Artist Spotlight: Notorious B.I.G.

How timely…Biggie is the Artist Spotlight the week the movie about his life comes out. It is a coincidence (maybe).

I must be honest and say that I was never a Biggie fan, until after he died. I am ashamed to admit that I participated in that whole Tupac/Biggie bullshit, and my side was Pac. I felt like I knew Pac, and when Biggie burst onto the scene, he felt like someone stepping on the turf, unwanted. I must also admit that I missed out on some of the greatest storytelling rap lyrics ever.

I will never call Biggie the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time)…that spot is reserved for Pac over here (save your arguments; this is my spot!), but I will say that he mastered the art of lyrically painting a picture. One of my favorite tunes (once I started listening) is “Warning“…check it:

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I will admit that Big’s story intrigues me and I do plan on going to see the movie, “Notorious.” Anyone who is able to find their niche and gain from it is cool with me. Now there are some parts that I’m not so cool with, but that is the case with most folks stories. There is always something that you could do without, something that you wish (and maybe they wish) they would not have done. For the most part, I think now that he was a talented young man that got caught up in some bullshit because of people around him. It is quite tragic that being in the music business during that time had to lead to the death of two of the most talented men we had amongst us. But I digress.

The Ready To Die CD is a classic. It is listed on the Top 100 Hip Hop Albums of all time, and includes another one of my favorites, “Big Poppa.”

video credit: originally uploaded to YouTube on December 2, 2008 by NotoriousTV

Pac was the poet and the realist…Biggie was the laid back cat who liked to party and talk about his chicks and what kind of shit he had. There is space for all, because the way Biggie did it still made you sit back and think…and from where I come from, that is what Hip-Hop is all about.

Man I miss that…