Get Money – Biggie, already a star, adds his power to Junior Mafia and that chorus is one of the greatest in the biz. ANd then Lil Kim comes (if you’ll excuse the phrase) for the second verse…
Juicy – Is there a more quoted song in hip hop history? “Birthdays were the worst days, now we drink champagne when we’re thirsty”.
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems – Riding the Diana Ross sample -a long one, not just the ten second loop the world was used to, Biggie and pruducer Puff Daddy changed the direction of hi hop and made it the world wide phenom it is. Off his second and last album, either the best or second best album of the 1990s, Life After Death
The Ten Crack Commandments – “Never get high on your own supply”!!! Hysterical and horrifying. This sorta of cleverness is stuff nobody has been able to replace. In real terms, Biggie’s death is a big a lost as Cobain, Lennon, any of them. He hasn’t ever been replaced.
Party And Bullshit – First song out the gate and he is already there. Everything is in place: the ominous sample, the easy bpm, and the hijacking of West Coast and wasting of Westcoast.
Fuck You Tonight – With a young R. Kelly. Biggie raps, R. Kelly comes across as an ultimate r&b soul brother.
Things Done Change – Is there a wiser song upon the corrupting influence of the projects. “Back in the days our parents used to care for us, look at them now they’re even fucking scared of us.” Suggest a deep scarring and loss well beyond the abilities of other rappers.
Kick Down The Door – Because sometimes Biggie was a chronocler of the world he lived in and knew how to spin a story and make you laugh and gasp at the same time.
Hypnotize – Sexy, smart, a signpost to a future he never reached.