2 The Notorious B.I.G.

Tragically, we’ll never see Notorious B.I.G.’s career reach its full potential. The mythology we’re left with, though, speaks to the brilliance and capital-G genius of Biggie; his debut album, Ready to Die, has a legitimate claim to the title of Greatest Rap Album Ever. The follow-up was just as good, though it didn’t have the benefit of his guiding hand, and that relatively tiny sample size still earns him a spot in any hip-hop discussion that involves the words Greatest or Ever. No one else at the time—maybe no one else ever—married the pop savvy that B.I.G. could pull out of his back pocket (“Hypnotize,” “Juicy”) with the hard-hitting street knock (“Gimme the Loot,” “Machine Gun Funk”) that sated the “real hip-hop” heads, while at the same time crafting powerful odes to melancholia (“Sky’s the Limit”). What other heights would Brooklyn’s finest have reached? We’ll never know.—Corban Goble

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