The whole project is the union of technical skills of Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and the commercial skills of Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, whose two visions of music are present respectively in the form of street and radio songs.
The only son of Jamaican immigrants, Wallace was born and raised in Brooklyn, and pursued the bright lights of fast life since adolescence, doing freestyle on the street and in local groups, and deciding to dedicate himself full time to drug dealing. Combs was born in Harlem and grew up in Mount Vernon, after completing his studies, in 1990 he entered as an intern at Uptown Records and within a few years he was one of the executives, placing several singles of Mary J. Blige and Jodeci at the top of the rnb charts and remixing all he can.
After being released from prison in 1991, through his friend Damien "D-Roc" Butler, Wallace meets DJ Hitman 50 Grand with whom he records some amateur demo tapes while he raps over some instrumentals. This DJ brings one of the demos to Mister Cee, former producer of Big Daddy Kane, who in turn promotes it to Matteo "Matty C" Capoluongo. Matty C is the creator of "Unsigned Hype" and puts Biggie in "The Source" column of March 1992, bringing the demo to the attention of Puff Daddy, who's looking for artists for his label.
Biggie Smalls signs with Uptown, and in 1993 he made his rap game debut in "A Bunch of Niggas", a track from Heavy D's "Blue Funk" disk, appearing on several remixes and starting work on his debut album. In the summer of the same year, the rapper took part in the soundtrack of the movie "Who's the Man", releasing "Party & Bullshit", and later changed his moniker to the definitive The Notorious B.I.G. as Biggie Smalls was already being used by another artist. In the following July, in the course of making the album, Puff Daddy is fired from Uptown Records and Biggie decides to resume full-time criminal activity until he's taken away from the street by Puffy, who sends him a ticket to New York the day before the police raised the house in North Carolina where he had returned to dealing.
1. "Intro"
Skit that predicts the birth of Biggie Smalls, followed by a couple of interludes, the first one paying homage to Curtis Mayfield's "Super Fly", the second one to Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". Second skit, this time between the rapper's mother and her partner, representing the violent childhood experienced by the young man. Another interlude, this time a tribute to Audio Two's "Top Billin'" that precedes a new skit that follows the growth of Christopher Wallace, who begins to live the criminal life, dealing drugs, stealing and robbing. Another tribute to Audio Two, then there's an instrumental from Snoop Dogg's "Tha Shiznit". Concluding skit in which the young Wallace is arrested and ends up in prison after the robbery of the previous skit.
On an idea by Puff Daddy who intends to create a precise concept for the album, the entire introduction is an almost autobiographical summary of Biggie Smalls' life up to the recording of his debut album.
2. "Things Done Changed"
Crackling drums, samples from The Main Ingredient's "Summer Breeze" that forms the background of the track. For the hook, samples are taken from Biz Markie and Dr. Dre. Calm midtempo drum, thundering bass, arpeggios, sublime rhythm created by Darnell Scott. Thematically, the author returns to the eighties and his childhood, on the eve of the crack epidemic that overwhelmed his neighborhood in Brooklyn, when people fought with their hands instead of guns and narrating how the streets have evolved and how this has reflected on his person. Biggie lets the beat breathe and then delivers with a slow, fluid, clean, clear, spectacular rapping style, creating one of his best tracks ever.
3. "Gimme the Loot"
First in a series of masterpiece productions by Easy Mo Bee. Sample da Ohio Players' "Singing in the Morning". Heavy, powerful, thundering, phat bass, harsh midtempo drum, intro by the Brooklyn emcee, then arrives that "I'm a bad, bad, bad": the producer takes it from Kid Hood in ATCQ's "Scenario (Remix)". Lyrically, the author describes himself and a friend as street-robber kids who commit various robberies without remorse. Biggie decides to also perform the other part by altering his own voice and creating a back and forth of rare beauty and purity in the history of the genre. The chorus is simple and repeated endlessly, brilliant. There was supposed to be a remix of the song with Nas, but the collaboration never happened.
4. "Machine Gun Funk"
Sample from Black Heat's "Something Extra". Harsh and tough uptempo drum, robust bass, splendid guitar riff, this Easy Mo Bee production is iconic. Around the minute, it was a sample from Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns' "Up for the Down Stroke" for the hook, but due to the unauthorized sample, it's removed from the track. It remains a chorus with a sample from Lords of the Underground's "Chef Rocka". In the song, The Notorious B.I.G. compares the criminal life to the rap life. This track, one of Biggie's favorites, was intended to be the album's first single, but as time went by and other songs were recorded, the author realized how the public was more oriented towards R&B songs and ballads rather than hardcore cuts and the choice of singles varied on other tracks.
