So why is The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I’d venture to say that if there’s a single Notorious B.I.G. song that casual music fans have heard of, it’s “Hypnotize.” Spotify corroborates this, for what it’s worth, with over 1.1 billion plays as of this writing (with “Big Poppa,” off of Ready to Die, #573 of best 1,000 albums ever, coming in a relatively close second, with over one billion).
Biggie, as he’s often called, was somewhat on my radar by 1997 amid the backdrop of the “east coast-west coast rap beef” that had already turned tragic, but I absolutely recall “Hypnotize” blowing all the way up as it aligns closely with my post-collegiate days hanging out in tiny dive bars in Manhattan.
And the guy who was known as Puff Daddy back then was known as a producer/promoter-type who would occasionally show up on artists’ tracks and do kind of a “yeah yeah” thing in the background. I mention this because the music that I remember playing in dive bars back then falls into two categories:
- Puff Daddy (and Bad Boy Entertainment) aligned artists, including Notorious B.I.G., Mase, and Lil’ Kim
- 1970s disco and dance tracks (‘70s nostalgia was huge at that time), best represented by the brilliant “Upside Down,” by Diana Ross
On any given night, you’d typically hear many of the same small collection of songs over and over again, it seemed.
But “Hypnotize” was different, prompting a whole new level of fame and notoriety for the artist who seemed to forecast his coming death on an array of brilliant hardcore rap tracks that helped further cement New York City as the global mecca of hip hop.
And “Hypnotize” was also different in that it was a true party track, a true bar song, an enormous crossover hit that felt as at home in NYU bars as at the (much hipper) clubs uptown and over in Brooklyn.
That huge booming bass line and Biggie’s seemingly effortless flow are still timeless and yet very much of its time, if you can dig.
Your crew run-run-run, you crew run-run.
“Mo Money Mo Problems,” featuring both Puff Daddy and Mase (there they are again), is not nearly as good a song in my view, but it was another of the songs very much in that New York City dive bar juke box rotation circa 1997.
It’s “What’s Beef?” though that’s the other truly stunning track for me on the massive Life After Death LP, which runs 24 songs and close to two hours(!) of material. This one is no party track: it’s slow, even methodical, and deeply effective and effecting.
It’s one of the most chilling rap songs just in terms of its sound and tone, but it’s chilling in a way that’s completely captivating. And that’s the true star power that Christopher George Latore Wallace possessed during his short life.
Man, and those strings, too.
“N—– Bleed” is similar to “What’s Beef?” in terms of its vibe, though it doesn’t reach quite the same heights.
And “Notorious Thugs” is a great hardcore rap track that doesn’t forget to be groovy and highly entertaining.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death
I’m still reeling a bit from the recent release of a video tape showing Sean Combs – who called himself Diddy in recent years – brutally beating his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura (and that’s on top of a wave of additional accusations of abuse from a number of women).
Beyond the revulsion at the act(s) itself, I suppose I’m reeling because the guy known as “Puff Daddy” has simply been in my life, even in some small way, for so long.
For example, as a longtime fan of weirdo reality TV shows, I greatly enjoyed each of the multiple iterations of Making the Band way back in the day.
But that guy wasn’t the “real” guy.
And as I wrote the above sentence, the line, “What? There ain’t no more to it,” jumped out at me at the end of the “B.I.G.” interlude track.
I suppose that’s appropriate.
Some stats & info about The Notorious B.I.G. – Life After Death
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rap, Hip Hop, East Coast Rap, Hardcore Rap
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #179
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Life After Death released? 1997
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #207 out of 1,000
The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Beef is when I see you, guaranteed to be in ICU.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.
