Evans’ chorus is the “best” on the album, and Jadakiss’ verses are alright. “NYC” as my “favorite” track is kind of the result of a war of attrition. Old verses and samples of Biggie are sprinkled throughout the loose, bland R&B songs “Ten Wife Commandments,” for example, is obviously and strangely sourced from “Ten Crack Commandments.” I don’t actually know if there’s anything new from the unreleased archives on the whole album, so there’s really not even that reason to listen to the album if you’re a Biggie fan. It’s pretty awful, featuring cheesy meditations on Evans’ relationship with Wallace and bizarre vocal interludes from Biggie’s mom (a fixture on his posthumous records). Biggie was married to singer Faith Evans from 1994 until his death in 1997, and 20 years after his death she released this “collaboration” album under his name. THE KING & I is the perfect encapsulation of what people hate about posthumous albums. That makes five albums, minus Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s CONSPIRACY (1995), which features production, songwriting, and verses from Biggie. While six wholly posthumous albums were released under the former’s name (who was also famously hologram-ized at Coachella 2012), only three came out under the Notorious B.I.G. And like his rival Tupac Shakur, Christopher Wallace was taken advantage of in death, although to a slightly lesser extent. While Biggie Smalls’ legacy looms large, only one album was released during his lifetime his second, LIFE AFTER DEATH, was released just about two weeks after he was killed in a drive-by shooting in L.A. Even though I was born in California, I’m mostly an East Coast dude when we’re talking about that era of hip hop, so yes, I’m a Biggie over 2Pac guy (although how relevant they/their peers are to kids of today has become a point of controversy on Twitter a few times). came some time after the basics basics, his place in the West Coast-East Coast feud is well documented. In my reeducation, I had to go back to basics. OK, the latter much more so, but you get the point. But thankfully, I opened up, and hey, both have some good stuff. I was one of those “I like everything except country and rap” kids.
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