His infamous swagger and masterful grasp of the rhythm of language have transformed him into a pop culture icon in a way that’s transcended the misogyny and violence that oftentimes salted his sound. These days, Biggie’s spoken of in the same light as such beloved big men in pop as Barry White, Charles Mingus and Clarence Clemons, a larger-than-life figure with a personality that eschews any language and lifestyle foibles he experienced here on Earth. So large is his legend that you can’t help but imagine how the hip-hop landscape might look today had Biggie not gotten into that Chevy Suburban the night of March 9, 1997 (a truck that is now being sold online for $1.5 million, according to ). Like Kurt Cobain before him, Biggie left a scant catalog of music in his wake that only scratched the surface of his capabilities as a performer.
His sole pair of proper LPs, and, are both essential listens for any hip-hop fan who appreciates the soul of the art form. But the man had so much more to offer this world. Nothing personifies that more than hanging on the wall of Cottonmouth’s office at Harlem’s Paradise on the Netflix Marvel series. (The image came from a session Wallace did with photographer Barron Clairborne for Mass Appeal three days before his murder.).
“There are images of black people, rappers or not, that you don’t see in American culture. You rarely seem them as regal,” Clairborne told the magazine for its series “.” “When you see something different, you embrace it.
The image is very stripped down, you only see his face. The fact that he died made the symbolism stronger. He had to die for this image to have that symbolism. The king sacrificed.” What we see in that photograph of Biggie, his face all business, the golden crown tipping off the top of his head, is the undisputed King of Brooklyn hip-hop looking ready to conquer the world. There isn’t a hint of worry about his upcoming trip to Los Angeles for fear of retaliation for Shakur’s killing, an event that, as actor Jamal Woolard so poignantly portrayed in the 2009 film Notorious, broke his heart. If only he hadn’t gotten in that car. It would have been so amazing to see how Wallace could have evolved as the trends of hip-hop and R&B progressed in the years following his murder.
Would Jay-Z be as relevant as he is now? Would Puff Daddy not have fallen off the way he has? Would Biggie have linked up with Kanye?
Would he have made a record with Rick Rubin? Would he have gone the Ice Cube/Snoop Dogg route and become the most loveable dad in rap? Would Biggie and Faith Evans have made an actual duets album like the one his widow is releasing posthumously sometime this year?
Notorious B.I.G. YouTube Just like another great voice who was taken from us far too young in 1997 (fellow New York great Jeff Buckley), the death of Notorious B.I.G. Hurts even more not just because it didn’t have to happen—he was killed at the precise moment his career was beginning to take off into the stratosphere. If there’s one aspect of Notorious B.I.G.’s legend that’s fallen through the cracks more than any other these last 20 years, though, it was his titanic fortitude as a team player in rap.
- Recorded at the height of the Biggie vs. 2Pac feud, Big's verse was littered with not-so-subliminal shots at Makaveli. And while many brushed off “Who Shot Ya” and “Long Kiss Goodnight” as pure coincidence, there was no mistaking who Big Poppa was popping at here: “And the winner is, not that thinner.
- The Notorious B.I.G. Could weave a tale about bagging groceries and make it sound like the greatest story ever. Here are the best Biggie Smalls songs of all time.
31 October 2017 Tupac Shakur's Top 10 biggest singles on the Official Chart With Tupac biopic All Eyez On Me out on DVD this week, we reveal the hip-hop icon's biggest sellers.
Put Wallace in the studio with any knucklehead with a record deal, and you are guaranteed a classic track—even if the other rappers on the cut all suck, a scenario that happened more than once to Biggie during his cameo mercenary days. In 1995, early Biggie supporter and renowned DJ Mister Cee put together one of the most famous mixtapes to ever circulate on the black market when he dropped, which collected the majority of the songs he did in collaboration with other artists.
The Best of Biggie is an essential anthology of rarities that continues to be cited as the yardstick any mixtape is measured against today. When I was asked to pay homage to Biggie in commemoration of this tragic anniversary, I didn’t think twice about breaking out that CD copy of The Best of Biggie my friend Aaron burned for me over 10 years ago.
