Born Again [Explicit Lyrics]

Notorious B.I.G. | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 7, 1999)
• Original Release Date: December 7, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Label: Bad Boy
• ASIN: B00002S5DF
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (211 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,004 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Plays fine, sounds sublime. From a well cared for personal collection. Buy with confidence--see my feedback. Thanks and enjoy this great CD!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ain't Biggie's FAULT, December 27, 1999

By 

Jason J Lee (Palo Alto, Kali) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born Again (Audio CD)

It was a total shock to the entire hip-hop community when Notorious Big (aka Biggie Smalls) was shot to death at the age of 25. Two years later, Biggie's fellow producer, Sean "Puffy" Combs intends to utilize his remixing and collaborating skills to bring Biggie back to the "Greatest Rapper of All Time" by releasing Born Again [Dec. 7]. Unfortunately, Puffy failed to do that. This album only revealed Puffy's avarice and disrespect to his ceased homie. Puffy simply just sliced together the collection of Biggie's old lyric and remixed songs, which had seemingly ruined the originals.

It was sad what Puffy did to the album especially with the guest appearances. These guests seems to make Biggie not as the "greatest rapper" on the strength of the two multi-platinum selling albums he had previously completed (Life after Death and Ready to die) before he was murdered by a drive-by shooting.

This album contains some of the posthumous Notorious B.I.G.'s demos, freestyle verses and other fragmented clips, cut with new production and guest verses in the present tense that makes Biggie "born again". Since Puffy doesn't want to waste a second of Biggie tape, the production frames his lyrics like jewels of wisdom. Of this disc's 18 tracks, 14 are brought up to regular length by "featured" guests and not counting the intro and the outro. Thus Biggie's gifted performance only appeared in the remaining fragments. The most obvious example is the song "If I should Die Before I wake". It is built out of roughly 20 seconds worth of Biggie sound, covered by the guest rappers Black Rob, Beanie Sigel and Ice Cube.

The song "I Really Want to Show You" sounds like the replica version of "Everyday Struggle", featuring the excellent performance by K-Ci and Jo-Jo and Nas. New rapper Eminem tears into his verse of "Dead Wrong" like it's his one chance to prove himself, and knocks Biggie out of the picture. Before Biggie's death, he doesn't even know who Eminem is, and we don't know if Biggie is willing to mix his song with Eminem. The fast song "Notorious B.I.G.", featuring the cheerfully nasty Lil' Kim, the cheerfully bland Puff Daddy and a cheerfully inevitable is a much better idea than it sounds like. This album is a disgrace to a Hip Hop legacy. Not because Biggie lacks of talents. It is Puffy try to make more money o release this cacophony and he ruined this brilliant rapper. Even worse, Biggie wasn't there to stop Puffy and Puffy makes all the profit. Anyone who dared to characterize the immortal lyrics of Life after Death and Ready to Die with this latest release is sheer blasphemy, and Puffy should go to Biggie's grave to beg for pardon.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A disgrace to the artist's memory., December 12, 1999

By 

mitch (Nationwide) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born Again (Audio CD)

Biggie was a great rapper, but these tracks are not his work. They are just pieces of his lyrics put over totally new tracks, and its obvious. This is more like a bad compilation album. It is clearly a poor attempt to save a dying company. Puffy has exploited Biggie in his death and this album is exactly that. It's just a bunch of brand-name artists stuck in with pieces of Biggie that were never meant to be released. Thumbs up to Jay-Z for refusing to take part in this project. RIP B.I.G. and 2Pac.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars IF U THINK THAT THIS ALBUM IS TIGHT THEN U DEAD WRONG, December 21, 1999

By 

Blakout (Reston, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born Again (Audio CD)

With all due respect this biggie album (an exception) was ruined by puff daddy once again, now puffy if you ruin your album that's somthin' but if you ruin an album for biggie and he is not even alive to defend himself that's a crime. It is sad what puffy did to the album especially with the guest appearances.