It was the summer of ’95 when the introduction took place. I’ll never forget the first time I heard him. It was something different. So refreshing. Back then I was heavy into rap, especially anything coming from the east coast. New York was Jerusalem. It was the holy place of all things rap. Everything that was good and pure flowed from the streets of New York City. Big Daddy Kane mesmerized me. Kool G. Rap painted pictures so vivid, I could close my eyes and feel myself riding shotgun through the infamous boroughs of the Big Apple. Wu Tang Clan was where I found solace and refuge. It felt like Enter the 36 Chambers was handcrafted for my ears. To this very day I believe Inspectah Deck’s verse on C.R.E.A.M. was written in virgin’s blood. The words that came through the earphones of my Walkman were my gospel. Amazing Grace over sampled keys, and hollow scratches. If I had never picked up another rap album, I would have been content with what my young ears had already heard. Compared to now, ’95 was like the dark ages, in other words no Internet. Since mix tapes were not big in Detroit, what I didn’t hear on Rap City or consume through late night mix shows was completely foreign to me. Big Names like Funkmaster Flex, and DJ Clue held little weight in my life. Luckily for me my old bird is an east coast native, so back then I spent every summer of my young life in New Jersey, and New York. I had a few older cousins that would drop gems on me from time to time. I remember the manila envelope sitting on my bed when I came home one evening.  Enclosed was a cassette tape. The cover was a sloppily Xeroxed copy of a DJ Clue mix tape. Along with that there was a letter from my cousin back New York with instructions for me to listen intently. He was a little older and always ahead of the curve so I heeded his words. I popped the cassette into my Walkman, and pressed play. I still had the cover in my hand, feverishly reading it as I went from song to song. Names checked off of the songs I had already listened to.  Names like The LOX, DMX the Great, Children of The Corn, and Murder Ma$e peppered my earlobes. And then it happened. It was the sound of the baritone that would grunt over a familiar Death Row instrumental. The melodic flow engulfed my spirit. The bars. The metaphors. The cadence. It all fell together perfectly. I strolled down to the last unchecked name, and looked over to see who this guy was. From that point on my life would never be the same. His name was The Notorious B.I.G.  

When Ready to Die dropped, Rap changed forever. What made Biggie special was the fact that he was fluid enough to ride an R&B beat, and street enough to spar with any of the so-called tough guy rappers. He set the precedence, and embodied everything Rap should be. He was the status quo. Go ahead, listen to your favorite rapper today, and you will still feel his presence weaved throughout their bars. Even now you will be hard pressed to find a more complete album, let alone double CD, that can hold a candle to Life after Death.

 Tragically The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered before his full potential could be released. He left before so many questions could be answered. Just ponder for a moment, would Jay-Z really be the king of this rap game if Biggie were alive?  What would Biggie sound like over a Kanye West production? Would Diddy really be a star if Biggie were still around?  How much further ahead of the curve would he have been?  Would there really even be a debate over who’s the best rapper alive?  The world will never know.  So to commemorate his life, his work, and his passing we present our top memories of The Notorious B.I.G.

Juicy- If you don’t feel something when this song plays, you have no soul.  Sorry 

Big Poppa- Put this song on at any club in the free world, and watch what happens. 15 years later and still a certified smash. Timeless music.

One More Chance- “Lyrically I’m supposed to represent/I’m not only the client, I’m the player president” Nuff said

Flava In Ya Ear- Diddy may have invented the remix, but Biggie bodied it.  UPS had more applications than they could count after this song dropped.

Players Anthem- Like Kobe, Lebron, Mj, and D- Wade, you surround a great player with a bunch of nobodies, and they all step their game up.  C’mon, when’s the last time you heard Cease spit like this?  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Warning- All bars, no hooks, no chorus.  Just rap. Amazing.

Get Money- A relationship gone wrong never sounded so beautiful.

St. Ides Commercial- Jay-Z wasn’t the first artist to endorse a product.  He was ahead of the gamebefore most of us knew how to play it.