5. "Warning"
There's a sample from Isaac Hayes' "Walk on By" and a little excerpt from Funkadelic's "Freak of the Week". Over a beat originally destined to Big Daddy Kane, that rejects the work of Easy Mo Bee, Wallace creates almost a hit, a double a-side of the single "Big Poppa", with "Who Shot Ya?" as b-side. The author has a telephone conversation with a friend who warns him of a potential conspiracy against him.
6. "Ready to Die"
Another amazing soundscape by Easy Mo Bee for the title track of this classic LP. Splendid sample from Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' "Hope That We Can Be Together Soon", sample from Willie Hutch's "Hospital Prelude of Love Theme", song of "Foxy Brown" (1974) movie soundtrack, hard midtempo drum, robust bass line, beautiful musical carpet for the smoothness and powerful rapping of The Notorious B.I.G. The hook is formed of samples of Grand Puba and Scarface. The Brooklyn rapper talks about his life experiences and how he's «ready to die», meaning he's ready to leave his criminal life to prepare for the one as a successful artist, his new «life after death».
7. "One More Chance" (ft. Total, uncredited)
There are two versions of this sexual tune of Biggie, who boasts about his sex life while having fun in a harem. The first, original and ended up on the album, features a rhythm created by the Hitmen, Bluez Brotha, Chucky Thompson and Puff Daddy. Sample from DeBarge "All This Love", hard uptempo drum, ethereal piano keys, exquisite beat. Long introductory skit, then the rapper spits two verses with some dynamic flows, while the group Total sings the hook.
Extracted as the third single of the album, the remix "One More Chance/Stay With Me (Remix)", released eight months later than the original and produced by Puff Daddy & Rashad Smith — the Trackmasterz are behind the keyboards, uncredited — becomes a major commercial success in 1995, debuting #5 in the Hot 100 and arriving in the second place, certified platinum by the RIAA. It's his biggest hit while he's alive. The remix features a different rhythm, made on a sample of a different track by DeBarge, "Stay With Me", and different lyrics from the original, also Biggie delivers three verses in this ballad and is accompanied on the chorus by both his wife Faith Evans and Mary J. Blige who replace Total. This remix is even the last song he performed live before dying in Los Angeles in 1997. At the end, Puff Daddy was right, as this remix version is considered as the original and unique version, while the real version present in the CD is forgotten.
8. "Fuck Me (Interlude)" (ft. Lil Kim, uncredited)
On a Jodeci song, Lil Kim and Biggie Smalls create a skit as famous as one of his best tunes.
9. "The What" (ft. Method Man)
Vinyl crackle sound, perfect midtempo dry dusty drum, heavy bass line, vibrant, deep, fantastic, brilliant sample from Leroy Hutson's "Can't Say Enough About Mom", relaxed mood. Biggie lets this sublime Easy Mo Bee beat breathe, then enters with an elegant, flowing, velvety, dope style. The second verse features the only guest on the record, Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan, the only one to have taken part in records by both Biggie Smalls and 2Pac with both artists alive. The emcee goes down with a smoothness, focused, dope flow, which the guy himself claims is inspired by Nas. Short hook from both, then Tical stays at the mic to deliver another fabulous verse. The Notorious BIG makes a classic by placing a tight fourth stanza, hook, outro.
10. "Juicy" (ft. Total, uncredited)
From another idea of Puff Daddy this piece was born, the boy wants to use "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume. Originally, the piece should be produced by Pete Rock, the beatmaker's version later leaks on the internet and is fantastic, but Puff Daddy doesn't like it, the drum hits too hard and he wants a softer version. So, the Bad Boy boss turns to the Trackmasters again: the kids strengthen drums and bass from the original sample, and practically leave Mtume's song untouched. On a soft and rnb ballad production, accompanied by the amazing chorus of Total, Biggie delivers three verses with his best flows and invents an immaculate classic. It's one of the first songs dedicated to the rise to success of a rapper who started from nothing, it becomes a hit single (#27 on the Hot 100, first among rap singles), one of the greatest songs ever in hip-hop and ultimately the signature song of Biggie Smalls.
