CLEVELAND, Ohio -- On May 2, The Notorious B.I.G. will become the seventh hip-hop act to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And just the fourth to make it in as a first-ballot hall of famer.
[Buy Tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony in Cleveland]
For hip-hop heads of the 1990s, it comes as no surprise. As the saying goes, “The greatest rapper of all time died on March 9.” Anything else is just blasphemy.
Even before his tragic death in 1997 immortalized Christopher Wallace as a musical icon, the man known as Biggie Smalls was already cemented as the greatest rapper of all time on the strength of his monumental debut “Ready To Die.” His posthumous juggernaut of an album “Life After Death” (released just weeks after his death) further solidified that.
Before the kids were following Drake, raving about Future, or claiming that no one could touch J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, there was Biggie. His rivalry with Tupac Shakur consumed rap music during the 1990s, making the genre a formidable force on the charts and driving trends that have proven influential even to this day.
Technically, no one could touch Biggie. He was a precision lyricist before Big Pun debuted. A mind-blowing wordsmith before you ever heard of Eminem. His greatest diss track inspired friend Jay-Z to step his game up as hip-hop culture was reaching a new peak.
We celebrate Biggie’s legacy by counting down his 50 greatest verses of all time, from his finest bars on “Ready To Die” to some of the unreleased material only diehard fans only know.
[WARNING: Many of the videos featured contain explicit language]
50. The Notorious B.I.G. feat. The Lox “Last Day” (Verse 4)
“Who the f*** wanna squeeze?/My Desert Ease make MC’s freeze/You wakin up in cold sweats, they just dreams/You still apoligizin, analyzin, my size and your size and/realizin a fist fight would be asinine/You just pop wines I must pop nines"
49. The Notorious B.I.G. “16 Bars”
“I’m pressin’ hard, I’m leavin creases/Cuttin’ up bodies and talkin’ to the pieces/If there’s beef I’m eatin’ meatless/Touch the bone, hit the dome, Al Capone/Get stoned off the blunt when it’s filled with the skunk/Get drunk, and do a demolition to punk”
48. The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Jay-Z “I Love The Dough” (Verse 4)
“We hit makers with acres/Roll shakers in Vegas, you can’t break us/Lost chips on Lakers, gassed off Shaq/Country house, tennis courts on horseback/Riding deciding cracked crab or lobster"
47. The Notorious B.I.G. & The Lox "Freestyle” (Verse 2)
“Wherever I go, my crew, is true to swarm/Got stripes in New York like Yankee uniforms/When I was born, I know I make the world darker/The age of fifteen, tote gats, quick to spark ya/Like Bob Barker, if the price is right/Lay your a** down for spite, anybody, aight?”
46. The Notorious B.I.G. “Sky’s the Limit” (Verse 3)
“After realizin’, to master enterprisin’/I ain’t have to be in school by ten/I then began to encounter with my counterparts/On how to burn the block apart/Break it down into sections, drugs by the selections/Some use pipes, others use injections”
45. Junior M.A.F.I.A. feat. The Notorious B.I.G. “Get Money” (Verse 1)
“Picture life as my wife, just think.Full length minks, fat X-and-O links/Bracelets to match, conversation was all that/Showed you the safe combinations and all that/Guess you could say you’s the one I trusted/Who would ever think that you would spread like mustard”
44. The Notorious B.I.G. “Going Back To Cali” (Verse 1)
“I’ma spell my name one more time, check it/Its the, N-O, T-O, R-I, O/U-S, you just, lay down, slow/Recognize a real Don when you see Juan/Sippin on booze in the House of Blues”
43. The Notorious B.I.G. “Everyday Struggle” (Verse 1)
“I know how it feel to wake up f***ed up/Pockets broke as hell, another rock to sell/People look at you like you’s the user/But they don’t know about the stress-filled day/Baby on the way mad bills to pay/That’s why you drink Tanqueray/So you can reminisce and wish/You wasn’t living so devilish s***”
42. The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Too $hort and Puff Daddy “The World Is Filled” (Verse 2)
