Where Would They Be Now?: The Notorious B.I.G. (Article)
What up one & all. Sky Bento here on the check-in. Big Bento Energy is most definitely in total effect. Hope you and yours are doing well, protecting your mental health, drinking your water, knowing the vibes.
We just recently got our first single from the late, great Notorious B.I.G. in over fifteen years. FIFTEEN YEARS. Even crazier is the fact that the man has been on the other side of the sky for a quarter century. Hard times indeed. To this day, many consider Christopher Wallace to be one of the greatest rappers of all time if not the greatest. The man’s flow was smooth as melted butter on movie theater popcorn. His introspection and the detail in which he described his surroundings was legendary. And we’re able to give him all of this praise just off of the two LP’s he was able to complete in his lifetime and a handful of features; three albums if you’re a weirdo like Joe Budden and count a double album as two. Big Poppa, Frank White, Biggie Smalls, the King Of New York. Whatever you call him, you’ve got to call him one of the greats. It’s such a shame he was taken from us sixteen days before the release of his second album, the eerily titled Life After Death. But what would his life after Life After Death be like? What would his third album be like? Or his fourth album? What other business endeavors might he gotten himself into? So I’m starting this new series of hypothetical “Where Are They Now?” articles for the greats who were taken from us far too soon. So without further ado, here’s my what-if scenario for The Notorious B.I.G.
As always, these are just MY opinions and do not reflect the views of TDN as a staff, brand or a m***********g crew. Feel free to crucify me on Twitter @plzsaythebento. Iight, let’s get to it.
Biggie died on March 9th, 1996. Luckily, in his short time recording mans got off a lot of guest verses. If Biggie survived the shooting (or if it hadn’t happened at all), I don’t think No Way Out would’ve been much different outside of the omission of a certain memorial track made in Big’s honor and “Victory” due to reason I’ll get to later. He would’ve still been coasting on the initial hype, but in the wake of 2Pac’s death the East Coast/West Coast beef would’ve been mostly squashed. In 1998, Biggie would’ve made a second trip to Cali with Puff promoting No Way Out on tour and brought out Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg in a momentous occasion. Biggie & Snoop would’ve even debuted a new collaborative record, produced by Dr. Dre (much to the dismay of one Suge Knight). Biggie was working on his next album and given his track record of bringing West Coast flavor to the East Coast, this album was set to mark a new chapter in Biggie’s life. Now a father and having lost who was once one of his closest friends in the industry, Biggie would name his next album Born Again. This version of 1999’s Born Again we would get with Biggie still alive would be a very different experience. It would be a much more positive record, cookout music if you will. There would be the perfect marriage of New York boom bap with a bit of New Jack Swing flavor mixed in perfectly with G-Funk’s dance-able rhythms and synths. Dr. Dre would be heavily involved and not only be bringing Snoop in to collaborate with Big, but also Eminem (just like we got on the real thing). There would also be appearances from Ice Cube, Faith Evans, Jay Z, Nate Dogg (yup, a Biggie song with a Nate Dogg hook), Mase, and a posse cut with Rakim, Ll Cool J and even a young Fabolous. Notably absent would be Biggie’s former protegé Lil Kim, whom would fall out with Biggie as he became more of a family man. The Notorious B.I.G.’s Nate Dogg-assisted single “Gangstas Don’t Die” (produced by Dr. Dre, with Puffy on ad libs) would go on to be performed at the 2000 Grammy’s and even win best rap/sung collaboration. Or whatever the hell the category is, f*ck the Grammys. Biggie would deliver a moving speech dedicated to his late brother in rhyme, 2Pac, and also win the award for best rap album. It would be a momentous occasion for hip-hop. As Biggie accepts the best rap album Grammy, he would announce that the final single would feature Jay Z and prepare us for what was to come next.
“If Big had survived, y’all would’ve got The Commission” - Hov, “Neck & Wrist” (2022)
January 1st 2002. Just a few months after Jay Z’s seminal magnum opus The Blueprint (which would’ve feature a bonus track called “Brooklyn’s Finest II” featuring, you guessed it) the rap world would be taken over by the duo of Jay Z & The Notorious B.I.G.. The Commission would be a ten track album again with some Dr. Dre production, in addition to The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West & Puffy & The Hitmen. “Victory” would’ve landed on this record with the Puffy intro, Biggie verse, Busta hook, and a phenomenal feature from Hov. Not only this, Biggie would release his own signature shoe with Reebok called the Frankies (to compete with Jay Z’s S. Carters and be forgotten just as quickly as they were). Biggie would go on to release one more solo album in the 2000’s, 2007’s Ready To Live, which would be his last album on Bad Boy Records. As such, it would feature a new Junior Mafia lineup and launch Biggie’s new Junior Mafia records. As the biggest part of the Bad Boy legacy, Puffy’s Ciroc endorsement would include a new purple grape flavor. Biggie would also become a brand ambassador for Coogi as they pushed for a revival. Biggie’s Junior Mafia label would release one album, 2009’s Mafioso, which would feature Nicki Minaj on two records instead of Lil Kim, as well as Hov, Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and a Pharrell-produced single featuring Snoop Dogg. After few years of relative silence for Biggie, he would drop a record featuring both Lil Kim & Nicki Minaj in 2014, revealing the pivotal role he played in squashing their beef after Kim reached out to Biggie to reconcile. The record would’ve been produced by DJ Mustard given Biggie’s affinity for West Coast production and the fact that Mustard completely dominated 2014. Biggie’s positive, fly image would remain relevant despite no new solo albums. This doesn’t mean he didn’t still keep it ghetto, just that he got to evolve beyond the iconic gangster image we associate with him. And with Puffy’s rebrand as Brother Love, Biggie would’ve been right there beside him with his purple Ciroc in hand. Throughout the 2010’s, Biggie would’ve dropped a bunch of verse of the year contenders as features for guys like Nas, Pusha T & A$AP Rocky, while focusing on his business ventures. Biggie would’ve returned with a full length project in 2014, but nothing besides a feature here and there in the years that follow, including the verse of the year in 2017 for his guest appearance on Jay Z’s 4:44 album, which itself would inspire Biggie’s collaborators album with Faith Evans, The King & I, which would feature a collaboration with Jay Z & Beyonce (somehow marking the first time Biggie and Beyonce would work together).
In 2022, Biggie Smalls would be chilling much like Puff & Hov are, but with a lot more feature verses. He’d still be revered as the 90’s King of New York, and would co-sign artists like Pop Smoke & Fivio Foreign for repping the town in a new era. 50 Cent would give him a role in Power. We’d all still love his classic discography and appreciate whenever he would pop out of the wood works to do whatever he wanted to in his own fly way. Migos triplets? Biggie would’ve done damn near “Notorious Thugs 2.0” with their signature style. He’d really be working with Ty Dolla $ign in real life. Biggie wouldn’t be anti-gangsta, even working with YG & Nipsey Hussle. But most importantly, he’d be here to be a father to his children, a son to his mother, a husband to his wife, a man. Biggie would still be Biggie. Lil Wayne wouldn’t be working at McDonald’s, he’d be working with Biggie. And this isn’t even to mention the effect Biggie not dying would’ve had on East Coast Hip-Hop. Who knows what else would’ve changed? Such a great talent gone too soon.
Sometimes you can’t help but wish that it was all a dream…