Notorious B.I.G. (Reuters files)

The autopsy report detailing exactly how hip-hop icon Notorious B.I.G. died has been made public for the first time, 15 years after his murder.

The Juicy hitmaker, real name Christopher Wallace, was killed in a drive by shooting in Los Angeles on 9 March, 1997, and editors at TMZ.com have now unearthed the papers documenting the coroner's findings.

The report reveals Biggie, 24, sustained a total of four gunshot wounds and came close to surviving the attack on his life - only one of the bullets proved fatal.

Wallace was initially hit in the left forearm, before taking a bullet in the back. Luckily, that shot missed all of his vital organs and exited through his left shoulder. A bullet also went through his left leg, hitting his scrotum as it exited his thigh.

But it was the fourth shot which claimed the heavyweight rapper's life - it entered his right hip and tore through his colon, liver, heart and left lung.

Toxicology results showed no traces of drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.

The death of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' protege is widely believed to have been part of the East Coast/West Coast war which gripped the rap world in the late 1990s and also claimed the life of his chart rival Tupac Shakur in 1996. Both murders remain unsolved.