“When the Remi’s in the system, ain’t no tellin'/Will I f*** em will I diss em, that’s what these hoes yellin’/I’m a pimp by blood, not relation/Y’all still chase on, I’ll replace 'em/Drunk of Dom, silk and gators/Spittin’ words makin’ birds till they flock see you later”
41. Junior M.A.F.I.A. “Player’s Anthem” (Verse 2)
“My flow, detrimental to your health/Usually roll for self, I have son riding shotgun/My mind’s my nine, my pen’s my MAC-10/My target, all you wack n****s who started rappin’/Junior M.A.F.I.A. steelo, n****s know the half/Caviar for breakfast, champagne bubble baths”
40. Tracy Lee feat. The Notorious B.I.G. “Keep Your Hands High” (Verse 1)
“Uhh, uhh, uhh, uhh/F*** that, I preach it, my nine reaches/The prestigious, cats that speak this, Willie s***/Flooded pieces, my hand releases, snatches/Smack ya cabbage, half-a** rappers, shouldn’t have it/So I grab it, never run, the outcome, is usually/A beat down brutally, f*** who you be, or where you from/West or East coast, squeeze toast, leave most/In the blood they laying in, ask Tray and them”
39. The Lox feat. The Notorious B.I.G. “You’ll See” (Verse 4)
N****s talkin’ it but ain’t livin’ it/Cristal pop, I’m sippin’ it, mob hats and lizard s***/Gator trunks, b****/Rollin’ blunts with the williest of the Willie/Hitchlink cock, M-1′s and nine millis"
38. The Notorious B.I.G. “You’re Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)” (Verse 1)
“With my Sycamore style, more sicker than yours/Four-four and fifty-four draw/As my pilot, steers my lear; yes, my dear/S***’s official, only the Feds I fear/Here’s a tissue, stop your bloodclaat crying/The kids, the dog, everybody dying, no lying"
37. R. Kelly feat. The Notorious B.I.G. “(You to Be) Be Happy” (Verse 3)
"Sitting, reminiscing on when you started dissing/Spitting in faces in public places/Rolex with wood faces had you tripping for months/Made some dough, did some shows, now you’re starting to front/Smoking blunts on the veranda with Amanda/She’s filling your head with, ‘He said, she said/Poppa doing this, Poppa doing that/But don’t tell him I said it, cause my Jeep might get wetted’”
36. Mary J. Blige feat. The Notorious B.I.G. “Real Love (Remix)” (Verse 3)
“Look up in the sky/It’s a bird, it’s a plane/Nope, it’s Mary Jane, ain’t a damn thing changed/Kickin’ ill flava with the Teflon Don/Wreckin’ shop, gettin’ props/She got it goin’ on/So what’s it gonna be?/The real one, the fake one/Ya need a minute to think for whom ya better take/What up? My time is up/Peace out to Brooklyn/Helpin’ Daddy-O, hey yo, bring the verse in”
35. The Notorious B.I.G. “Machine Gun Funk” (Verse 1)
“Sticks and stones break bones, but the gat’ll kill ya quicker/Especially when I’m drunk off the liquor/Smokin’ funk by the boxes, packin’ Glocks-es/It’s natural to eat you n****s like chocolates”
34. The Notorious B.I.G. “I Got a Story to Tell”
"Now I’m like, “B****, you better talk to him/Before this fifth put a spark to him/F*** around, shit get dark to him, put a part through him/Lose a major part to him—arm, leg...”
33. The Notorious B.I.G. “One More Chance/Stay With Me (Remix)” (Verse 1)
“Don’t see my ones, gon’ see my gun, get it?/Now tell your friends Poppa hit it, then split it/In two as I flow with the Junior M.A.F.I.A/I don’t know what the hell is stopping ya”
32. The Notorious B.I.G. “Respect” (Verse 2)
“Now I’m thirteen, smoking blunts, making cream/On the drug scene, f*** a football team/Risking ruptured spleens by the age of sixteen/Hearing the coach scream ain’t my lifetime dream”
31. The Notorious B.I.G. “Just Playing (Dreams)” (Verse 1)
“I’d probably go to jail for f***ing Patti LaBelle/Ooh, Regina Belle, she’d probably do me swell/Jasmine Guy was fly, Mariah Carey’s kinda scary/Wait a minute, what about my honey Mary?/Them jeans, they fitting like a glove/I had a crush on you since Real Love”
30. The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Eminem “Dead Wrong” (Verse 1)
“Relax and take notes/While I take tokes of the marijuana smoke/Throw you in a choke—gunsmoke, gunsmoke/Biggie Smalls for mayor, the rap slayer, the hooker layer/Mother******, say your prayers!”
