“It was all a dream…”.
Thursday, March 9th marked twentieth anniversary of the fateful night in 1997 when we truly lost one of the rap greats, Notorious B.I.G. a.k.a. Biggie Smalls. Whether you like Biggie or not, you have to admit that he is one of the greatest rappers to ever live. Who knows how large his legacy could have been if his life hadn’t been ended prematurely. To this day, he case of his death and the guilty party have still remained unsolved. Biggie was just hitting his strides as a rapper as he was prepping for the release of his second studio album at the time of his death. Astonishingly, Biggie would be 44 years old if he was still with us. I have a feeling that if he was still alive he would still have a strong presence in the hip-hop/rap world. He would be dropping number 1 albums like its nothing. There has been two albums released posthumously in Biggie’s name that have done very little to fill the void left by Biggie’s passing. My personal favorite is the Duets: The Final Chapter, which brings together some of the best rappers of the time to remix Biggies best hits.
Anyone hoping for more releases from Biggie’s estate are in for a treat. Faith Evans, whom was married to Notorious B.I.G. at the time of his death, announced in 2016 that she was working on an album that include more of Biggie’s unreleased music. The album is aptly titled The King and I and is scheduled for release this year on May 19th. Two songs from that project have been released as singles prior to the release; one featuring Snoop Dogg (“When We Party”) and another with Jadakiss(“NYC”).
To pay tribute to Biggie’s life and legacy I have personally curated a playlist with 24 songs that I believe perfectly embody his style and flow. These are some of my favorites from his discography as well as the timeless classics from his selection of music. Enjoy!