Ask any rapper who their biggest influences are and you’ll probably hear the same answers across the board: Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Kool G Rap on the East Coast, Scarface, Pimp C, and Eightball & MJG in the South, and Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg out West. But why doesn’t anyone mention the most influential rapper of all time, The Notorious B.I.G.?
He’s always name checked as one of the greats, along with Tupac Shakur. They’re both referenced ad nauseam to the point of sounding cliché by now. Pac didn’t have the same kind of snazzy style that Bigge Smalls did, though. Pac had a signature flow and his delivery was all about conveying passion and pain. Biggie’s voice glossed over a lot of that. When it came to subject matter he was decidedly apolitical and dispassionate — concerned with his own well-being and that of his immediate circle instead of the ills of society. When it came to flows, however, he was godlike. His magic was perceived through the lens of grammatical luxury – it was the phrasing, the way he painted pictures of the high life (and the low life) in his verses, the way he wove words into stories like threads in Versace linen. Biggie made listeners feel like they were sitting next to him in the lap of luxury and these qualities made his music unequivocally popular. The way he delivered his lines radiated an air of superiority. Pac, the man of the people, was the polar opposite. He stayed eye level to preach the Thug Life gospel while Big was an innovator in aspirational rap.
REST IN PEACE!!!
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