29. The Notorious B.I.G. “Things Done Changed” (Verse 2)
“No more coco-levio one, two, three/One, two, three, all it is to me is a mystery/I hear you mother******* talk about it/But I stay seeing bodies with the mother******’ chalk around it/And I’m down with the s***, too/For the stupid mother******* want to try to use Kung-Fu/Instead of a MAC-10, he tried scrappin’/Slugs in his back and that’s what the f*** happens”
28. 112 feat. The Notorious B.I.G. and Ma$e “Only You (Bad Boy Remix)” (Verse 1)
“Jesus, the Notorious just/Please us with your lyrical thesis/We just chilling, milk ‘em, top billin’/Silk and pure linen, me and Lil’ Cease/Malibu sea breeze, Dom P’s, palm trees/Cats named Pablo in milked out diablos/The Williest, b****s be the silliest/The more I smoke, the smaller the Philly gets”
27. Junior M.A.F.I.A. feat. The Notorious B.I.G. “Gettin’ Money (Get Money Remix)” (Verse 3)
“Frank White the desperado/Used to rock the all-black Movado/The all-black El Dorado/All that and a bottle of Dom P/N****s can’t harm me, I keep the army”
26. The Notorious B.I.G. “Suicidal Thoughts”
“When I die, f*** it, I wanna go to hell/'Cause I’m a piece of s***, it ain’t hard to f****n’ tell/It don’t make sense, goin’ to heaven with the goodie-goodies/Dressed in white, I like black Timbs and black hoodies”
25. Busta Rhymes feat. The Notorious B.I.G. “Modern Day Gangstas” (Verse 1)
Money-hungriest, Brooklyn Loch-Ness/Nine millimeter cock test, wan fi’ test?/And the winner is, not that thinner kid/Bandanas, tattoos, my fist never bruise/Land still cruise, Frank White paid his dues/Ask who’s the raw, bet they say ‘Poppa, very’/Look forward to me like commissary/All of a sudden, now everybody Big Willie/Done did it, come with it, get your head splitted/Or get your neck slitted, admit it, you overdid it"
24. The Notorious B.I.G. “Ten Crack Commandments”
“Follow these rules, you’ll have mad bread to break up/If not, 24 years on the wake up/Slug hit your temple, watch your frame shake up/Caretaker did your makeup, when you passed/Your girl f****d my man Jacob"
23. The Notorious B.I.G. “Things Done Changed” (Verse 3)
“If I wasn’t in the rap game/I’d probably have a ki(lo) knee-deep in the crack game/Because the streets is a short stop/Either you’re slingin’ crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot"
22. The Notorious B.I.G. “N****s Bleed” (Verse 3)
“Flipping, pistol-gripping, I load the clip in/The hallway got real loud and crowded/They walked right past us, I don’t know how they allowed it/The funny thing about it, through all the excitement/They Range got towed, they double-parked by a hydrant”
21. Puff Daddy feat. Kelly Price, Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. “Young G’s” (Verse 3)
“Damn, it feel good to see people up on it/Flipped two keys in two weeks and didn’t flaunt it/My brain is haunted, with mean dreams/GS’s with BB’s on it, supreme schemes/To get richer than Richie, quickly, n****s wanna hit me/If they get me, dress my body in linen by Armani, check it/My lyrical carjack, make your brains splat/High caliber gats is all I f*** with, now peep the rough s***"
20. Total feat. The Notorious B.I.G. “Can’t You See” (Verse 1)
“Who fillin’ 'em with octane?/Got 'em gassed up/’Bout to get blast up, sup/The last one, word to mother/Brother missed ’em/I seen it when he kissed 'em at the wake/Made his body shake”
19. The Notorious B.I.G. “The What” (Verse 1)
“I used to get feels on a b****/Now I throw shields on the d*** to stop me from that HIV shit/And n****s know they soft like a Twinkie filling/Playing the villain, prepare for this rap killing/Biggie Smalls is the illest, your style is played out/Like Arnold on that, "What you talking ‘bout, Willis?’”
18. Puff Daddy feat. The Lox, The Notorious B.I.G. and Lil’ Kim “It’s all About the Benjamins (Remix)” (Verse 5)
“Listen close, it’s Francis, the Praying Mantis/Attack with the MAC, my left hand spit/Right hand grip on the whip for the smooth getaway/Playa haters, get away or my lead will spray/Squeeze off 'til I’m empty, don’t tempt me/Only to Hell I send thee, all about the Benjis, what?”
