Can anyone forget this album? This album (as well as Nas' "Illmatic" were the front runners of the year 1994. Christopher "Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls)" Wallace debuted with this album with the lead single "Juicy". A rags to riches song that still gets played here in 2006. Biggie's lyrical skills were excellent. I hear a lot of rappers (who I will be here all day naming) saying excellent lines that came from Biggie. I think to myself "Damn, this guy said everything".
The album is excellent too. A lot of these songs are about drugs, robbing, and what not. Big was just rhyming about things that he went through before he had a record deal, trying to survive and eat. Who could blame him? "Give Me The Loot" is one of those songs about his struggles (some words were edited in this song. I'm pretty sure rhyming about robbing a pregnant woman was going to gain some negative attention). "Machine Gun Funk" is self explanitory on how a good song it was. "Warning" was a short song and video about people targeting him for his money. "One More Chance" is a great song about how he gets his females. The song would be remixed and made into a video a year later, but both versions sound great.
Guest appearances are only one. Method Man, back when his rhyme skills were phenomonal, would rhyme on "The What". Classic track if you ask me.
Production was by Mr. Cee, Puff Daddy, and Easy Mo Bee. True, Puffy might be the "king of beat jacking" and what not, but he did a damn good job with them. The Isley Brothers "Between The Sheets" would be made into the classic single "Big Poppa" was one of them.
This album was pulled off the shelves earlier of this year, because of unauthorized sampling on this album. But recently I've seeing it back on shelves. I guess it got settled. I bought this back in 2003 when it had the origonal white album cover. If you purchased this in 2004, you get the album with a few extra tracks like the more popular "One More Chance (Remix)". And you get the DVD with all the videos that came from this album. This album had a heavy impact in 1994, is a classic and is a must have for any hip hop collection. Most of these songs are rehashed into choppy verses on his postmothous albums unfortunately. But this is where most of them origonally came from. Biggies legacy helped influenced a laundry list your favorite rappers today, who bite his style. That alone should explain how this impacted hip hop. Word.
Rest In Peace Biggie Smalls
Lyrics: A+
Production: A+
Guest Appearances: A+
Musical Vibes: A
Overall: A+
Favorite Tracks: Give Me The Loot, Machine Gun Funk, Warning, One More Chance, Juicy, Every Day Struggle, Me & My B*tch, Big Poppa, Respect, Friend Of Mine, Suicidal Thoughts
Peace!
Correction: The remix to "One More Chance" doesn't appear on here, although it would have been a smart idea, since it was a big hit song summer '95. Also I heard that the actual album is edited, which I hope is not true (I know the samples here on Amazon are).