11. "Everyday Struggle"
Definitely one of my favorites on the album, if not my favorite. Dope soundscape invented by Bluez Brothas. Magical sample from Dave Grusin's "Either Way", wonderful piano, soft bass, dreamy mood, ethereal, the rhythm breathes, then comes the iconic hook and the harsh, heavy, dry, fast drum, which intelligently "knocks on Biggie's door", these details are gems on the record. Three verses recited with a smoothness, energetic, unstoppable delivery style in which the artist provides a detailed narration in which he describes the street life of a drug lord between murders, conspiracies and drug dealing, stating that he's tired of this type of life. One of the most cinematic cuts on the disk, stunning.
12. "Me & My Bitch" (ft. Sybil Pennix, uncredited)
Production created by Bluez Brothas, Chucky Thompson and Puff Daddy, harsh dusty midtempo drum, amazing piano keys, rough bass line, guitar riff in background, splendid soundscape. The author dedicates the song to his girlfriend. The original version is based on a sample by Minnie Riperton's "Take a Little Trip", then Stevie Wonder refuses to authorize the use of the sample due to swears and the subject matter of the track. So, this is another remix.
13. "Big Poppa"
After a dozen tracks focused on the New York sound and decidedly East Coast, The Notorious B.I.G. gets a West Coast track. Chucky Thompson and Puff Daddy behind the keyboards, g-funk synths, harsh muddy slow drum, phat deep bass, sample from The Isley Brothers' "Between the Sheets". The beat should go to Lost Boyz, then Puff Daddy asks the Hitmen to get back the rhythm. Here, Biggie spits with a calmer style over a fluid music. Released as the second single, it achieved good commercial success (#6 on the Hot 100, certified platinum in 1995) and helped launch the artist's career in the mainstream industry, being nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance and winning a Billboard Music Award.
14. "Respect" (ft. Diana King, uncredited)
Trackmasterz in the production for this ragga track of Biggie Smalls with Diana King (uncredited), the rapper spits with a relentless and syncopated flow, spatial in the second verse, retracing his life just before another sexual skit, this time with his wife Faith Evans.
15. "Friend of Mine" (ft. Lil Kim, uncredited)
Easy Mo Bee come back behind the keyboards after twenty minutes. Samples from Gwen Guthrie's "Seventh Heaven (Larry Levan Remix)" and Kool and the Gang's "Spirit of the Boogie". Sparse dusty hi-hats, hard drum, thundering bass in background, good production. The Bed-Stuy emcee drops three stanzas about of being disrespectful towards the women he dates. Lil Kim spits a couple of lines.
16. "Unbelievable"
This is the last song made for the album. The rapper doesn't live far from DJ Premier and in the end, when the budget is over, he asks him for a rhythm: in a short time, Premier creates a beat with the first sample he finds, The Honey Drippers' "Impeach the President", tight drum, keyboard loop of a few moments, the chorus is taken from R. Kelly's "Your Body's Callin'", on a suggestion of Big Poppa himself. It's simple, but it works very well, Biggie proves again that he's one of the best performers in history, with few equals in rap.
17. "Suicidal Thoughts"
Middle of the Night. The phone is ringing. When Puff picks up the phone, Miles Davis' sample of "Lonely Fire" arrives: he's called by Biggie Smalls who communicates his intention to commit suicide. Lord Finesse's production is a pearl, however, he's not in the studio when Biggie records the song and doesn't hear it until the album is released. The sample from Miles' track gives the beat melancholy, sinister, dark vibes, so the MC delivers a single verse in the most powerful cut of the entire effort. He opens on the sample, after the first bars comes the drum, cold, honest, hard, midtempo, on which he continues to deliver with a sad, bleak, compliant and subdued tone, which doesn't prevent him from always being smooth, clear, technically clean and fantastic, interrupted by Puffy who continually tries to dissuade him from his intentions. Notorious B.I.G. eventually commits suicide by shooting himself and closes the concept album, which began with his birth and ended with his death.
18. "Who Shot Ya?" (bonus track)
Released as b-side of the single "Big Poppa / Warning", stands out clearly. Both are originally intended for Mary J. Blige songs: while some of the lyrics of the vicious track are taken from a remix, part of the other song had to make an appearance as an interlude on the album "My Life", before being discarded at because of its overly violent content, and replaced with a performance by Keith Murray. Today we know that "Who Shot Ya?" is not a dissing to 2Pac, it really isn't, but the timing with which Bad Boy brought it out was just horrible. Biggie Smalls and 2Pac have been friends for a few years, meanwhile, the LA rapper has made the acquaintance of crime-related figures and hasn't said good words about them in some interviews.
