Biggie Smalls Last Album
Pop culture loves its deceased icons. Jim Morrison. River Phoenix. All have achieved near-immortality since their passing, their limited bodies of work put on a pedestal and earmarked for eternal greatness. While these artists have become larger than they ever were during their limited lifetimes, it's the hip-hop community who has taken the canonization of its fallen heroes to new heights.
One only has to look as far as Eazy E, Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls/Notorious B.I.G.). While Eazy garnered a few tribute albums since his untimely death due to complications brought about by AIDS, Tupac and Biggie have managed to become larger than they ever were in life since their still unsolved murders. Bhaag milkha bhaag movie.
Biggie Smalls Last Album Covers
Life After Death: Biggie Smalls' Legacy. But this wasn't the last that the world had heard from Biggie Smalls. He was featured on no fewer than five songs on Puff Daddy's 1997 album, No Way Out.
Biggie Smalls Last Album Covers
Biggie Smalls Last Album
The mystique and controversy surrounding their deaths has only added to their legends. It is this very same mystique and controversy that makes an album like so intriguing. For starters the name implies that this is the last album the world will get from B.I.G. However, astute historians will note that nothing is ever so final in the world of rap music.
Too $hort announced his retirement from the rap game back in 1992. He went on to record no less than nine albums since then. Announced his retirement during the recording of his 2003 release. And while he hasn't released an album since then, he took over as the President of Def Jam Records and has done numerous guest appearances on other people's records, plus there are rumors that he'll record another album. Retirement rumors have hounded, as well, with the artist clarifying that he's just going to take a sabbatical. Given the track record that's already been established, one has to wonder if this will be the final Biggie album, the chapter that closes the book on one of Brooklyn's finest and finally lets the Notorious one truly rest in peace. That's not the only subtext weighing heavy on the concept of Duets.
Most prominently, the specter of commercial gain can't be ignored on a release such as this. Since the passing of Tupac the rap music industry has gone out of its way to exploit the deaths of the genre's most recognized icons, pumping out posthumous albums with a frequency that leave's most rap fans dizzy. It's no wonder that people joke about how Tupac has released more albums since his death than when he was alive.
This very subject was obviously weighing heavy on Diddy's mind when putting together Duets. The rap mogul sees fit to comment on the very subject during his contribution to the album's first proper track, 'It Has Been Said' stating: 'critics laugh, said I made a fortune off of his past/all I did was build a dynasty off of his passion&#Array;' The interesting thing is that B.I.G. Has always been the linchpin of Records. None of the label's other artists, with perhaps the exception of Mase, have ever come close to living up to the hype and sales of the big man. The strangest thing, however, is that just as the man formerly known as Puffy comments on how he built his house; he also drops into egocentric patter that almost seems like a dis to his dearly departed friend. In short, he straight up takes credit for creating Biggie and turning him into the talented superstar that he was: 'I took him from coal to diamond/I molded his mind into the most phenomenal artist of any and all time&#Array;' Call me cynical, but usually when paying tribute to somebody you don't go out of your way to point out how you made them who they were. One can almost see Biggie rolling over in his grave, his thick voice tinged with a hint of menace: 'Puff said what!?'