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It’s
almost like Life After Death, but also kinda like
cheating death.
As in
“haaa haa, thought you’d get me but still I rise.”
Okay,
now think about how you felt when you got that joint home.
The play button has probably never felt so much pressure.
This was it. This was going to create or destroy a legacy in
one fell swoop. “Damn, why did he have to die?”
“Damn,
why did he have to release a double album??”
“Nobody
ever has a consistently hot, meaningful double album.
Nobody.”
While I
have you thinking back to 1997, really put yourself in the
midst of what was happening in our beloved hip-hop universe
at the time.
Double
albums were flying out of record companies left and right,
but they didn’t seem so much like a means of an artist
continuing to get his point across…just seemed like a way to
get $25 instead of $12 or so.
If you
think back to this time period, you’ve also got to think
back to the East Coast vs. West Coast…situation. – why call
it a war?
Situation is much more honorable. Right?
Think
back to junior high and high school when our young minds
were growing more and more exposed with every block we
strolled, and also with every CD we bought and listened to
rappers tell us of the blocks they strolled. When B.I.G.’s
first CD came out, I was in such a pivotal place. Fresh out
of Old West End, at Scott High School … in the middle of
gang culture which I embraced to a certain extent.
And then
my mentality shifted with every Nas, Wu Tang, Tribe Called
Quest song I listened to and connected with.
Then
came B.I.G. and the cycle was complete.
Fans of
East Coast hip-hop who were older than us rejoiced at the
coming of a new era in our music, and those of us still
squeaking our way out of puberty were met with new sounds
and new ideas we took with us into manhood.
I can’t
tell you how many business meetings I’ve prepared for while
reciting the verses to Mobb Deep “Shook Ones pt.2.”
That’s
my coming of age right there.
So there
we are, at the mid point of the 1990s.
And
we’ve been walking around with our heads held high for the
past few years because our music was better than it’s ever
been, and the debate over our music was more heated than
it’s ever been and certainly the talent was among the best
that would ever be.
Life
After Death marked a milestone in Hip Hop Music and Music in
general for numerous reasons.
“Could
an East Coast Artist deliver a top notch double album while
Tupac has turned the world against us?”
“Is it
possible for a double platinum rap superstar to carry a
theme from his debut to his sophomore release? And if so, is
the whole death theme too dark?”
“Do
people really understand the deeper context of being
Ready To Die on your first album then calling your
second album Life After Death?
And then
for those of us who produce, we were literally holding our
breath to wait and see what would this thing even sound
like.
Bad Boy
had become famous for what some referred to as “watered-down
samples” but anyone who paid any attention would see 70
percent of the music coming out of Daddy’s House was
original, raw and sometimes completely anti-glamorous
sounds. The RZA and Dr. Dre were defining two extremes of
what rap music should sound like.
The
Midwest and the South was just beginning to explode while
the East Coast sound clearly dominated the landscape.
I mean
come on, maaan, groups like Capone N Norega were snatching
down gold and platinum plaques at the time.
Can you
even remember how that felt?
Sure,
Puffy had proven that Bad Boy could be the best of both
worlds by going platinum with hardcore N.Y. hip-hop as well
as slick sounding R&B, but that was project by project…
could he blend Bad Boy’s entire philosophy into one album?
And for
me, that was much of the weight of the situation right
there.
Anyone
who knows me can tell you, I was a Bad Boy fanatic.
Just as
much as I was Nas, Jay and Tribe..but I had to speak up for
Bad Boy all the time because everyone hated them.
But this
company changed the way the world viewed urban music,
marketing and media. Not Rocafella, not Cash Money, not Ruff
Ryders. None of them can say they sold as many records, had
as many hit singles and set as many trends as Bad Boy (well,
the Roc did set an awful lot of trends tho…close, but
still).
B.I.G.
was Puff’s first signed artist, but Craig Mack was the first
release and when his debut single went platinum. (I mean
really, who was having platinum singles back then on some
hip-hop ish? Really?)
Bad Boy
Entertainment was so successful that every platinum project
that came out of there after B.I.G.’s first release only
mounted the pressure for what he could possibly do next.
So,
think back to them days in the mid-late 90s.
When you
still bought CD’s and cherished them.
When
your primary way of hearing the newest hip-hop wasn’t the
internet or the night club, it was cable TV and FM radio.
Think
back to when the game had a king, and you pressed play to
hear the proclamation from on high.
Life
After Death
“previously on Ready To Die” … the intro to disc one
was pure genius and unmistakably haunting. The pianos, the
strings, the triangle, the shaker … those being the only
music you hear. That was Bad Boy from a production
standpoint. Puffy bedside talking to his fallen comrade.
Then the
flat line hits you, wow.
First
time I ever heard rain play all the way through a track,
“Somebody’s Gotta Die” is amazing in its production but,
even more, it’s B.I.G.’s opening shot… a glimpse into his
unmatched story telling ability.
Damn, do
y’all remember when The Source magazine still mattered and
they instructed MC’s …look, if you wanna be among the game’s
best then you need to up ya weight in flow, metaphor,
storytelling etc. etc.
Who
remembers that? Where my real head’s at, maaan?
Anyway.
This opening joint is exactly what Puff orchestrated and
B.I.G. was born to do, create audio drama so real you can
see this song playing out in your head every time you hear
it. So what if it’s eleven years old.