On November 29, 1994, he's lured into a trap at Quad Recordings, where he's asked to perform alongside a rapper run by manager "Jimmy Henchman", in exchange for several thousand dollars: 2Pac arrives in the studio complex, the same where Biggie and Puffy record, and here he's robbed with his friends and somehow, the rapper takes a bullet, ending up in the hospital. Resigned against the advice of doctors, the following day, Tupac shows up in a wheelchair in court and is convicted of a previous crime of sexual violence, imprisoned at the Rikers: he's not sure who organized the robbery, and believes that among the perpetrators are Biggie Smalls, Puff Daddy and his friend Stretch, who suffered the robbery with him that night. On the following February 7, 2Pac was sentenced to 18 months in prison at Little Siberia, being released in October via $ 1.4 million bail paid by Suge Knight and moving to Death Row Records.
A dozen days, not months or weeks, after his incarceration, unable to reply, "Who Shot Ya?" comes out: Puff Daddy called Poke to fix the rhythm chosen by newcomer Nashiem Myrick before Notorious B.I.G. arrived in the studio and Puffy could send the piece to Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 the same evening: Poke does an amazing job and makes one of the best rhythms of the year. The echoing voice of Puff Daddy in the intro anticipates the brilliant piano sample from David Porter's "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over", Puffy continues with a long intro and then leaves the field to Biggie, dope flow. Puff is back for a hook of sorts, second verse of the MC inspired by Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents", which was going really hard on the street at the time, interlude of Biggie shooting a rival in the mouth, then the cut is closed by a fantastic outro of Puff Daddy, very long, at his best in career, is probably his finest contribution ever. An immediate classic, it's interpreted by everyone as a very heavy dissing, and it's the bomb that definitively causes the East Coast-West Coast war that will lead to the death of both artists.
19. "Just Playing (Dreams)" (bonus track)
The second bonus track of this classic LP is a vicious tune in which Biggie fantasizes about rnb singers on a rhythm that rests on a riff of a few pinched acoustic guitar strings, music created by Rashad Smith of The Hitmen.
Final Thoughts
Birth, family problems, approach to crime and the umpteenth release from prison. These four moments of life make up a complex introductory concept, open and closed by strings, made with four skits and accompanied by four different musical moments, representative of their period. After the intro there are five pure, hardcore tracks. "Warning" has a slower production, designed for Big Daddy Kane, but which works equally for Notorious B.I.G., thanks to lyrical skills, techniques and a personality clearly superior to the others. Easy Mo Bee is the big star in this powerful section, providing most of the beats, while Biggie brings out tough, raw, criminal bars with a hungry style, aiming for success. Not surprisingly, most of the songs are made when he's at Uptown and still embroiled in the "crime side".
From here on, the hand of Puff Daddy is more noticeable, the cuts that get more success arrive, both with a hook by Total: the vicious "One More Chance" and "Juicy", by a very large margin, his most famous song. The production of this latest track is credited to Puff Daddy and Poke of Trackmasterz, but behind it there's the mind of Pete Rock, who takes the sample from Mtume's "Juicy Fruit", and creates a classic dirty beat, it's worth taking five minutes and listen to his version. In this one, Poke & Tone clean up and modernize the sound, calm Pete Rock's drum, hold the bass lines, and add a few elements that don't disturb the rnb melody and hook, and make them stand out. The rest is Christopher Wallace who becomes The Notorious B.I.G., the redemption of the last one who comes to success from the corner of the street. In between is a sexual skit with Lil Kim and the track with the only guest on the entire album.
Wu-Tang (read: Raekwon & Ghostface Killah) is competing with a select few for the throne of King of the City, however, one of its greatest exponents, Method Man, enters the legend as the only accredited guest of one of the best hip-hop albums of the decade. It seems a coincidence, but behind another classic, there's still Easy Mo Bee: the production is a masterpiece in its lightness and immediacy, Meth at his best in career kills the cut with Biggie. In the final section, the album offers different nuances, passing from the detailed and compelling criminal narrative ("Everyday Struggle"), to the rnb cut on the ideal girl ("Me & My Bitch"), from the radio choice with a West Coast flavor ("Big Poppa"), to the ragga track ("Respect"), from the almost dance cut ("Friend of Mine") to the battle rap ("Unbelievable"), before closing with the sad emotional song ("Suicidal Thoughts"). Among them, "Respect" boasts an uncredited Diana King and a relentless and syncopated flow of the MC, spatial in the second verse, just before another sexual skit, this time with his wife Faith Evans.