It remains such a great listen despite its wavering fidelity, and a document that captures what neither Ready to Die nor Life After Death could with all their studio polish—the pure, uncut essence of the Notorious B.I.G. In all of its gritty realness. The best we can do to pay our respects to Christopher Wallace is listen to the incredible songs he created. Keep smiling down on us, Mr. We miss you dearly.
10) “Flava In Ya Ear (Remix),” Craig Mack Back in the day you knew you were rolling your eyes at this song when you first heard Puffy and his corny shout-out to The Warriors. But as quick as you scoffed, the combination of Easy Mo Bee’s dopest beat and Biggie’s voice dropped perfectly in unison as he introduced the opening verse—“Niggas is mad I get more butt than ashtrays/Fuck a fair one, I get mine the fast way.” In an interview with Neneh Cherry for BLURT, she told me that Biggie didn’t take kindly to Busta Rhymes when they ran into him in the studio upon recording the remix to her song “Buddy X.” “When he left, Biggie went, ‘Ooh, I don’t like him—he’s too touchy, man,’ ” she remembered. Yet that didn’t stop Wallace from joining the tactile Dungeon Dragon, Rampage and LL Cool J in spicing up the remix for the only track Craig Mack will ever be known for, but what a song it is. 9) “Real Love Remix,” Mary J Blige When Mary J. Blige hit the airwaves with “Real Love” in the summer of 1992, it was like hearing Aretha Franklin singing over Boot Camp Clik beats, an amazing hybrid that served as a high point of the hip-hop soul era. But when you add a young Biggie to the mix as Stetsasonic’s Daddy-O did on his more rugged rendition of the Audio Two groove featured on 1993’s What’s The 411?
Remix, hip-hop’s Teflon Don played the perfect foil to Blige’s search for true romance in a hoodlum’s world. 8) “Come On,” The Notorious B.I.G. Featuring Sadat X remains the single most underrated hip-hop group there is; they are rap music’s a group with so much innovative talent yet so overlooked by a commercial market who would’ve greatly benefitted from their inclusion in the mainstream. Sadat X was the group’s Alex Chilton, possessing a mercurial wit, razor sharp tongue and impeccable ear for melody that yielded some of the best moments on such Brand Nubian classics as. While his solo debut didn’t appear until 1996 with the release of, this Lord Finesse-produced white label was a promising precursor and features the studio version of that immortal verse Biggie dropped at that Madison Square Garden concert in 1995 with 2Pac, Big Daddy Kane, Shyheim and Big Scoob. You know how this one goes: “ / /, / / / / /.” 7) “Think Big,” Pudgee, Biggie and Lord Tariq There might not have been a more unfortunate stage name in hip-hop history than Pudgee (Tha Phat Bastard), an otherwise capable MC from the Bronx who didn’t rise as far as he could. But the one thing that keeps him in conversation in 2017 is his association with Biggie, who blessed the Phat Bastard’s otherwise pedestrian rap stylings with an opening verse that still serves as the most valuable one minute and eight seconds of acetate in the careers of both Pudgee and Lord Tariq combined.
Kicking off the cut like “Big Poppa throwin’ niggas off of cliffs, smokin’ spliffs/Disappear with my bitch in a Mitsubishi Eclipse,” 20 years later, Pusha T would repurpose a line from Biggie’s verse on this song for the chorus of his own street banger “Untouchable,” keeping the dream of getting blunted in the 600 alive and well in the 21st century. 6) “The What,” The Notorious B.I.G. Featuring Method Man If I could only tell you how many blunts were rolled as this song served as the soundtrack, you’d think we were a bunch of old Cubans in Miami. But that’s what the combination of Meth, Biggie and that Easy Mo Bee’s Leroy Hutson-kissed funk roll called for. And sitting there on my boy’s couch with that owl sparked as the chorus comes in—“Fuck the world, don’t ask me for shit. Everything ya get you got to work hard for it”—it was pure gutter gospel for a gang of upstate bumpkins bumping rap music like we were living in Bed-Stuy.