17. The Notorious B.I.G. “Big Poppa” (Verse 2)
“Straight up, honey, really I’m askin’/Most of these n****s think they be mackin', but they be actin’/Who they attractin’ with that line/'What’s your name? What’s your sign?'/Soon as he buy that wine, I just creep up from behind/And ask you what your interests are, who you be with/Things that make you smile, what numbers to dial/You gon’ be here for a while?/I’m gon’ go call my crew, you go call your crew/We can rendezvous at the bar around 2″
16. The Notorious B.I.G. “Juicy” (Verse 3)
"Thinkin’ back on my one-room shack/Now my mom pimps an Ac’ with minks on her back/And she loves to show me off of course/Smiles every time my face is up in The Source/We used to fuss when the landlord dissed us/No heat, wonder why Christmas missed us/Birthdays was the worst days/Now we sip Champagne when we thirsty/Uh, damn right I like the life I live/’Cause I went from negative to positive”
15. The Notorious B.I.G. – “Ready to Die” (Verse 1)
“Mic ripper, girl stripper, the Henny sipper/I drop lyrics off and on like a light switch/Quick to grab the right b**** and make her drive the Q/45, Glocks and TECs are expected when I wreck shit/Respect is collected, so check it/I got techniques dripping out my butt cheeks/Sleep on my stomach so I don’t f*** up my sheets"
14. The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Ma$e and Puff Daddy “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems” (Verse 3)
“B-I-G P-O-P-P-A/No info for the DEA/Federal agents mad ‘cause I’m flagrant/Tap my cell and the phone in the basement/My team supreme, stay clean/Triple beam lyrical dream, I be that/Cat you see at all events bent/Gats in holsters, girls on shoulders/Playboy, I told ya, mere mics to me/Bruise too much, I lose too much/Step on stage, the girls boo too much/I guess it’s ‘cause you run with lame dudes too much”
13. The Notorious B.I.G. “Party and Bullshit” (Verse 1)”
“I was a terror since the public school era/Bathroom passes, cutting classes, squeezing a***s/Smoking blunts was a daily routine/Since 13, a chubby n**** on the scene/I used to have the trey-deuce/And the deuce-deuce in my bubblegoose/Now I got the Mac in my knapsack/Lounging black, smoking sacks up in Ac’s and Sidekicks/With my sidekicks rocking fly kicks”
12. The Notorious B.I.G. “Kick in the Door” (Verse 1)
“Your reign on the top was short like leprechauns/As I crush so-called willies, thugs, and rapper-dons/Get in that a** quick, fast like Ramadan/It’s that rap phenomenon Don Dada, f*** Poppa/You got to call me Francis M.H/White, intake light tokes, tote iron/Was told in shootouts, stay low and keep firing/Keep extra clips for extra s***, who’s next to/Flip on that cat with that grip on rap?/The most shady, Frankie baby”
11. The Notorious B.I.G. “Hypnotize” (Verse 1)
“Hah, sicker than your average, Poppa twist cabbage off instinct/N****s don’t think shit stink/Pink gators, my Detroit players/Timbs for my hooligans in Brooklyn/Dead right, if the head right, Biggie there e’ry night/Poppa been smooth since days of Underoos”
10. The Notorious B.I.G “MSG Freestyle” (Verse 1)
“I got seven MAC-11′s, about eight 38′s/Nine 9′s, ten MAC-10′s, the shits never ends/You can’t touch my riches/Even if you had MC Hammer and them 357 b*****s/Biggie Smalls, the millionaire, the mansion, the yacht/The two weed spots, the two hot glocks/That’s how I got the weed spot/I shot dread in the head, took the bread and the lamb spread/Little Gotti got the shotty to your body/So don’t resist, or you might miss Christmas”
9. The Notorious B.I.G. “Juicy” (Verse 1)
“It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up! magazine/Salt-n-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine/Hangin’ pictures on my wall/Every Saturday Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl/I let my tape rock ‘til my tape popped/Smokin’ weed in Bambú, sippin’ on Private Stock/Way back, when I had the red and black lumberjack/With the hat to match/Remember Rappin’ Duke? Duh-ha, duh-ha/You never thought that hip-hop would take it this far/Now I’m in the limelight 'cause I rhyme tight/Time to get paid, blow up like the World Trade”
