This writer remembers way back in the day when my BFF and I would engage in a friendly banter about who was the better rapper, Biggie or Tupac. My pick was Christopher Wallace, also known as The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, and Biggie. Wallace was born on May 21, 1972, raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, and gunned down in Los Angeles in 1997. He was 24.
Biggie’s raspy flow was so smooth. His storytelling–sinister and amusing–simply resonated. It explains why I loved Junior Mafia and Lil Kim, especially when they were rapping lyrics he penned. In Big’s honor, Puff Daddy and the Family are launching their tour today, May 21, 2016, on Big Poppa’s birthday in his hometown.
Puff Daddy is bringing Lil Kim, Ma$e, Faith Evans, Mario Winans, 112, Total, Carl Thomas, The Lox and French Montana together for a massive musical reunion, which will initially kick off at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
In honor of Biggie’s 44th birthday, we’ve complied a list of raps, rhymes and rants the Notorious BIG would have “Hypnotized” us with.
1. To Brooklyn Borough president Eric Adams who declared today ‘Biggie Day’ in honor of late rapper Notorious B.I.G’s birthday.
It’s unbelievable/Biggie Smalls is the illest (“Unbelievable”)
Spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way (“Juicy”)
2. Notorious B.I.G’s daughter Ty’anna Wallace during a ceremony at Borough Hall shared these words about her late father, “Now, May 21st is officially Biggie Day which is amazing. It’s been almost 20 years since he passed away, so for Brooklyn to acknowledge him and acknowledge that he is from Brooklyn, that he loves Brooklyn, and now it’s Biggie Day for May 21st is just amazing. He’s just a great storyteller. He was really creative.”
I get swift with the lyrical gift (“One More Chance”)
I always taught you that you could have whatever you dream/Well, I want you to hold on to that dream baby/Hold on to it real tight ‘coz the sky’s the limit (“Sky’s the Limit”)
3. To the unfathomable gun violence in Chicago which earned the Windy City a new moniker, Chi-raq, he’d say: Back in the day/Things done changed on this side/Remember they used to thump but now they blast, right … Little motherf––ers with heat want to leave a nigga six feet deep. (“Things Done Changed”)
4. To President Barack Obama who ribbed presidential hopeful Donald Trump during the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner about the never-seemed-to-end birth certificate debate by saying, “Now, he can focus on more important matters like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
You see, all I do is separate the game from the truth (“One More Chance”)
5. “I have black guys counting my money. … I hate it,” Donald Trump told John R. O’Donnell, the former president of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, according O’Donnell’s account in his 1991 book Trumped! “The only guys I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes all day.”
Trump, according to O’Donnell, went on to say, “‘Laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that.”
In an interview with Playboy in 1999, Trump remarked that “[t]he stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.
Take them ends you make/And spend em on a tutor hah, one shot, I’m through with ya (“What’s Beef”)
6. To Trump who also said: “Our great African-American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore.”
Stereotypes of a Black male misunderstood/And it’s still all good (“Juicy”)
(How you living, Biggie Smalls?) In mansion and Benzes/Givin’ ends to my friends, and it feels stupendous…/However, living better now, Coogi sweater now/Drop top BM’s, I’m the man, girlfriend
7. Now my mom pimps a Ac with minks on her back (“Juicy”)
“Empire’s” Cookie Lyon who’s known for rocking the flyest mink coats brings these lyrics to mind. This FOX hit is a art imitating the dreamy life that Biggie rapped about, hustling and overcoming the struggle.
8. I only smoke blunts if they rolled proper (“One More Chance”)
Biggie Smalls would have a billion views on a YouTube tutorial simply titled: “How to Roll a Blunt”
(Watch out Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg)
9. Look, I gotcha caught up with the drunk flow/F––k tae kwon do, I tote a .44 (“One More Chance”)
To George Zimmerman.