5) “A Buncha Niggas,” Heavy D and the Boyz There’s simply not enough credit paid to the late, great about his role in the career of the Notorious B.I.G., and just how well the heavyweight combo worked together on the mic. This outstanding posse cut off the Heavy One’s 1992 masterpiece was Big’s official debut on a commercial rap record. Out of the gate Biggie’s stood toe to toe with such established players as Gang Starr’s GURU, Busta Rhymes and the massively underrated Rob-O of the Pete Rock-affiliated group InI, quick to grab that brass ring with lines like “I bring drama like ya spit on my momma/Cannibalistic, like that nigga Jeffrey Dahmer.” 4) “Let’s Get It On,” Eddie F. And the Untouchables featuring The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Heavy D., Grand Puba and Spunk Bigga People seem to forget there was a time when 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. Were actually friends before the beef that claimed both their lives came to define their relationship. This deep track from ’90s super-producer Eddie F. Offers an incredibly rare glimpse into the magic of the creative union between Pac and Biggie, if only for a moment. The duo blaze up an inferno of verbiage alongside the likes of Heavy and Grand Puba on this killer crew cut.
Like most “Various Artists” rap albums from the era, the title track to is a hidden gem mired in lackluster opportunism. Yet deep in the mix exists not just one of the only known team-ups between Tupac and Biggie, but a verse from Wallace that eerily foreshadows the dangers that lay ahead for him once the beef between himself and Tupac really started to get heated: “When you throw the drop check ’em thoroughly/The bastard might spin around and try to bury me.” 3) “Buddy X (Remix),” Neneh Cherry When I spoke with alt-R&B icon Neneh Cherry a few years back, she was more than happy to share a story of the time she worked with The Notorious B.I.G. On a remix of her Lenny Kravitz-bashing single “Buddy X.” “Me and Booga Bear were living in Fort Greene at the time, and we went to pick up Biggie in Bed-Stuy to take him to the studio,” she recalls. “He was standing on the stoop, and got into our Volvo and rolled a big blunt.
I remember we were playing some of the demos of the second Massive Attack album for him and he was freestyling to them in the car.” But once they got to the studio, Biggie set fire to this highlight from Cherry’s seminal second album, offering a perspective that somehow turns the tables on the singer’s blame game: “Some honeys say I’m lovely, but Neneh says I’m wicked/Look at you, you ain’t no better/Walking around in your tight sweater, your long leather/No time for the B.IG., so I’m O.U.T.” 2) “4 My Peeps,” Red Hot Lover Tone feat. Biggie, MOP and Prince Po of Organized Konfusion When it came to ’90s hip-hop, there wasn’t a more viable team in rap than the Trackmasters. The men partially responsible for the R&B-ification of rap music during the Clinton years produced certified hits like Biggie’s “Juicy,” “If I Ruled The World” by Nas and Will Smith’s “Men In Black,” not to mention LL Cool J’s new jack swing power move “Hey Lover” off his 1996 LP Mr. Trackmaster Tone fancied himself a rapper himself. And while he was barely a threat to the many MCs he built beats for, he utilized his rolodex of big names to his advantage, like the time he brought together Biggie, M.O.P. And Prince Poetry of Organized Konfusion together for this cut off his otherwise forgettable second LP, 1995’s #1 Player. Why Po’s partner Pharoahe Monch wasn’t in the mix on this track remains a mystery to this day, but to hear Biggie’s “black bastard from Bedrock” segue into the Prince’s “Universal Solider of hip-hop” on the second and third verses of “4 My Peeps” is one of the game’s most rewarding Easter eggs. 1) “Cunt Renaissance,” Crustified Dibbs featuring Notorious B.I.G.
I cannot fathom how a song like this unlikely one-off collab between a young R.A. The Rugged Man back in his Crustified Dibbs days and Biggie Smalls, spawned from a scrapped session with Akinyele, could ever be recorded in 2017. The think pieces and Twitter outrage would be never-ending. However, for better or worse, “Cunt Renaissance” exists and you should be ashamed of yourself for getting so amped about hearing R.A. And the B.I.G. Out-gross each other in the most verbose way possible (with lyrics I’ll get heat for even mentioning). “If I did a commercial record like ‘Juicy,’ it would have been a song like Biggie did with Da Brat or one of those forgotten-ass Biggie songs that made it on the radio for two months,” R.A.
