Link: Official Bad Boy Records Site
The Inside Pulse:
As of this writing, we’re nearing the nine-year anniversary of Christopher (B.I.G.) Wallace’s death. During that time, Biggie’s reputation as an MC has taken on a posthumously odd, reverse roller-coaster quality highlighted by a rapid ascent followed by a strange, slow descent into…well, into this. When Biggie’s Life After Death dropped on March 25, 1997, critics were lining up to lay their overrated praise like flowers at B.I.G.’s grave. The makings of a great album were in there, somewhere…buried under the bloated, arrogant excess of 30 tracks, spotty production and a voice that effortlessly floated from “street” to “self-parody”. While Biggie’s 1994 Ready to Die debut was able to convey fear and loathing and paranoia with subtle undertones, Life After Death was, at times, a suffocating listen with several tracks that collapsed under every contrived dirge. Still, Biggie’s skills and charisma are undeniable. Unfortunately, neither came through in his 1999 Born Again release, which was an egregiously empty attempt to follow the Tupac path to “cash after death”. With Duets, Bad Boy Records is attempting to get it right this time around. Let’s hope this is The Final Chapter.
Positives:
Duets, like Born Again, attempts to pair random Biggie verses (both established and outtakes) with the hottest Hip Hop stars of the hour. Executive producer Sean (Diddy) Combs gathers an A-list of artists, including Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Tupac, Nas and Bob Marley for the affair. Most of them do seem energized and enthusiastic, even if the end result is ultimately uninspired.
Negatives:
Quite simply, this is not a Biggie album. How can it be, when he’s not even on tracks like the awful Eminem-produced It Has Been Said or the Lil’ Wayne/Juelz Santana-assisted I’m With Whateva? Incorporating B.I.G’s ubiquitous “uhh’s” every six seconds just isn’t enough for most ears. And, when Biggie is on, you’re left wishing he wasn’t. His Notorious Thugs gem has been butchered and rechristened Spit Your Game with Twista left stranded where Bone Thugs-N-Harmony once stood. 1970 Somethin’ takes Biggie’s verse from 1994’s underrated Respect and waters it down into irrelevance. Hold Ya Head brings in Bob Marley, but the beat is only generically ominous. And, on an album full missteps, the attempt to reinvent the classic What’s Beef is this close to criminal.
Cross-Breed:
Take the worst of Hip Hop’s posthumous products…and add Diddy’s own egocentricity.
Reason to Buy:
There isn’t one. Biggie completionists already have his best work, which has been cut and pasted into this…the worst release of 2005. An absolute embarrassment for all involved, this should be the album that retires the posthumous Hip Hop genre, once and for all.
