The Notorious B.I.G. – Unbelievable

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Christopher Wallace’s death, shot in his SUV in Los Angeles when he was just 24, the same age as I am now. Since his death, many have tried to emulate Biggie’s presence, virtuosity and wit but no one except perhaps Jay-Z has even come close. He is simply the greatest in hip-hop, rivaled only by his rival, Tupac Shakur. However, Tupac’s cool has been diminished since his death by the 85,391 posthumously released albums. You don’t even feel like Tupac is dead. He is Marlon Brando to Biggie’s James Dean, Mick Jagger to Kurt Cobain,…getting older and lamer, even though their actual images might look like the other way around. While the crappy Tupac records might tarnish his reputation, there is little to take away from our memory of Biggie Smalls, save for a very average Duets disc that came out in 2005.

Biggie’s music had passion. One of my complaints of most music today is that it’s simply lukewarm but the second you hear Ready to Die or Life After Death, you could feel the emotion that went into it. Biggie’s anger is incendiary, his arrogance dwarfs Donald Trump, his joy is contagious and his rhymes are smarter than any other. His murder robbed us of his genius.

So on the 10th anniversary of his death, Mick Boogie and Terry Urban celebrate his life with a new mixtape featuring his greatest work and while Duets mostly lacked much…well, Biggie, Biggie is…UNBELIEVABLE remixes much of his original material with a few guest verses. It’s hosted by Puffy and, being a mixtape and quazi-legal to begin with, it’s free for download. I’ve been listening to it for a week now and I must say, it’s fire. One of my favorite, all time Big lyrics is now mixed with a verse from Jadakiss on All Day, Every Day

. Along with the verse on Victory (“Brawl nights, I perform like Mike/Any one — Tyson, Jordan, Jackson…”, they’re the most memorable for me.

On your mark, get setwhen I spark, you’re wet
look how dark it gets when you’re marked for death
should I start your breath or should I let you die
if he starts to cry, ask why?

That’s just…wow. The back-and-forth flow with Ray Cash on Gimme the Loot and a couple tracks with Jay-Z are other album highlights. Overall, a great way to commemorate the Notorious.