YMMV / The Notorious B.I.G.

• Awesome Music: There's a reason he's widely considered one of the best rappers of all time.
• Fandom Rivalry: Notorious B.I.G. fans VS 2Pac fans, not really because of their music, but their real-life rivalry.
• First Installment Wins: While his second and final album Life After Death is a classic, his debut Ready to Die is widely considered the superior album.
• Harsher in Hindsight: First of all, his song "Juicy" contains the line "Blow up like the World Trade", which takes on a second meaning today after the September 11 attacks - but he was actually referring to the previous attack on the towers in 1993. (In Jay-Z's tribute "A Dream" on his Blueprint 2 album, the sample of "Juicy" blanks that line out.) And then he was gunned down in Los Angeles. Not only was his only album released during his life titled Ready to Die, his second album, released posthumously, was titled Life After Death, and the cover art consists of him standing next to a hearse. And if that wasn't enough, the album also contains the songs "Going Back to Cali" and "You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)".
• He's Just Hiding: Along with 2Pac, some people believe that he's still alive and in hiding somewhere, although the idea of a 6' 3'' 300-400lb man managing to fake his death without anyone recognizing him is highly doubtful.
• Magnificent Bastard: Considered to be one of the greatest rappers and storytellers of all time, The Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls portrayed various characters that sometimes stood out for their brilliance:
  • "Everyday Struggle" from Ready to Die: The Notorious B.I.G. dropped out of school and became a drug dealer to deal with his bills and feed his daughter. Kicked out by his mother as a result, B.I.G. goes to Maryland with his friend Two-TECs where he can gain a higher profit. Taking the Amtrak railroad service with his henchwoman, he gives her the drug supplies, fully aware that she won't be searched as severely as a man, before she sells the drugs, thus ensuring the operation is a success. Upon learning that Two-TECs was killed and that their team was infiltrated, Biggie improvises by having his henchwoman take the fall for conspiracy, promising to make her rich when she's released from prison, while also supporting her family in the meantime. Even though he's aware that law enforcement knows his name, B.I.G., whilst still raising his daughter, ends the song by stating that he has to continue his drug dealing operations, with no indications that he got any comeuppance for his doings.
  • Life After Death :
    • "Somebody's Gotta Die": The Notorious B.I.G. learned from his friend Sing that their mutual friend C-Rock was shot at the Beacon Theatre. Deciding to avenge him, B.I.G. also plans out an alibi. When Sing explains to him that C-Rock had set up a former collaborator named Jason and hurt Jason's wife and kids in the meanwhile, leading to Jason shooting C-Rock 50 times in retaliation, Biggie expresses sympathy for Jason, albeit still wishing to avenge his friend. Biggie, putting on a mask, decides to attack Jason and his crew in a place where he's aware they're unarmed, while emphasizing that Jason must be the only victim of his revenge. Shooting Jason six times, B.I.G. expresses shock when he thinks he accidentally shot Jason's baby daughter in the meanwhile.
    • "I Got A Story To Tell" : The Notorious B.I.G., attracted to the girlfriend of a professional basketball player, successfully seduces her and has sex with her at said basketball player's home, at his room. When the latter unexpectedly comes back home, her girlfriend, instructed by Biggie, detracts his attention by asking him to get her something to drink. This gives Biggie enough time to tie her up and wrap a scarf around his face, making the situation look like a robbery by the time the basketball player enters his room. Pointing a gun at the panicked baller, Biggie is given large amounts of money by the former, before escaping the scene, telling his ordeal to his friends and getting away with his deeds.
    • "Sky's the Limit": The Notorious B.I.G.'s objective is to make as much money as possible to escape his impoverished background. Ambitious since the age of 10, Biggie punches someone in the face and robs him in front of his crew, thus gaining said crew's loyalty. Engaging in several criminal activities such as drug dealing and weapon possession, having his higher-ups carry the weapons instead of himself in order to avoid arrest. For the sake of making more profit in his drug dealing activities, Biggie assigned his men to several blocks and sold the drugs and the ways to inject them (through smoking, through syringes, etc...) separately to better attract clients. Concluding through the Hustlers prayer that his criminal activities ended up making him a better man, Biggie concludes the song by encouraging the listener to fulfill his ambitions like he did.
  • From Tupac Shakur's "Runnin' (From Tha Police)" from One Million Strong: Biggie Smalls, starting out as a mere "screw-up", became a successful drug dealer. Upon gaining enough money, he and his friend Stretch decided that they no longer needed to deal, just to engage other dealers to do the job for them and have a share of the ensuing profits. When the police attempted to stop them, Biggie & Stretch killed two cops, hid their corpses and grew dreads to avoid matching the physical description police would be given. When another officer found Biggie anyway, Biggie kills him with Teflon-coated bullets, before escaping. Stealing the officer's gun, Biggie celebrated his escape by selling the gun and using the money to buy even more cocaine. Achieving his dream of becoming "the black Frank White", Biggie faced no consequences whatsoever for his deeds.
• Memetic Mutation: A particularly bizarre one happened when someone on the internet realised an obscure track of his called "Come On" went particularly well with the Thomas the Tank Engine theme. Then somebody else decided to make a SFM video for it under the name "Thomas the Dank Engine." Witness.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • "Suicidal Thoughts". Listening to this song, you really feel like you're there with Biggie, in a dark room at some ungodly hour, contemplating and finally committing suicide. The creepy, ominous and downright empty-feeling production does not help at all.
  • "Dead Wrong" has Biggie play an unrepentant monster of a man who tortures, rapes, mutilates, and murders an entire family, children included. He gets into such horrific detail that even Eminem's guest verse seems tame in comparison.
• Posthumous Popularity Potential: He has been considered a solid contender for the greatest rapper of all time...after his death. With only two albums completed in his lifetime, to boot.
• Signature Song: "Juicy", "Big Poppa" and "Hypnotize".
• Tear Jerker:
  • The intro of Life After Death.
  • The Downer Ending of "Me & My Bitch", in which Biggie finds his girlfriend murdered and weeps for her.
  • "Suicidal Thoughts", easily one of the most accurate and chilling looks into a suicidal mind in music.
  • The fact that this man was gunned down in the prime of his life, with only two albums recorded before he was killed, is sad within itself.
• Unexpected Character: "Wake Up" is a collaboration with Korn.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Many of his songs are chock full of references to then-contemporary things like pagers and tape players. But the most notable example is probably "Juicy", in which Biggie boasts that he's now wealthy enough to afford the latest and greatest entertainment technology. Namely...
  "Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis / When I was dead broke, man, I couldn't picture this!"
• Values Dissonance: The line in "Just Playing (Dreams)" where Biggie talks about wanting to "smack Tina Turner, give her flashbacks of Ike" would never go uncriticized in today's era where there's much more awareness of abuse of women.
  • Commandment Seven in "Ten Crack Commandments" outlines the dangers of keeping business and family separate, which Biggie compares to sex between men ("Money and blood don't mix like two dicks and no bitch"). He follows this up with "[You'll] Find yourself in serious shit". For obvious reasons, this would not fly today.

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