Today sees the posthumous release of the Notorious B.I.G.'s latest album
Duets: The Final Chapter. I have to say, on initial listen, it certainly doesn't suffer from the wack production that plagued the last Biggie album. It features an impressive roster of A-List guest, including Eminem, Mobb Deep, Snoop, and even Tupac Shakur, dropping their hottest verses intermingled between some Biggie classics.
It's a little weird, though. Big was obviously not as prolific before his untimely exit as 'Pac was, so most of the lyrics that we're hearing just sound recycled and kind of dated. Also, consider that he wrote most of this stuff before he turned 25, and, well... it kind of sounds like it now, in this new context.
Plus, there are a couple of other things that disturb me a little. First, I can't help but think of his mother. This man is - and deservedly so - one of the most respected emcees in the game (hell, he's my favorite), but think about the content of his lyrics and how his poor mother must feel to know that this is what her son is known for. And also, consider this quote:
Nineteen-seventy somethin’, nigga I don’t sweat the date
My moms is late so I had to plan my escape
Out the skins
Planning his escape out the skins, huh? If my 1994 slang serves me correctly, he's talking in such a cavalier fashion about his mothers
vagina. That's just fucked up, man.
Then, there are a couple of interludes where his kids talk about how they love him and miss him, etc. I don't know - I don't think the kids should be involved in this thing at all.
Anyway - overall, I think it sounds good, and while I'm generally opposed to these posthumous releases for a multitude of reasons, it's kind of nice to hear Big in this new context, and to imagine what it would have been like if he was still around, and could have performed with some of the hot emcees of today.
