Ready to Die single 'Big Poppa' was then followed by a radio friendly remix of 'One More Chance' alongside guest verses for Total and Mary J Blige as hip hop's most unlikely sex symbol took centre stage. 112 ft Notorious BIG and Ma$e 'Only You' (Bad Boy Remix) (1996)Īlthough initially at the behest of mentor Sean 'Puffy' Combs, B.I.G's slide into hip hop Casanova was effortless as the nineties progressed. He saves the best lines for himself though, alliterative wordplay "beatin down Billy Badasses" mixed with macabre humour as he offers the son of a man he's murdered a kleenex. 'Get Money' remains the go to for many, but 'Player's Anthem' is classic Biggie through and through even the Lil Kim and Lil Cease verses were clearly written by him. Biggie had Junior M.A.F.I.A, whose 1995 album Conspiracy featured a number of records assisted by him. Biggie Smalls 'Player's Anthem' (1995)Įvery upmarket rapper in the nineties brought their less talented crew along with them for the ride, Rhymes' Flipmode Squad and 2Pac's Outlawz two examples. It's got ridiculous imagery (feeding his rottweilers "gunpowder so they can devour the criminals trying to drop my decimals") allayed with sheer poetic brilliance - note how he name-checks unfashionable Calico and Beretta guns due to their phonetic appeal. Vividly told and stacked with flurry of multi syllabic rhymes, this is pretty much a perfect hip hop song in every way. The lyrical themes weren't exactly ground breaking but the delivery was - encapsulated by this epic slab of Mafioso story telling. Ready to Die remains the perfect representation of Biggie as an artist, a flawed masterpiece which showcased his thrilling prowess and persona around classic nineties boom bap production. This remains one of the greatest guest verses of all time, near enough rendering the following LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes and Rampage the Boy Scout irrelevant, as well as pushing Craig Mack and his career firmly into the background.įrom the minute the first line riffs brilliantly on a homonym ("Niggas is mad I get more butt than ash trays"), this is a man completely in control of not only his own music but hip hop itself. This marked a slight shift as his style became more laconic, the effortlessness of his rhymes only adding to the sheer weight of what he was saying.
In terms of delivery, they were generally focusing on the more nasal aggressive delivery that was early Biggie - check the Easy Moe Bee produced 'Party and Bullshit' for an example, whilst even the laid back 'Just Playing (Dreams)' feature him in a fairly agitated voice. Craig Mack ft Notorious BIG, Rampage, LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes 'Flava in Ya Ear' (Bad Boy Remix) (1994)īefore Ready to Die dropped there was a slew of tracks which suggested perhaps the greatest rapper of all time was rearing his head. As a way of tribute we've rounded up five of the best recorded moments to come from his short but extremely fruitful career proof of why Biggie Smalls remains the illest.
#GENIUS LYRICS NOTORIOUS BIG READY TO DIE FULL#
Undoubtedly one of the finest emcees to ever touch the microphone, his influence remains huge, with everyone from Jay-Z to Pharoahe Monch paying their dues (the latter eulogising about what might have been when we spoke to him recently).Īlthough he only ever released two full albums completely in his name - 1994's breakout release Ready to Die and then the double disc follow up three years later, Life after Death - he remains one of hip-hop's most iconic voices. was shot dead in Los Angeles, a crime that remains unsolved to this day. Nineteen years ago Brooklyn rapper Notorious B.I.G.
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