The Notorious B.I.G. - Who Shot Ya?

1/14/11 – The Notorious B.I.G.: Greatest Hits

If I'm more of an influence to your son as a rapper than you are as a father…you got to look at yourself as a parent.
- Ice Cube

            Let me start off by admitting that I’m completely aware that I grew up in a relatively sheltered household.  That being said, I’ve always been oddly intrigued by rap as a whole; part of it is because it’s far enough outside my musical comfort zone, partly because it’s so far outside of my cultural experience.  I’ll occasionally listen to WERS’s “The Secret Spot,” rap, R&B, and soul programming late nights.  I actually really like some of Eminem’s work.  So I’ve heard some Notorious B.I.G. before.  Sure, it’s radio edits, but it’s easy enough to connect the dots, so I figured I knew what I was getting into with this greatest hits compilation.

            Yeah, was I in for a shock.  The first three tracks I had heard before: “Juicy,” “Big Poppa,” and “Hypnotize.”  No big surprises so far – the language I kinda figured was coming, and while the sampled loops that constitute the accompaniment aren’t particularly captivating, I’m certain they aren’t meant to be.  I mean, the whole basis for rap has it’s roots in spoken word poetry, and the art form is based in the lyric.  Too much or too active actual “music” (ha!) would distract from the real intended content.

            But the deeper I got into the album, the further outside my comfort zone it got.  Like I said before, I can get past the F-bombs and racial slurs – I guess I’ve been desensitized enough to language.  What I wasn’t expecting was the re-enactments of violence and gang shootings in the scenes in the middle of “Warning” and “Who Shot Ya?”  Singing/rapping about violence I get.  I can also palate TV/movie violence relatively unphased.  But this is different – perhaps it’s like reading the book as opposed to watching a movie based on it.  You have enough of the author’s words to follow where he’s leading you, but the visuals are at the mercy of your imagination.  “N!$#@as Bleed” tells another similar story about a break in with the intent of committing multiple murders in the name of revenge.  What gets under my skin though isn’t as much the content as the light, comical nature the track attempts to convey at the end.

            The sexual references have the same effect; while lyrics about sexual encounters are nothing new, in my experience, most songwriters will veil the references to some degree.  Not the case here; there is no subtlety in Biggie’s lyrics at all.  “Get Money,” “Nasty Girl,” and “Want That Old Thing Back”  don’t leave much to the imagination.  But what takes the cake is the final track, “F@^*!ng You Tonight.”  It’s no more explicit that the aforementioned tracks, but it just feels more offensive and crass because it’s not written about any sexual escapades, but more as an imperative statement about what Biggie will do to you; not what he plans on doing or what he hopes to do, but what he will accomplish, no questions asked.  Such a romantic.

            I guess what I feel this album is seriously lacking that you occasionally find on gangster rap tracks is a sense of redemption.  There’s no talk of rising up out of the projects, or moving beyond a reckless lifestyle of drugs, sex, and crime.  There’s no hope.  This shouldn’t be too surprising in retrospect, seeing as “Big Poppa” himself was gunned down at the age of 24 in 1997.  I wonder if it were not for Biggie’s own murder if his life’s story would have ever made that turn.

Next up – La Bonne Chanson (Gabriel Faure)

Next week – The Near Demise of the High Wire Dancer (Antje Duvekot)