Great Hip Hop Songs - Biggie's 'I Got A Story To Tell'

To me, this is one of the greatest Hip Hop songs ever. It never gets old. Never. It's just that fucking perfect. Some of you may have read Complex Magazine's piece with Buckwild a little while ago where he ran down a bunch of his favorite tracks from his looong and storied production career.

He had some interesting things to say about this beat. Mainly that Foxy Brown turned it down (sorry for the rhyme). She said it was wack. Really? Really?!?!? I guess maybe she was having trouble with her hearing around that time because the track is fucking beautiful. Or, maybe she just didn't have the skill to do it justice.

Actually, to be honest, I think Foxy would've sounded pretty dope on this beat back then. She should've nabbed it when she had the chance. Mellow guitar over a boom bap drum pattern. What could be better? Big couldn't help but tell a story to this. The music starts telling a story itself. He didn't have a choice, but to really bring it to life in his own way. Foxy loved the final version by the way. Who wouldn't?

But, Biggie delivered his story here in such a unique way, it still amazes me. And yet, it's so simple. He tells an extremely vivid tale of fucking a basketball player's woman while he's out, who comes home while they're in the act. He thinks fast, pretends he's a burglar, and ends up getting "mad paper" from the ball player. But, the twist is that he calls his friends at the end and tells them to meet up with him because he's got "a story to tell". The last half of the song is him just talking with his friend's, telling the exact story that he just rapped to us.

This song obviously never had the opportunity to be made into a video as the album was released after Big died. But, it really doesn't need a video. The story comes to life in the listener's head like they're watching a movie.

The best part? He's telling his friends the story and says the chick's man came home because the game "must've gotten rained out"!!! Classic Hip Hop right here. Go listen to this song again right now and remember one of the best to ever do it. In fact, just click below.

The Art Of Storytelling

Since today is March 9th, I thought I'd put up one of my favorite songs from Biggie's small (pun intended), but amazing catalog. There's no official video for this one. But, you don't really need one. It's vivid enough with just his words. It's great because after telling us the story in his rhyme, he ends it by meeting up with his boys and recounting the whole thing for them...brilliant. I can think of very few MCs that have Biggie's kind of story telling ability.

Cookin' Soul Redoes "Juicy" W/ Nino Bravo

I normally wouldn't post someone's blend of a song by Biggie, Pac, or Jay-Z because it's been done to death now and the vast majority are bad to average. But, this is a good and unique mash-up by production group Cookin' Soul that brings Biggie's lyrics from "Juicy" to a Spanish singer by the name of Nino Bravo. I think it deserves a listen.

"Every Saturday - 'Rap Attack' Mr. Magic, Marley Marl"

In terms of deaths, this has been a crazy year to say the least. While Biggie let his tape rock 'til his tape popped, no doubt most from my generation know DJ Mr. Magic from the "Juicy" reference alone (and maybe from Nas' mention on "Halftime"). Myself included for the most part, actually. Me being a very young hip hop head in the 80's and early 90's and not living in NYC, I wasn't given the opportunity to know his contributions first-hand. I obviously heard this line over and over though, and only later learned of the connection between Mr. Magic and Marley Marl and the Juice Crew through hip hop books and documentaries mostly. I think if I looked through some shoeboxes of tapes (which I may end up doing later today) I may find some compilation that he put together in the mid-90's. We'll see.

Sadly though, hip hop has been struck with another blow, very soon after the news of DJ Grandmaster Roc Raida's death, as DJ Magic Mike (John Rivas) has died from a heart attack, apparently this morning. Check out the link below for more specific info and some words from DJ Premier.

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.9905#