Explains in an interview featured on the bonus DVD of his 2010 collection Underground Classics, Vol. “But ‘Cunt Renaissance’ is disgusting. It’s a fuckin’ nightmare to music, like who would have made such an ugly-ass record?
Well, it’s a cult classic now, and I’m proud of it.”.
March 9 remains forever embedded in our minds as the day we lost one of rap's G.O.A.T.' While Biggie's catalog of music wasn't extremely extensive - his posthumous releases have been fairly minimal - we can probably agree that it's a solid collection.
And yes, there are Biggie's 'go to' classic songs: 'Big Poppa,' 'One More Chance,' 'Mo Money Problems,' and of course the one that started it all, 'Juicy.' The list goes on and on. However, some of the best Biggie songs are those that simply lived on his two albums, 'Ready to Die' and 'Life After Death.' Others appeared as remixes, b-sides and unreleased tracks that are regarded as treasured relics of a rap god who left this Earth way too soon. So in honor of the life of the lauded MC, The Boombox compiles 15 of the best Biggie songs.
From singles to rarities, there are many songs to treasure. Check out just a few of the best. 15 'Everyday Struggle' 'I don't wanna live no more / Sometimes I hear death knockin' at my front door,' Biggie breathes at the start of 'Everyday Struggle.' Over traditional boom bap, Big talks paranoia and the size of his intimidating frame. The track just screams real hip-hop as he explains the stress of slinging drugs.
It's one of the purer cuts that Biggie bestowed upon us, where it really was just straight spittin' sans too many bells and whistles. It's proof too that even with a simple bassline, Biggie could still deliver some complex bars with the greatest of ease.
It's no wonder why it's one of the best Notorious B.I.G. Songs there is. 14 'What's Beef?' There came a point in the Notorious B.I.G.' S career where he was riddled in beef. Haters popped up everywhere, and of course the historical battle between him and the late ignited the East Coast / West Coast war within rap. It never felt like Biggie was entirely comfortable with that station as a figurehead in the midst of controversy.
While it felt at times like 'Pac welcomed it, Biggie appeared uneasy. 'What's Beef?' Details those emotions, especially on the hook. While Big still puffs his chest out, while expressing how he has to sleep with two guns and his mother can't walk the streets. It shows a degree of vulnerability in the midst of the beef; that very beef that led to his demise. 13 'Sky's the Limit' Feat. 112 Had the Notorious B.I.G.
Lived to the time when 'Sky's the Limit' was released as a single, it would've been perceived completely differently in his career. The song recalls Big's earliest days filled with struggle. 'A n- never been as broke as me / I like that,' he says at the opening of his bars. He travels through his journey from poverty to opulence, or as he puts it 'ashy to classy.'
If Big were alive when the song was released, he would see it as the halfway mark in his career as he embarked on a Chapter 2 of sorts. Considering the circumstances that happened prior to its release as a single, the song becomes a goodbye letter.
It's Biggie telling you his story before he bids you farewell, leaving you with the best advice a rapper's ever given: 'Stay far from timid, only make moves when your heart's in it / And live the phrase 'sky's the limit.' ' The video has children impersonating everyone from Biggie to. It's ironic, because Biggie was a child when he died. Twenty five is not old, and the child of Voletta Wallace still had work to do. Too bad he never got to do it. 12 'Things Done Changed' The threatening beat on 'Things Done Changed' could get you drunk on fear, but Big's lyrics are sobering.
He begins with childhood, where 'things done changed' since the days of playing with toys with your boys. Then things get a little deeper as the hook rolls around. 's 'Little Ghetto Boy' sample cuts like a knife with the words: 'Things done changed on this side / Remember they used to thump, but now they blast, right?' It details the move to more violent times, where even parents are fearful of their own children. Since Biggie's career moved so quickly with a slew of mainstream hits, his ability to inject social commentary into his rhymes became an overlooked talent of his.