8. The Notorious B.IG. “Long Kiss Goodnight” (Verse 1)
“I make your mouthpiece obese like Della Reese/When I release you lose teeth like Lil’ Cease/N**** please, blood floods your dungarees/And that’s just the half of my warpath”
7. The Notorious B.I.G. “The Warning” (Verse 2)
“Who the f*** is this, pagin’ me at 5:46 in the morning?/Crack of dawn and now I’m yawnin’/Wipe the cold out my eye/See who’s this pagin’ me and why/It’s my n****, Pop from the barbershop/Told me he was in the gambling spot and heard the intricate plot/Of n****s wanna stick me like flypaper, neighbor/Slow down, love, please chill, drop the caper”
6. The Notorious B.I.G. “Kick in the Door” (Verse 3)
“This goes out for those that choose to use/Disrespectful views on the King of N-Y/F*** that, why try, throw bleach in your eye/Now ya brailling it, snatch that light s***, I’m scaling it/Conscious of ya nonsense, in ’88/Sold more powder than Johnson and Johnson”
5. The Notorious B.I.G. “Unbelievable” (Verse 1)
“Live from Bedford-Stuyvesant, the livest one/Representing BK to the fullest/Gats, I pull it/Bastards duckin’ when B.I.G. be buckin'"
4. The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony “Notorious Thugs” (Verse 1)
“Armed and dangerous/Ain’t too many can bang with us/Straight up weed, no angel dust/Label us notorious/Thug-a** n****s that love to bust, it’s strange to us/Y’all n****s be scramblin', gamblin’/Up in restaurants with mandolins and violins/We just sittin’ here tryna win, try not to sin/High off weed and lots of gin/So much smoke, need oxygen/Steadily countin’ them Benjamins/N****, you should too, if you knew/What this game’ll do to youBeen in this s*** since ’92/Look at all the bulls*** I been through”
3. Craig Mack feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Rampage, LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes “Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)” (Verse 1)
“N****s is mad I get more butt than ash trays/F*** a fair one, I get mine the fast way/Ski mask way, n****, ransom notes/Far from handsome, but damn a n**** tote/More guns than roses, foes is shaking in their boots/Invisible bully like The Gooch/Disappear, vamoose, you’re wack to me/Take them rhymes back to the factory/I see, the gimmicks, the wack lyrics/The s*** is depressing, pathetic, please forget it/You’re mad 'cause my style you’re admiring/Don’t be mad, UPS is hiring”
2. Puff Daddy feat. The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes “Victory” (Verse 2)
“Rhyme a few bars so I could buy a few cars/And I kick a few flows so I could pimp a few h**s/Excellence is my presence, never tense/Never hesitant, leave a n**** bent real quick/Real sick, brawl nights, I perform like Mike/Anyone - Tyson, Jordan, Jackson/Action, pack guns, ridiculous/And I’m, quick to bust, if my ends you touch/Kids or girl you touch, in this world I clutch/Two auto-mato’s, used to call me fatso/Now you call me Castro, my rap flows”
1. The Notorious B.I.G. “Who Shot Ya” (Verse 1)
“Who shot ya? Separate the weak from the obsolete/Hard to creep them Brooklyn streets/It’s on, n****, f*** all that bickerin’ beef/I can hear sweat tricklin’ down your cheek/Your heartbeat sound like Sasquatch feet/Thunderin', shakin’ the concrete/Then the s*** stop when I foil the plot/Neighbors call the cops, said they heard mad shots/Saw me in the drop, three and a quarter/Slaughter, electrical tape around your daughter/Old school, new school need to learn though/I burn, baby, burn, like ‘Disco Inferno’/Burn slow like blunts with yayo/Peel more skins than Idaho Potato/N****s know; the lyrical molesting is taking place/F***ing with B.I.G., it ain’t safe/I make your skin chafe, rashes on them a***s/Bumps and bruises, blunts and Land Cruisers/Big Poppa smash fools, bash fools/N****s mad because I know that cash rules/Everything around me, two Glock nines/Any mother****** whispering about mines/And I’m Crooklyn’s finest/You rewind this, Bad Boy’s behind this”