Where Brooklyn at??

Today the Biggie Duets CD dropped. It got me thinking about who is my top five greatest emcess. ( read my other post to see my top five) You can argue with me to your face turns blue Biggie aka Notorious BIG was, is and always will be the all time greatest hiphop icon, period. No if ands or buts. You can name anyone you want I won't budge. I know he had only two official albums but it still won't convince me. The secret weapon is one of the greatest mixtapes EVER Mr. Cee's Best of Biggie mixtape (Yup I said tape the CD was not even available. I will set another blog about greatest mixtapes next week.). Best of Biggie was a best seller in the hood and it dropped before the album Ready to Die hit the streets. Pound for pound his lyrics were the best in the business and that is not a small order from the 300 something pound guy from bed stuy.
BIG had hunger, passion, the pain and humilty and put it in every line. Now I may be bias cause the kid was born in BK "where the playas stay all day every day." But at the time where NY emcess was not moving units the way a Snoop or NWA could BIG was king (hence Frank White, King of New York). He snatched the crown (well deserved) that was ever so vacant. He soley made Bad Boy the label it was by dropping 16 for every artists there, virtually carrying the label on his back. Think about this: would Total, 112, Ma$e, Faith, the Lox and Diddy have the fame they had if not for this man. I am missing so many others like D.Dot, the HitMen, Jermaine Durpi, Cease, Jr. Mafia, Lil Kim, Charlie Baltimore, Volleta Wallace, Lance "Un" Rivera, Cam'ron and yes I said it Jay-Z. He has made many people rich in spite of his death. (For the record, Jay is my second.) BIG also memorized and never wrote any lyrics on paper. He won the favor of backpackers by traveling through Lyricist Lounge and "ghost wrote" for many artists. He showed no predjudice in the genisis of his career by recording with everyone from Heavy D, da Brat, Method Man (despite beef with other Wu-tang members), Crustified Dibbs, Tracey Lee and names you may never hear from again.

I always say the sign of success is when some samples your voice on a song, you have made it. I heard BIG on a posse cut with Heavy D on the great album Blue Funk on a track called a Bunch of Ni**s. I knew that dude was going to make it. I heard Party and Bull***t. I was open. When I heard Little Shawn sample his voice for Don Perignon, I said he made it.

I am not a ryder but a fan helping to immortalize his generosity and skill. Go buy the Duets the Final Chapter. If not go buy Ready to Die

For those in the spirit of the giving. Happy Holidays!!!
All you haters, "Bah humbug" but still Happy Holidays!!!