So this week I have a lot of Favorite Things. Truth be told, I could always start writing one if I sat down at the computer on any given day. I like a lot of stuff. But then you’d probably never get any mixtapes or remixes or new videos. My brain basically functions by linking little connections of little details of everything music related together in order to remember them easily by making two or more things one; making space for another sample or pattern or MOP quote. Or B.I.G. quote. Let’s get to the topic here…
March 9th will forever be remembered as the day Christopher Wallace died. Whether you heard the news from radio, TV or you’re just a Canibus fan, you probably remember the day it happened, and how the news was delivered to you. I saw the pictures of the riddled SUV on MuchMusic coming home from school and was extremely sad. A huge loss for hip-hop music. Biggie was an amazing balance of skill, street, ladies man and commercial appeal. Quite the feat for a self proclaimed ‘black nasty m-fer’ who cursed a lot and never let his rhymes and skill get too caught up in trying to make some loot. Even in my “I only like weird underground music phase”, I still bumped his tapes (thank the heavens) because he was undeniable. He just did it all. I mean, the man is STYLING on the “One More Chance” Remix verses. And he always came with hardcore street joints that kept his early fanbase in tact. He was a natural. So many rappers try to do the “this one is for the ladies”, “this is my street single”, “this is the West Coast G-Mix”, “this is my club song”…. but Biggie did it before those terms were cliche or a marketing plan whipped up by a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar. I’ll always smile when watching early footage of him, especially the one where he’s rapping on the corner at 17, because the young man is just oozing with potential: so much energy, precision, originality and style. Traits which he kept throughout his much-too-short career.
So for this post, I want to shed some light on a few of my favorite samples and beats that the Notorious one rapped over. B.I.G. always had a knack for picking great beats. It didn’t hurt that he had some incredible producers around him. Easy Mo Bee, Premier, Puffy’s team (and whoever was making the beats that came out under his name), Havoc, RZA, Lord Finesse (to name a few)… all of these names should come up when talking about hip hop’s great beat makers. But it does go beyond that. Just listen to the 17-year-old freestyling in the paragraph above. That’s some park jam type shit. Let’s start there.
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Ike & Tina Turner – “Cussin’, Cryin’ and Carryin’ On” via Bozo Meko “Spread Love” 12″
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This is the breakbeat that Biggie is rapping over above, and also on his classic “I got 7 Mac 11’s/about 8 38’s/9 9’s/10 mac 10’s/the shits never end” freestyle with 2Pac, Scoob, Kane and them. Others have used it before and since, but I’ll never hear this without thinking about the man. In both instances, it’s a DJ cutting up doubles of the classic party break on Bozo Meko records, “Spread Love (Remix)”, which is rumored across the board as a 45 King production. Mark had them sounding so slowed down and beefy. He threw acapella group Take 6 over top of the break and made a classic. He left the drums open towards the end of the record and (un?)intentionally made hip-hop history. Biggie’s chant became a loop celebrated the world over. That’s pride. (Extra: though there’s some weird self-made video attached to it, you can listen to the record I’m talking about here)
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The Main Ingredient – “Summer Breeze”
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The first song that comes on after the cinematic intro on Ready To Die is “Things Done Changed”, an excellent example of Biggie’s storytelling abilities. This spooky, sped-up loop sets the mood. It gets even spookier when it’s slowed down to it’s original speed on a cover of Seals & Croft’s “Summer Breeze” by the The Main Ingredient (of “Everybody Plays The Fool” fame). Somehow, they turned this mellow tune into a creepy, dark, moody 3 minute adventure. I LOVE this song. By the way, that’s Cuba Gooding SENIOR on lead vocal. (Bonus Beats: the drum fill used in the B.I.G. song comes from the next song on the MI record, “California My Way”)
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Al Green – “The Letter”
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Another excellent genre-crossing cover, Rev. Green nearly puts The Box Tops’ chart topping hit in reverse. At almost half the speed, the blues are felt that much more. And that groove? Wow. RZA once again snatched up a Willie Mitchell-produced banger for his contribution to Biggie’s 2nd album, Life After Death, for the song “Long Kiss Goodnight”. Some slights to 2Pac are included here and this creepy beat enhances the morbid feeling.
