Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
half-filler , April 1, 2007
An artist with as influential (and short) a career as Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G., is done a disservice by an album like "Greatest Hits," especially since it was conceived as a tribute to the Brooklyn rapper 10 years after his tragic death.
While half of the release lives up to its premise with choice cuts from B.I.G.'s brief but brilliant studio album output like "Juicy," "Hypnotize" and "One More Chance/Stay With Me," the other half is muddled with posthumously-released cuts that are more vehicles for guest artists like Nelly and Eminem than true Biggie classics.
Removing the layer of artist purity, one would expect radio hits like the massive tribute release "I'll Be Missing You" or duets like "Mo Money, Mo Problems" (with Diddy), especially since minor hits like Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Get Money" made the cut. But no, sadly, neither of the first two tracks are anywhere to be found, while the latter track and "Notorious Thugs" (with Bone Thgs-N-Harmony) made it onto the album.
This album is worth it if you're only passively interested in Notorious B.I.G.'s biggest radio hits (and don't mind paying for a lot of filler). Serious fans and B.I.G. beginners should seek out "Ready to Die: The Remaster" and "Life After Death" and call it a day.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Certainly flawed...the music is undeniable but the selection is not, March 16, 2007
Ten years since the passing of Christopher Wallace, one of the greatest MCs to ever rock the mic, Bad Boy Records and exec Sean "Diddy" Combs have released the first Notorious B.I.G. compilation. I find a Biggie hits compilation redundant in the same way I find a Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth or a Digable Planets collection redundant because he only released two albums in his career, but more than that, those two albums were five-star classics and skip-free material. "Ready to Die" and "Life After Death" are two of the 1990s most important albums, and in my opinion both should be appreciated in their entirety. But as this is a greatest hits album, I also have a little beef with the tracklisting. I understand that in order for fans to buy this, some more songs would be needed than just the originals from his two albums released during his life. But that said, putting songs from posthumous releases like "Born Again" and "Biggie Duets" doesn't seem right to me, probably just serving to misinform and confuse new listeners. Like other listeners said, it's a mystery why his most popular song, "Mo Money Mo Problems," would be omitted.
That said, I can't belittle most of the songs here. Standards like "Juicy," "Big Poppa," "One More Chance (Remix)," "Warning," "Notorious Thugs," and "F... You Tonight" are simply classic hip hop, showing a legendary MC in top form. You can't front on that material.
For a Biggie hits collection, this isn't terrible, but it would've been easy to make a better one and in principal a Biggie hits compilation isn't the most practical thing anyway. Biggie fans should steer clear of this, they have all the material already anyway and would only ever consider owning this for die-hard completion purposes. I suggest the same to new listeners. If you're looking at this, consider shelling out the few extra bucks to buy both "Ready to Die" and "Life After Death." These are near-perfect hip hop albums, and having just the hits would keep you from some of his greatest work.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
We'll Always Love Big Poppa (Rating: 7 out of 10- -3.5 stars), March 9, 2007
So here we are...one decade since the murder of Christopher Wallace aka Notorious BIG. Rap has changed since Biggie left us. We all miss him. Remember back in summer of 1994 when he came out with "Juicy". Today that remains my favourite song from him off of his (recently put back on shelves) album "Ready To Die". Then in '95 he introduced the world to his crew Junior M.A.F.I.A., which held almost two dozen members, including Lil Kim and Lil Cease. They had hits like "Get Money" and "Players Anthem". Then in '97 Biggie recorded his final studio album "Life After Death" with his only single released before his death "Hyp.otize", before his life was cut short.
So what we have here is a Notorious B.I.G. greatest hits album. Most of these songs on here are in chronological order. The classic songs are here, like "Juicy", "Big Poppa", and "Notorious Thugs". And we can't forget the song "One More Chance (Remix)" with Total. That was the summer of '95 song, back in the day. And then the love song "Lovin' You Tonight" with R. Kelly, which is another classic song.
There are some songs that were origonally 12" singles. The well known "Who Shot Ya". Also "Dead Wrong" was another 12" single before it was placed on the "Born Again" CD and featured Eminem.
Then there are more of those "rehashed" songs on here, like the sorry "Notorious B.I.G." and "Nasty Girl". Both songs were lead singles from his postmothous albums "Born Again" and "Duets: The Final Chapter" respectively. Those were technically hits from Biggie, even if they were made after he was dead, but they were still hits. I'm just not feeling how that is though, nor any of his posmothous hit songs. As well as the new songs "Running Your Mouth" and "Want That Old Thing Back". The latter song is used from the origonal "One More Chance" and features Ja Rule and others. Also "Players Anthem" is nowhere to be found on this album, which is another dissapointment.
I'm glad to see Diddy help remember the legacy of Biggie with a "Greatest Hits" Album. Can't be mad at that, cuz he did the best he could. We all have our own personal songs that should have been on here, so there is dissapointment. Also couldn't they have found a better album cover of Biggie. It looks like whoever designed the album cover just photo shopped his face on a white background. It looks like a bootleg pic on the album cover. Also if you're like me and have "Ready To Die" and "Life After Death", his two only studio albums, picking this up will be somewhat irrevelent because most of the songs on here are from those albums. But all is all though, it's a way to remember Biggie. The "Life After Death" 10 year anniversary is creeping up, and I hope Diddy plans on releasing that album as well.
Peace!
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