Speaking
of being 11 years old, they still play “Hypnotize” on the
radio to this day! And not just around Biggie holidays.
“Ya crew
run run run, ya crew run run” – come on, maaan!!
And
then, the first milestone is created… The Mad Rapper Skit!
“This
my fourth album…my fourth album, yo … I ain’t made a dime
yet!..” “Mr. Rapper, this is a family oriented show…”
O.M.G.,
maan, that is still hilarious. But laugh now, cry later,
because once “Kick In The Door” comes on it’s obvious some
stuff is not a game on this album. “Ya reign on the top was
short like leprechauns”… B.I.G. sets on it all lyrical
challengers real and perceived.
Now,
this is where the album only slightly missed a beat in my
opinion because it’s obvious B.I.G. and Puff would want to
include the man behind “Unbelievable” from Ready To Die
on the sophomore release but… “Kick In The Door.” as ill as
it is, it doesn’t quite measure up to “Unbelievable.” But
you can’t make a classic joint every collab so, hey. “F&$%n
You Tonite” – R. Kelly had B.I.G. on one of his joints,
B.I.G. let Kellz (before he was Kellz) on the nastiest of
his.
Naw, I
take that back…this is the nastiest song only on Disc 1.
Darron
Jones from 112 produced one of the hottest smooth
hip-hop/R&B joints of that year while B.I.G. tells the
ladies that all that fancy stuff is GONE!
I
remember all the older dudes I knew around the way at that
point were swearing by this song. So far, the album is four
songs deep and they are all bangers. But what’s even more
amazing is they all have a different sound.
So then
the thought creeps in “Have they really attempted the
unthinkable ... are they really trying to make a double
album you can play end to end?”.
Before
you can even take all of that in, how rough is it that Puff
managed to get every single active act on his roster
represented on this project in some way? (Pam from Total on
“Hypnotize” and Faith singing with B.I.G. on the album’s
final song if you ain’t know)
“Last
Day” – so crazy because Bad Boy considered Styles the star
of the Lox so he gets to rhyme closest to B.I.G. but of
course Sheek still the first out the box. Havoc’s production
was at that point defining Mobb Deep’s murda muzik sound so
this was a way to reach into that part of NYC that would
probably try to front on B.I.G. and Bad Boy.
The
rhymes on this song don’t really get interesting until B.I.G.
comes on, and even though the song is not on par with the
other material on this release, you’ve got to admit it’s
slick hearing the Black Frank White spit lines like
“…analyzing my size and your size and, realizing… a fist
fight would be asinine … you just pop wine, I must pop 9’s.”
Come on,
who do you know would flip words like “asinine” in a battle
rap?
That’s
some “Biggie, Jay Z and Nas” stuff right there.
At this
point on the album, Biggie’s verbal mastery is still intact.
Still
the king of the game, but things need to get more fun.
There
has been a lot of tension on the album, which was great on
Ready To Die, but a whole double album won’t carry
that.
Then the
Jay Z collab shifts the entire feel and mood within a few
seconds of “I Love The Dough” (also, what rapper you know
has Angela Winbush on the album?).
Shaun
Carter and Christopher Wallace on the same song, I mean
those studio sessions should’ve been recorded and played
like historical footage. I remember reading Easy Mo Bee
interview saying producing it was just part of the joy but
his real treat was watching two of rap’s most brilliant
minds pace back and forth in the studio, no pen, no paper as
they criss-crossed walking paths coming up with their
verses.
As an
album, things have improved immensely by this point.
B.I.G.’s
rhymes are everything you expect … intelligent, nasty,
hilarious, uncanny, and undeniably the stuff of kings.
O.M.G. –
when “What’s Beef” comes on, it’s a wrap.
This is
a classic. This song and the album so far, long as they
don’t mess it up.
Imagine
the weight of hip-hop’s most embattled superstar, on urban
music’s most debated record label, produced by urban music’s
most polarizing figure….amidst all the beef they endured,
and they make a song to set you completely clear on what
exactly beef is!
Music
is amazing, rhymes are amazing…but to keep the album from
being too dark right up next is the outstanding “Mo Money,
Mo Problems.” And I won’t get deep into that joint, but it’s
painfully obvious to you at this point that these cats have
made a serious attempt at creating the most cohesive double
rap album to date.
The disc
closes with two more musical dramas that unfold so sweet, so
vivid it’s like B.I.G. is pure narrator… like it’s not even
his album.
As if
it’s some theatrical CD set to timeless music. And I do mean
timeless. Put on “Niggaz Bleed.” If ya head don’t start
bobbing then ya neck must be broken.
“I Got A
Story To Tell,” finds B.I.G. telling the most hilarious of
all his stories about sleeping with a girl whose dating NY
Knicks player who comes home right after their episode and
the only way he can not get caught cheating with dudes girl
is to yoke her up and pretend he’s in the house robbing her
instead of just getting done getting down with her.
Disc One
concludes and you feel happy to see B.I.G., Puff and his Hit
Men and Co. have delivered what you can certify is one
outstanding half of a double album.
How many
trends were set just in these first 12 joints alone?
The
funny skit, the storytelling, the commercial sample right
next to the hardcore joint …the R&B star collab –
You may
not know it, but all the hip-hop you’ve heard in the last 11
years has been directly influenced by Life After Death.
Disc
Two, next review.
glasscitytruth@yahoo.com
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