'Things Done Changed' is perhaps one of the earliest revelations that Big could have very well been a mouthpiece for more than just the mic. A reason why this serves as one of the best Notorious B.I.G. 11 'I Got A Story to Tell' Before Biggie arrived, everyone knew that hip-hop's storyteller was and few came close to his effortless oral histories on wax. Then Biggie came with one of his best songs off his follow-up album 'Life After Death.'
'I Got A Story to Tell' is a tale of how Biggie goes home with a girl from the club, does his thing, and then her man comes home. He's an athlete from the New York Knicks and Biggie, quick on his feet, pretends like he was robbing the house (he even ties up and gags the girl). The Knicks player finds them, freaks out and gives Biggie a bunch of money. He leaves, gathers his boys to tell the story. The funniest part is that when his friend asks why the basketball player was home, Big says he doesn't know, but the game must've been 'rained out.'
. 10 'Warning' 'Who the f- is this? Pagin' me at 5:46 in the morning,' is one of the most recognized lines from a Biggie song. While pagers are long gone, flushed from the bowels of technology, people still use his opening line to this day. On top of that, Big delivers a form of a track style very popular during hip-hop in the '90s, where the verses bounce back and forth through a phone call.
Then he continues into some more bad news. The song feels like the antithesis of 's 'It Was A Good Day,' because Biggie's day didn't sound good at all. In fact, the song ends with 'Hold on, I think I hear somebody comin' suggesting more bad news was right around the corner, as if waking up at 5:46AM wasn't bad enough. 9 'Notorious Thugs' Feat.
/about/2016-iheartradio-music-festival-night-1-show-615341138-58da83153df78c5162925e7e.jpg "Biggies Top Hits")
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony 'It's Bone and Biggie, Biggie / It's Bone and Biggie, Biggie.' Who doesn't chant along when 'Notorious Thugs' comes on?
While did their thing on the hook, harmonizing to the terrorizing keys woven into the beat, Notorious B.I.G. Totally switches up his cadence. He ricochets bars, adopting a southern type of flow as he sends a gentle jab at Pac, who died at this point ('so called beef with you know who') and also ('fucked a few female stars or two'). Then the Bone boys speed it up some with their signature flows. Every member of this song is essential to it becoming a classic, especially the Notorious B.I.G. Shout out to Layzie Bone closing the track with the 'red red rum rum rum rum' that 'red red rum rum rum rum.'
. 8 'Suicidal Thoughts' From the onset of Biggie's debut album 'Ready to Die,' the late rapper was obsessed with his own demise. Whether thinking someone was going to kill him or that he would someday take his own life, it was almost cryptic how Biggie predicted an early departure from the planet. Even further, he didn't have aspirations of entering the golden gates of heaven. This sng is dark, self-deprecating and overbearingly cynical. Yet it's poignant. 'When I die, f- it, I wanna go to hell / 'Cause I'm a piece of s-, it ain't hard to f-in' tell,' he says on the phone to Puff on the track.
Biggie then discusses why hell is so much better anyway - he prefers to dress in black (not white), he likes sex, he commits crime. Heaven feels too strict. 'I swear to God I just wanna slit my wrists and end this bulls-,' he threatens. The religious undertones are present, where killing himself is still murder so he'd go to hell for it. It's such a dismal way for Biggie to kick off his career.
Who knew at the time he was predicting an early exit? One of the best Notorious B.I.G. Songs indeed.
7 'Me & My Bitch' Who the hell would ever say 'You look so good, I'd suck on your daddy's d-?' Well, Big does on 'Me & My Bitch.' This 'Ready to Die' cut builds with the beat the quintessential ride or die chick. She helps you move weight, she has keys to your crib.
She doesn't need romance - or maybe she does, but Biggie won't provide it. Then the dissension happens, where she's using his toothbrush to clean a toilet and tosses he clothes out the window. He still loves her though, even until the end of the song when she.gulp. dies a la Lost Boyz's 'Renee.'
The song is emotional yet ill, and houses a classic line that became the lead sample on and 's 'All I Need': 'And then we lie together, cry together / I swear to God I hope we f-in' die together.' .