Lyrically, Biggie focuses his narration on drugs, violence, weapons, alcohol, women, crime, theft, poverty, socio-political traits and many personal and autobiographical extracts, always maintaining a veil of irony and pessimism. He boasts a dope voice and one of the best flows ever in rap, which from the bold anger dictated by achieving success as soon as possible of his early days at Uptown, turns into a conscious calm of his own possibilities after the transition to Bad Boy. Biggie often lets the rhythm breathe, then always attacks flawlessly and dominates the rhythms with an impeccable, smooth, hardcore flow: he maintains an unstoppable energetic delivery cloaked in romantic nostalgia, thanks to a brilliantly elegant pen, dynamic and with marked eccentric traits, which draws some of the best metric patterns, puns, references to popular culture and figures of speech that you can hear on a hip-hop album.
Production is handled by Easy Mo Bee, Bluez Brothers (Norman Glover & Lord Digga), Trackmasterz (Poke is the only one credited), Darnell Scott, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, Lord Finesse, Nashiem Myrick and Rashad Smith, as well as Puff Daddy, credited for nearly half the record. The soundscape created by these guys is one of the best of the year: it mainly features East Coast boom bap beats with excellent jazzy, soul and funky samples, perfect drums and continuous variations between the cold rhythms of the hardcore songs and the melodic vibes of the rnb crossover tracks.
Released by Bad Boy and Arista, the album is a great commercial success, reaching the top 15 of the Billboard 200, the third place in the rap chart and being certified double platinum in less than a year after release, with all singles certified ("Juicy" gold, "Big Poppa / Warning" and "One More Chance" platinum). Aided by one of the brightest minds of the nineties and a magnificent production, B.I.G. delivers one of the best rap performances in history and creates a very fresh record, the quality of which is inevitably lowered by that pair of sexual skits and constant useless laments by Puffy in the background (good only in the final cut and in the bonus track).
In retrospect, I think it's difficult to describe this artist and this album, what they meant and what they still mean today. This artwork is considered one of the best products ever among hip-hop records, for many fans and critics it's considered the best, an authentic masterpiece. For what reason? A guy raps over beats for 70 minutes, what differentiates this album from all the others? The extraordinary details that the casual listener cannot grasp: Biggie Smalls proves he studied hip-hop, was a great student at school before wanting to make as much money as possible, pays homage to some of his favorite artists several times and offers several quotes to the fans, starting from the cover copied from Nas' debut.
It opens with the beating heart that marks the artist's birth and closes with the heart that goes out and marks his death: moreover, the LP is opened and closed by Puff Daddy, his artistic father, who also interprets the part of his father in the first seconds of the record, and who notes both his birth and his death. The "I'm a bad, bad, bad" provided by Mister Cee, the back n forth with himself, the censored lines, the controversial bars, the tracks structured as phone calls, the tributes to other artists, the citations to the Wu Tang, the references to "Illmatic", the alarm, the middle finger to teachers in its most famous cut, the drum knocking on his front door, the quote to Richard Pryor, his fall into the studio to make the sound of the thud after his suicide, the hidden contribution of Junior MAFIA, the fact that several tracks are actually remixes, the fantastic hooks in their simplicity, the infinite quotable lines in each single track, etc.
New York faces the rise of crack. In its up, it felt omnipotent, but now it goes through a very heavy down that seems to have no end and has completely destroyed the City. Among the rubble of this desolate landscape, survivor Christopher Wallace emerges, describing in detail part of his life and his surroundings, exaggerating and dramatizing some aspects in order to improve his narrative in a spectacular way, with the continuous feeling of fear that runs through the album, fear that what he's doing here, what you're listening to, isn't really real. That in the end, nothing will be done and in one way or another, he'll have to go back to the street he came from, bad and broke. It's the concept and the intrinsic meaning of the album itself: he's «ready to die», he's ready to leave his criminal life to prepare for his life as a successful artist, his new «life after death».
Rating: 9.5/10.
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