The life and times of hip-hop royalty, Biggie Smalls hits the big screen in a week when the biopic based on his life, “Notorious” opens nationwide. We checked the film out earlier this week and while we won’t review it until it’s release, we have a feeling that fans of Big’s music won’t be disappointed.
To help countdown to the release of the film, we have picked several of our favorite Biggie joints that we will feature one daily until the film drops in theaters.
While many people may not remember today, but in 1994 hip-hop which had originated in New York was enjoying unprecedented success on the West Coast. The explosion of gangsta rap and a new wave of creative artists such as N.W.A., Ice-T, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur had created a seismic shift tilting the balance of power to the Cali heavyweights.
Meanwhile in the cradle of hip-hop was looked at as merely an afterthought. The East Coast needed someone, ANYONE to give to give New York some hope. East Coast hip-hop prayers were answered in spades with not one but two hip-hop heavies in the young Queensbridge MC, Nasir “Nas” Jones and Bedford Stuyvesant’s own The Notorious B.I.G. While Biggie’s life was cut short in 1997, QB’s Finest, Nas has continued to rep New York and all of hip-hop becoming one of the culture’s greatest ambassadors.
Today we feature one of our favorite joints from Big’s classic debut, “Ready to Die” the fierce “Unbelievable.”
Tell us your favorite Big joint and why. We’ll post the answers up to the release of “Notorious.”
Enjoy!
my fav biggie joint is notorious !