Max B
Born Charley Wingate and raised in Harlem, Max B took his 'Biggaveli' persona from a blend of The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and Tupac Shakur and pioneered a melodic, sung-and-rapped 'wavy' style during a brief but influential run in the late 2000s. A childhood friend of Cam'ron, he emerged through Jim Jones' ByrdGang before partnering with French Montana on the 'Coke Wave' mixtape series, crooning hazy, off-kilter hooks over hard street beats. A 2009 conviction sent him to prison for well over a decade, cutting his career short, but his 'wave' aesthetic became a foundational influence on French Montana and a wider generation of melodic rappers.
Max B built his whole persona on Biggie: the nickname 'Biggaveli' fused The Notorious B.I.G. with Jay-Z and Tupac, and Max inherited Biggie's gift for a warm, melodic, almost lullaby-like delivery of hard subject matter. The celebratory, self-mythologizing come-up song is a Biggie inheritance Max reshaped into his 'wave.'
listen forThrow on Biggie's 'Juicy' and then Max B's 'Whippin That Wave' — both glide on a bright, triumphant melody while the rapper narrates rising above the struggle in an easy, sing-along cadence.
Cam'ron was Max B's childhood friend from Harlem and the architect of the Dipset sing-song, and Max came up directly under that camp through Jim Jones' ByrdGang. Cam'ron's flossy, melodic, taunting Harlem flow is the immediate blueprint for Max's own wavy phrasing.
listen forCompare Cam'ron's 'Hey Ma' with Max B's 'Goon Music' — both lean on a bouncing, sing-song Harlem cadence that turns bragging into something closer to a melody.
The other half of the 'Biggaveli' name is Jay-Z, and Max B absorbed Jay's cool, conversational luxury-rap poise — the sense of a hustler narrating his life without ever raising his voice. Max softened that polish with melody, crooning where Jay would coast.
listen forSet Jay-Z's smooth, sung-sample 'Song Cry' against Max B's 'Porno Music' — both drift on a soulful, laid-back loop while the vocal slides between rapping and singing, keeping everything unhurried.