6 'The What' Feat. Method Man 'Biggie Smalls is the illest.' Certain one-liners rise above a song and enter hip-hop history, and that line from 'The What' is one of them. While the track is really just a playful lyrical exercise for Biggie and Method Man, it's impeccable. The way the two grab a hold of the springy beat and just pummel it is enough to label it a qualified classic. The song feels like it could live in a dark alley amidst a group of guys holding a cypher. Then the hook cuts up the bars and turns into a warped slogan for the workers' union: 'F- the world, don't ask me for s- / Everything you get, you've got to work hard for it.'
And ya don't stop. 5 'The Wickedest' If there was one thing Biggie had over most rappers during that time period (and beyond), it was his ability to freestyle. 'The Wickedest' was a mere inkling of that skill set, as it's short but undeniably potent.
As he warms up our ears for a minute or so (suggesting we grab some weed or a drink), he awaits Mister Cee's cue for the beat to drop. Then it's mayhem. He goes from STDs to going criminally insane in terms of content.
Then he closes the freestyle with a similar line he wrote for on 'No Time': 'But gettin' back to the black rhinoceros of rap / Big took a loss? How preposterous is that?' (Kim's version is 'Can't fade the rhinoceros of rap / Lil' Kim a rookie? How preposterous is that?' . 4 'Kick in the Door' Besides housing another epic 'Mad Rapper' skit at the beginning of the song, 'Kick in the Door' was important on a number of levels. When 'Life After Death' arrived, Biggie solidified his status as rap star.
The fame was omnipresent and with it came a slew of tracks that seamlessly swam the mainstream. A track like 'Kick in the Door' was very necessary for a number of reasons. For one, it maintained Big's street credibility.
The track talks traditional threats like 'Kick in the door, wavin' the four-four / All ya heard was Poppa don't hit me no more.' After tracks like 'Big Poppa' and 'One More Chance,' it was easy to assume that maybe Biggie went soft with that cushion of cash. The Notorious B.I.G. Was still the mo' shady, Frankie Baby, who would could turn around and sling rocks like he just started up again. He needed to prove he was still hard.
We all knew it, but it didn't hurt to overstate the obvious. 3 'Party and Bulls-' Sure the track is called 'Party and Bulls-,' but there's nothing laid-back and 'hangin' out' about it. 'I was a terror since the public school era,' Biggie barks as the track erupts from jump.
Greatest Notorious Big Songs
The greatest element of this song was Biggie's delivery on this one. His cadence, his energy, his fire. It was all there and the recipe made for one hell of a song. As he rides the beat, Big discusses everything he could do - from beating asses to getting asses.
But like the title of the song suggests, all he really wants to do is party and bulls-. Besides being one of the best Biggie songs, it's also the greatest slacker anthem from a far from slacker rapper. 2 '10 Crack Commandments' Everybody needs a set of rules to follow, even if they are rules on how to break the rules. Like Biggie says on '10 Crack Commandments,' the game could destroy you. 'I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal / There's rules to this s-, I wrote me a manual.' While the song is a solid lecture on how to penetrate the crack game, it's really just a euphemism for the rap game.
Biggie Top Hits
From never trusting anybody to 'never get high on your own supply' there are a ton of valuable lessons in the '10 Crack Commandments.' The advice can be readily applied to today, only heightening the timelessness of the track. 1 'Who Shot Ya' The piece de resistance. The creme de la creme.
Call it what you want, but 'Who Shot Ya' stands as one of the best Biggie songs (along with the other 14 tracks listed) by way of the thorough ass-whoopin' the rapper gives to the beat. He's firing shots, talking threats, making not so subtle jabs and he's doing it all with lyrical perfection.
Biggie Smalls Top 10 Hits
As his deep, brooding voice slices through the David Porter sample on the chirpy beat, we get a stark contrast that carries through the whole track. 'Who Shot Ya' states its intentions right from the title, yet it's more than just the violence. It's a clear indicator that the Notorious B.I.G. Was lyrically one of the greatest to ever do it, and while we have a whole collection of songs to replay in his honor, none can compare to what Biggie could have accomplished had he lived past 25.