I'm Like 'Who The Kingpin?'" "They Said 'Mr. Bigg Mr. Bigg We Know You The Kingpin.'" "At This Point Because I'm Looking At My Brother Thinking 'You're Used To This. You're In This Sort Of Stuff Of All The Time. This Could Ruin My Life.'" During A Search Of The Kibby Street Home Police Found Paraphernalia A Marijuana Blunt And A Remnants Of Crack Cocaine. Police Arrested Both Nneka And Donald Pears Along With An Acquaintance. The Pears Family Sorted Through What To Do About The Arrests Deciding That They'd Pay Bigg's Bond Leaving Nneka To Stay In Jail Overnight. "When I Got Out Of Jail It Was Pouring Down Raining. I Was Walking Up Virginia Street Because I Wasn't Waiting On Nobody To Come And Get Me " Nneka Pears Says. "Someone Stopped And Said 'Your Brother Has Been Looking All Over For You. Come On And Get In The Car '" Nneka Pears Remembers. When She Got To Her Brother He Hugged Her Telling Her That He Was Sorry For Getting Her Involved With The Seedy Activity He Promised He'd Always Keep Her From. Later That Night Bigg Played Nneka A Song He Said Was Inspired By Their Recent Run-In With The Law. "He Started Rapping 'Mama Call My Lawyer 'cause It's Time To Go To Trial '" She Says. Nneka Was Floored By What She Heard. "He Said 'If That's How They Want To Play It I Got Something For Them!'" Perhaps The Grandest Stage Mr. Bigg Graced Was The 2005 Three Six Mafia Album "Most Known Unknown." Bigg Co-Wrote A Handful Of Songs On The Project Contributing Vocals To The Single "Poppin' My Collar." Three Six Was Riding High From Their Oscar Award-Winning Contribution To "Hustle & Flow". All Eyes Were On The Group At The Time. read less