Rare Joints from the Notorious Biggie Smalls

Alright, first up is this joint off of Tracey Lee’s debut 1997 album, Many Facez which featured a couple verses from the Notorious B.I.G.  Coincidentally The Buchanans flipped the same sample six years later for Jay-Z on What More Can I Say off The Black Album.

Keep Your Hands High – Tracey Lee Feat. Biggie Smalls

Next up is a personal favorite of mine which got much play on the old boombox, taken from Funkmaster Flex’s 60 Minutes of Funk Volume 2.  This one if you’ve never heard it is a must-have, featuring The Lox & Biggie over RZA‘s classic C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) instrumental.

Biggie & Lox Freestyle Funk Flex

Big was the shit on R & B jams too which is evident on this Jermaine Dupri & Da Brat heater for the Bad Boys Soundtrack in 95.  B-I-G glides effortlessly over that polished So So Def production like no other, plus the classic Gap Band sample ties it together oh so smoothly.

Da B-Side – Da Brat & Jermaine Dupri Feat. Notorious B.I.G.

What happened between 2pac and Biggie was truly a shakesperian-like tragedy, one time friends turned enemies over petty disputes and miscommunication.  Two icons that propelled each other to heights unseen in Hip-Hop before and probably will never be seen again.  Listening to the original version of Runnin (not Eminem’s 2003 remix) makes me wonder what a Pac/Big reunion would’ve sounded like in 2010.  “Nothing sadder in life than wasted talent” 

Runnin – 2pac Feat. Biggie Smalls & The Outlawz

In case you missed it, Notorious B.I.G. 2009 tribute

The Renaissance – R.A. The Rugged Man Feat. Timbo King, Hell Razah & Tragedy Khadafi

R.A. The Rugged Man teamed up with members of the Black Market Militia (Tragedy Khadafi, Hell Razah & Timbo King) for The Renaissance a few years back and will also be featured on his upcoming Legendary Classics Volume 1 due out 10-27-09.  http://hulkhatetimetravel.com/2009/09/03/legendary-classics-volume-1-r-a-the-rugged-man/

The Renaissance – R.A. The Rugged Man Feat. Hell Razah, Timbo King & Tragedy Khadafi

Funny Vlog from Mr. Crustified Dibbs where he does his best Joe Budden impersonation, touches on how the music industry has Hip-Hop all fucked up, racist e-mails, Lil Wayne being over-rated and name dropping. 

Happy Mother’s Day

This just feels right, to all you Moms out there,  Happy Mother’s Day!  (from HHTT)

Joell Ortiz – Too Soon (Big&Pac Tribute)

 

“Your candle burned out, way before your legend ever lived, I’ll see to it that you live, talk about you to the kids, like this man right here.  Handled his biz, anybody who heard him know what it is.  Blew out too soon” (Chorus)

Out of all the recent music coming out the past few days dedicated to B.I.G. Too Soon stands alone, Joell Ortiz does his thing as usual, plus the track is produced by the incredible Dj Khalil, word is, they are going to be collaborating on an upcoming project in the future as well.Download/Stream—>  http://www.zshare.net/audio/56826452337ee2a8/

MENACE TO SOCIETY

like boyz in the hood this movie changed my life. that could be contributed to the similarities i had with the film and my life at the time. Starring Tyrin Turner Larenz Tate and Jada Pinkett Smith this gritty inner city film  depicted life in the streets in its rawest form. This hughes brothers film wanted to give movie goers a glimpse of what it was like trying to survive the mean streets of south central LA in watts and the jordan downs district. What most people dont know is that originally Tupac Shakur was cast to play the part of O-dog, but after assaulting director Allen Hughes he was replaced by Larenz Tate. I must admit i would have loved to see 2pac as o-dog but LT did a good job. So the stage is set with Tat lawson( Samuel  L .Jackson) as caines dad when caine (Tyrin Turner)as a youngster, witnesses his father murder a man…. take a look

after losing his parents to prison and drugs Caine ,now a young man,is a high school graduate without a clue of what he is to do next in life. Consequently, a trip to the store for beer with O-dog  suddenly turns him into an accomplice  to murder and armed robbery. Caine is then given the oppurtunity to  leavethe hood-life and his boys O-dog ,Stacey (Ryan Williams) and Sharif,(Vonte Sweet) behind and start over in Atlanta with the seductively sexy Ronnie (Jada Pinkett smith) ….whats a man to do.

the track by mc eiht in this film literally takes me back to bein a misguided teen but in an oddly soothing and reminiscent way….it makes me happy about my decisions as a teenager and how everything turned out

The Notorious B.I.G.

Almost every hip-hop fan can agree that The Notorious B.I.G. is in the Top Five Mc’s to ever touch a mic, many would place him even higher, especially us here on the East Coast.  It’s a shame that Big never got to see the fruits of his success off of his sophmore double LP Life After Death.  After his passing in 1997, Biggie has since became an American Icon.  HHTT proudly salutes Biggie Smalls on the 12th anniversary of his passing.

After Ready to Die Biggie got the rest of  his Junior Mafia crew together and released Conspiracy in 1995.  The album featured hits like Get Money & Player’s Anthem below is the slept on banger Realms of Junior Mafia, produced by Clark Kent and features fellow Mafia members Lil Cease, Cheek Del Vec and Jamal.  “Lights excite all the Freaks“

Realms of Junior M.A.F.I.A. – Biggie Smalls & Junior Mafia

The Wickedest besides having one of the dopest intro’s ever, showcases Biggie gettin RAW as he did so well in his early years.  The freestyle was recorded with the help of the legendary Mister Cee and featured on a funk flex tape back in the early 90’s.

The Wickedest – Notorious Biggie Smalls

Kool & The Gang – Summer Madness/Winter Sadness

SUMMER

These are two of my favorite songs of all time. There are barley any words on these songs but what Kool and the Gang give you is fantastic melody. “Summer Madness” is the classic song which Will Smith took sample for his hit “Summertime” . The way the beat builds in Summer Madness is legendary and truly displays the artistic creativity of this group. Pac sampled “Winter Sadness” for his track “Picture me rollin”, but I must say I still prefer the originals to any remix or remake. These are songs I been listening to for years and hold a special place to me, as I grow older I find myself enjoying “Winter Sadness” more. Maybe it’s cause summer is fun and youthful and winter is cold and harsh, kind of like life.

Listen to Winter Sadness