I’ll be traveling later this week, so I wanna do an old school record today and try to get a list in tomorrow. Let’s see if i actually pull it off, ha?
I chose Biggie’s Life After Death because it generates a polarity of emotions from hip hop enthusiasts. All would admit that it’s a good record. Only a fool wouldn’t admit that it’s got some spectacular moments. But it’s polarizing because The Source deemed it to be a 5 mic classic when it dropped in ’97, probably the most controversial rating in the magazine’s history. Some would argue that giving Lil Kim’s The Naked Truth 5 mics was more controversial, but i wouldn’t. We all know that wasn’t no damn 5 mic album, and most of us know why it got that rating (it is a pretty good record, though it’s littered with biting and ghostwriting).
So almost ten years later, how does Life After Death hold up?
After listening to the record yesterday, I must say it holds up today like it held up in ’97–inconsistently.
The first disc is absolutely incredible. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better first three songs on any record than “Somebody’s Gotta Die,” “Hypnotize,” and “Kick in the Door.” It took a few years, but Biggie’s lyrics on “Fucking You Tonight” overcame the schmaltz of the beat and the R. Kelly feature. At the same time, I love that there’s a “something for the ladies” beat for a song totally void of romance (for another example of that, check Tip’s “Let’s Get Away”).
Tracks 6-8 don’t keep the momentum going as much as I’d prefer. “Last Day” is cool but not great, and it’s definitely a waste of getting a track from Havoc. “I Love the Dough” is a guaranteed skipper. Biggie and Jigga have great chemistry, but the beat’s no good. And as much as other people like it, I’m not a big fan of the bizarre rappin’ style on “What’s Beef.” But I must say that Biggie kills every track in that stretch. The problems there are to be blamed on the executive producer. More could have been done with each song. And if you didn’t know, the executive producer was the overrated Sean “Puffy” Combs.
But no need to fret…the disc closes with a BANG. After an interlude, we get “Mo Money, Mo Problems,” which was played every ten minutes in 1997, much to my delight. I’ve never gotten tired of that record, even though I don’t like how Puffy pimped the song as though it’s his. “Niggaz Bleed” is one of the best pieces of writing ever, regardless of the medium. ‘Twas so dope that Vibe actually explicated the poetry in an issue. Closing the disc is “I Got a Story to Tell,” which is absolute genius.
(Random–which Knick do you think Biggie was talking about? Me and my high school folks think it was John Starks.)
But see, then we get to the second disc. Ehhhhh.
“Notorious Thugs” was dope, even though the intro is too long. Then we get two snoozers–“Miss U” and “Another.” I guess they had to put Kim on the record, but keep that bullshit. “Going Back to Cali” is dope, but I don’t dig the New York-centricity of the record. If he wanted a West Coast song, he should have gotten a West Coast producer. Instead, he got Easy Mo Bee to do what a New York dude thinks a Cali song should sound like. No dig that do I.
The next track, “Ten Crack Commandments,” is absolute fire. If you wanna hear more about it, go listen to it. There’s nothing I can say that’ll do justice.
“Player Hater” is absolutely hilarious. One of the best fake singing joints ever.
Rest of hte record? Gimme “Long Kiss Goodnight” and “My Downfall.” Maybe “You’re Nobody Til Somebody Kills you.” Everything else is straight snooooooooze.
So how in the hell is this a 5 mic album? I have no idea. In fact, I’d not had the compulsion to sit and listen to the whole thing for years. I’m almost tempted to say it’s nto a classic. In fact, it’s not.
But again, that’s not Biggie’s fault. He put on one of the most incredible shows an emcee has ever dropped, and he did it for 24 tracks. But this is not a very well produced album, and that’s sad.
At the same time, you can’t argue with the results. They sold jillions of copies of this, so Puffy knew what he was doing. He crafted Biggie’s breakthrough to superstardom and gave Jigga the blueprint for “Vol. 2,” which showed rappers how to use one album to move all the way into suburbia.
But that could have been done while still making a spectacular album. This just happened to miss the mark.
The greatest what if in hip hop is, “what if Biggie had made a third album?” If he had, would it have been a return to the underground sound of his debut? Or would it have been more of this? And had it been more of this, would he still be held in legendary esteem? He killed the record, but I don’t think peopel would care if he came again with mediocre beats.
So that’s the record. Debate amongst yourselves. If I had to rate this one, I’d give it 4.25/5. The lyrics are amazing, but there’s still something missing.
June 13, 2006
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