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Isaac Hayes – “Walk On By”
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Now this is just a straight up soul classic, but it’s the way that it’s flipped that makes it special to me. Easy Mo Bee produced “Warning” (who the f@#$ is this? pagin’ me at 5:46 in the mornin’…) and it’s a glaring example of Mo Bee’s love for the SP1200. Sped waaay up, Ike’s bass is wobbly and 12-bit, grainy, and so ‘rap’. And it’s just got that ‘bounce’. Can’t get there with Ableton Live, kiddies. They added a reverbed-to-infinity snare, popular at the time in rap (see: Mobb Deep), and this thing bumps like Craig Mack’s skin (kinda related?). Anyway, not much needs to be said about the original. The day Isaac Hayes died, my man Cosmo Baker ran all 12 minutes of this joint (2 of them aren’t in this youtube clip) of this at the Shambhala funk jam in the isolated woods of British Columbia on a sunny afternoon. No better way to hear it.
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Dave Grusin “Either Way”
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This one isn’t necessarily a jam I would bang all the time, but it’s one of those instances where a sample enhances a song. “Everyday Struggle” is a sleeper classic off of Ready To Die. The Blues Brothers (some guy Norman Glover and Lord Digga from Masta Ace’s INC crew) looped up this mellow fusion jazz song and combined it with The Five Stairsteps’ “Don’t Change Your Love” drums (aka the “Hip Hop Hooray” drums) and some other snare to make a life-ain’t-so-hot-but-i’m-alright anthem that many listened to simply because it was after “Juicy” on the album sequence (remember those?). But that doesn’t take away from it; it’s a great song in it’s own right. This beat is really hood. if you listen close, the second half of the 4-bar loop is sped up a few ‘cents’ and is actually slightly out of tune with the first two bars. I love that kind of stuff. Dave Grusin was a frequent Quincy Jones collaborator and also created GRP records with Larry Rosen which released great early 80s jazz/funk albums by Bernard Wright and Tom Browne among others.
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Les McCann – “Vallarta”
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Now this one is included for the nerds. I mean, if you made it this far into this post, chances are that you fall into that category. This sample shows Primo’s genius, literally taking ‘les’ than a second of music and making it into a can’t-hide-from-it hip-hop classic beat. “Ten Crack Commandments” is written free-form over the drums and sample: no chorus, no real rules of structure, raw rap. This jazz song doesn’t really represent those same views, but is still a good listen.
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Barbara Mason – “Another Man”
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Lil Kim and Biggie go back and forth over this pre-autotune album cut (basically cover) of the same name on LAD. Released on late 70s/early 80s disco/boogie label West End, this was apparently an NY classic. I actually despised the Biggie song when it came out, but I was uptight and young and a virgin. I like it today. And this Barbara Mason song is the cut!
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David Porter – “The Masquerade Is Over”
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Pretty much the illest. Nashiem Myrick of Puffy’s production squad “The Hitmen” looped up the right channel (made it mono) of the piano loop in the breakdown of this song, leaving some creepy female ghostly vocals bleeding through slightly, creating the perfect ode for B.I.G. to air out his aggression on 2Pac. Another one of Biggie’s free-form, rap-til-i-want-to classics. This song still scares me. That loop is just… ugh Incredible! So simple! Crafted using those old school techniques. Never be afraid to experiment with music. You gotta love it.
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At the risk of being totally obvious (Mtume “Juicy”, Debarge “Stay With Me”, KC & Sunshine Band “I Get Lifted”, Isley Brothers “Between The Sheets”) and longer than this novel already is, I’ve left out many more of samples that Biggie rapped over. I’m sure you can add to the list. What are some of your favorites that I didn’t name?
As you can see from these songs above, one of hip-hop’s finest street rappers was rapping over some ‘easier listening’ music at times. It’s all about what you do with it! Biggie’s musical choices, though definitely related to production trends at the time the music was made, resounded that his voice could fit anything and take on roles over all different sorts of music. This enhanced his storytelling and made him stand out. It also opened me up to music I would have never discovered. Thank you to everyone involved in the making of this music.
And in closing I’d like to say: some people grow tired of the “greatest of all time” talk and the easily assignable posthumous praise, but when you balance the scales, there ain’t too much competition. Thank you for reading! RIP B.I.G.!
