Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/1997/04/23/notorius_big_life_after_death.php
Wednesday, April 23, 1997
I listen to rap music all the time. When I was a kid, all my friends played rap on their stereos and Yo! MTV Raps was the only show I would watch when I was in
high school.
My first impression of rap was that it was just another form of dance music. It had first appeared in dance clubs, and it was really popular among urban youth. When 'gansta' rap rose to popularity in the late 1980's, I doubted that its violent tone would fit in with mild, mainstream rap.
Despite its critics, 'gangsta' rap was a monetary success, and it quickly accrued a large and loyal listenership. I didn't like this style of rap at first, but when Dr. Dre released his album The Chronic in 1993, I was hooked.
While some 'gangsta' rappers are certainly actors, others actually live the violent life they speak about in their music. Tragically, their lyrics are sometimes played out in real life.
Christopher Wallace, known to his fans as the Notorious B.I.G., was one of these performers — he never lived to see the March 25th release of his second album, Life After Death . . . Til Death Do Us Part.
Wallace first caught my attention with his 1994 debut album, Ready To Die. Selling over 1.5 million copies, Wallace became a millionaire and a platinum artist overnight. A frequent criticism of rap is that the rappers are too hard to understand. This was not the case with Wallace. He introduced a listener-friendly rapping style — all of his lyrics were clearly enunciated and intelligible. Always fond of ballads, Wallace's songs were narratives straight from his own life.
The album centers around Wallace's meteoric rise to fame from a crack cocaine dealer in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn, New York, to a national celebrity and rap superstar. Songs like 'Juicy' and 'Unbelievable' explore this rags-to-riches theme. In the introduction to 'Juicy,' Wallace dedicates the song to all the people who called the cops on him while he was dealing crack.
Always brash and bold, the Notorious B.I.G. was never afraid to discuss his troubled past on the album. He often justified his drug dealing as a way to make money to feed his young daughter, T'Yanna. Indeed, the introduction to the entire album is a sequence of events which begins with his birth, continues on to his harsh upbringing, details his robbery of a New York City subway car, and culminates with him being let out of prison. The guard who releases him states, 'You'll be back,' to which Wallace replies, 'Not me, I've got big plans.'
Wallace makes attempts at humor, most notably the misogynistic '#!*@ Me Interlude.' This song was simply a speech excerpt from a prostitute having sex with Wallace.
The album's last song, 'Suicidal Thoughts,' is very dark and disturbing. The ballad is set as a telephone conversation in which Wallace reveals his suicidal intentions to the person on the other end of the line. As Wallace continues to talk, a gun shot rings out, and the verbose Wallace is suddenly silent.
The violence preached on Ready To Die supplanted itself in 1994 — the year Wallace was involved in a bitter feud with Tupac Shakur. Shakur, a 'gangsta' rap artist, accused Wallace of orchestrating a near-fatal robbery attack.
In the spring of 1994, Shakur was shot five times and robbed of the $40,000 worth of jewelry he was wearing just outside his New York recording studio. Miraculously, Shakur survived the attack and the robbers were apprehended, but he was still convinced that the Notorious B.I.G. was the main conspirator in the robbery attempt.
Wallace refused to become involved with Shakur, and denied any involvement with the attack, but Shakur never rescinded his accusations. As time passed, the situation between Shakur and Wallace turned even worse, touching off a rivalry between East and West Coast rappers (Shakur was from California, while Wallace was from New York.) The East-West Coast distinction is the main one in modern 'gangsta' rap.
In 1995, Wallace recorded the song 'Who Shot Ya,' which seemed to mock the robbery attack on Shakur. When rumors of Wallace's involvement in Shakur's robbery circulated once again, Wallace denied them.
Shakur was serving time in prison for sexual assault charges when 'Who Shot Ya' was released. After his release, Shakur joined Death Row Records, a West-coast music label which specializes in 'gangsta' rap, under the guidance of its CEO, Marion 'Suge' Knight. Death Row also includes such rap stars as Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog — each of whom has had his own legal problems.
By 1996, Shakur had become a celebrity, both for his album All Eyes on Me, which sold over five million copies, and as an actor in such movies as Poetic Justice. In 1996, Shakur released the song 'Hit 'Em Up' in retaliation to Wallace's 'Who Shot Ya.' In his song, Shakur claimed to have slept with Wallace's wife, Faith Evans. Shakur continued to insult Wallace, his label (Bad Boy Entertainment), and several other East coast rappers who had supported Wallace.
On September 13 of last year, Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas. The murder was unrelated to the East and West Coast rap rivalry, but Biggie Smalls (Wallace) was noticeably absent from a Harlem, New York, meeting that attempted to quell the East and West Coast rivalry.
Sadly enough , Notorious B.I.G. was killed on March 9, 1997, only six months after Shakur's death, and was laid to rest ten days later.
Life After Death is probably the best rap album of 1997. Wallace brought in outstanding producers, including the RZA, and rappers for his comprehensive album.
The album is also extremely long — there are 24 separate tracks on the album and a hundred minutes of music are included in the two compact discs.
Life After Death begins where Ready to Die left off. By looking at the album's cover, it seems that Wallace may have predicted his own death — he is leaning against a black hearse dressed in a black suit and hat. In addition, almost half of the album's songs focus on death, revenge, and murder, such as 'Somebody's Gotta Die,' 'Last Day,' 'N*gg*s Bleed,' 'My Downfall,' 'Long Kiss Goodnight,' and 'You're Nobody ('Til Somebody Kills You).' At the beginning of 'My Downfall,' Wallace has a telephone conversation with a man who threatens to kill him.
The album's best songs are 'Hypnotized,' '#!*@ You Tonight,' 'Sky's The Limit,' and 'Another.' 'Hypnotized' discusses Wallace's ability to captivate audiences with his music, and it was the first song released from the album. Compared to the rest of the album, it is more rhythmic and relies extensively on innovative drum loops.
The salacious '#!*@ You Tonight,' a collaboration with R&B singer R. Kelly, is explicit, but humorous, and 'Sky's The Limit' is another rags-to-riches ballad. Wallace teamed up with female rapper L'il Kim for the very danceable and catchy 'Another,' a song about unfaithful lovers.
Wallace had high aspirations for Life After Death, and hoped that it would go multi-platinum. After listening to the album, I think he had a very realistic goal. It's just sad that he won't be alive to see its success.