Biggie Brief

In the process of writing a follow-up to the hip-hop generation gap jawn (because I'm from Philly), I listened to some CDs I burned a while ago. Man, listen: I said it before and I'll say it again: I don't know why everybody's all on Tupac's jock like he was the best thing since sliced bread. He was good, but he wasn't great. Really, if you take away his two or three songs praising women, his body of work kind of resembles Ice Cube's. The only difference is that Tupac got more into the gangsta/thug lifestyle as he got older, while Cube matured and diversified. What's more, the only reason to link 'Pac and Biggie is situational. In a discussion of skills, it's no comparison. I was listening to Niggas Bleed today and that joint is amazing. I've seen movies that don't give that degree of detail and characterization. And then the fact that he managed to end it with a clever hook, that's some writing. Then I listened to Warning, which is another of my favorite Biggie songs. Similar to the situation with Kobe, I wasn't too much of a Biggie fan when he first came out. I was mad at him for taking all of Craig Mack's little shine, and I didn't (still don't) like the fact that he had no advanced conversation; it was all "money, clothes and hoes." Once I really listened, though, I had to step back and recognize. Biggie was the truth. I don't know if he's in my all-time top 5, but if he's not, he's close.