The Notorious B.I.G. - Duets: The Final Chapter

HHH Official rating: 3/5
Beats rating: 3/5
Lyrics rating: 3.5/5
Music Quality: 3/5








by the god Dirty Backpacks


Whut up, people.

First review of the New Year - I hope your holiday season was cool. We kept it busy over the break, and we've got a lot in store for you, both on Hiphophavoc.com and LNN4life.com. So keep your eyes peeled! Now on to the review...

I've actually had this album for a good while now (Thanks T. Boogie!), and being busy is the only thing that kept me from reviewing it earlier. I know there were a lot of expectations towards this album, Biggie's 2nd posthumous release and his last (according to Bad Boy) release ever. Over 400,000 of you bought the album last week, so the demand was out there. So the question is...does the album live up to the hype?

That depends on how big of a Biggie fan you are.

Me personally, I'm pretty objective in my assessments. And honestly speaking, The Notorious B.I.G.'s Duets: The Final Chapter is really an album full of hit or miss material; a varied bag of material. Truth be told, it's not a bad album at all - it's pretty good, and definitely better than his first posthumous release Born Again (I like 3 songs off that album at best). But though it's better than Born Again, it suffers from the same problems.

See, unlike 2pac, Biggie didn't have a lot of unreleased material at the time of his death (excluding his 2nd album, which was completed and came out as scheduled). In fact, there have been less than 10 songs with unreleased material since his death - compare that to Pac who had over 300 unreleased tracks at his time of death (all of which still haven't all been released). My point in saying that is this - when you listen to this album, there's nothing from him that you haven't heard already. With the exception of the exquisitely dope "Whatchu Want" (which, regardless of what the press release says, I've heard Biggie's verses on this before), all of the tracks use verses from B.I.G. that fans are well-accustomed to. So, the question isn't how hot Biggie is, it really comes down to how hot the guest stars are and how dope the beats are on this grandiose remix album.

And herein lies my biggest problem with the album as a whole - Bad Boy took classic verses from classic songs, and many of these don't measure up to the original version. Likewise, since it's already a consensus that he was one of the greatest of all-time, it's almost unfair to put many of these rappers on a track with him - try as they might (and I'm not saying these guys aren't good in their own right), most just can’t measure up with B.I.G. Sure, Jay-Z holds his own, but that's Jay-Z - he's on most people's top 5 lists along with Biggie himself! Is it really fair to put Big Gee, Twista and Obie Trice next to The Notorious B.I.G.?

And some of these pairings are just flat out strange - I don't care what you say, Biggie would've never did something as weird and wild as "Wake Up" with Korn. This track seems sadly out of place and unnecessary. And the single that they've pushed the hardest, "Nasty Girl", is complete trash - it befuddles me why they would push that harder than the Clinton Sparks-produced collabo with Bob Marley "Hold Ya Head". That joint is pure heat (shout out to Clinton!). I'm not a Nelly fan, but this would've been a much better song with just him and Jagged Edge - it's their type of vibe, not Biggie's.

But the absolute worse song - possibly the worst B.I.G. song EVER - has to be the new version of "Beef" with Mobb Deep. The beat is utterly garbage, especially when you think of the original version. And if you were still holding on to hope that Mobb Deep hasn't completely fallen the f**k off, prepare to have those hopes horribly crushed when you hear the caca that Havoc & Prodigy spit. Seriously - their decline has to be one of the most over-looked stories of 2005. The only reason I didn't rate the song lower is because Biggie's on it.

But outside of those songs, the remaining tracks are pretty decent. Notice I didn't say better than the originals or even comparable – get that out of your brain right now. But these are nice twists on classic Biggie verses. The best of these are the aforementioned "Hold Ya Head" with it's haunting beat and the beautifully soulful "1970 Somethin", where The Game's niceness with the verses and the flow may surprise some and Biggie's ex-wife Faith Evans provides a nice hook.

Other highlights include "Get Your Grind On" with the late Big Pun (along with Fat Joe & Freeway); "Living In Pain" with 2pac, Nas & Mary J. Blige; and the R&B-flavored "Mi Casa", with everyone's favorite child molester R.Kelly and The Gap Band's Charlie Wilson (who is surprisingly understated in his vocals - why would you let R.Kelly blow and not Uncle Charlie?).

And while "Spit Your Game" isn't as dope as the original Biggie/Bone Thugs team-up, Krayzie Bone's verses are the biggest surprise on the album - cuz he rips it.

Oddly enough, on his supposedly last release, there are two songs that don't have Biggie on them at all. This would be unforgivable if the songs weren't good, but luckily they are. The dark and moody "It Has Been Said" proves to be a fitting tribute to B.I.G. with Eminem and Obie Trice dropping some nice rhymes paying respect, and Diddy's ghostwriter (Eminem possibly?) giving him some heat to spit. But the murderous "I'm Wit Whateva" (using the beat from the film Halloween) is a banger - Juelz Santana and Jim Jones are fine, but Lil' Wayne obliterates the track. If you're that one of those meatheads that still thinks Lil' Wayne ain't one of the nicest in the game right now, peep these verses:

"Mad trees and b***hes on dungarees
The city under siege
Kitchen under degrees
I love that summer breeze, I stand in it until it freeze
I'm from another creed - them Sa-Sa-Southern G's
I sip Promethazine
I lean, I stand tall
I'm mean, I'm mad raw
I'm coming like spazz balls
Stee-rike! - yup, so get it right
ni99a one of my sniplets'll end your whole life
You ain't nothing but a riblet to a ni99a with a knife
and a fork
I'm a pig myself - I eat pork
So be smart, and play your own part
If you don't love yaself I'll make you see your own heart
And we don't like the narcs, stay away from the cell
Hey - I'mma shoot it out if I'm facing Ls, yeah
So tell ya girl to come and make me rich
Weezy Baby, ni99a - 9 to 5, 10 to 6."



Mm-hmmm...

Production is handled by a potpourri of beatmakers, both well-known and not so well-known: Eminem, Swizz Beatz, Danja, Timbaland, Jazze Pha, Sean C "Sean Cane", LV, Coptic, Lesette Wilson, Andre Harris, Vidal Davis, Just Blaze, Havoc, Stevie J, D. Dot, Reefa, Mike "Suga Mike" Allen, Mario Winans, J-Dub, Scott Storch, DJ Green Lantern, Clinton Sparks, Jonathan Davis, and Atticus Roff. For the most part, their work ranges from decent to pretty good.

The Notorious B.I.G.'s Duets: The Final Chapter isn't a must-have, rush-to-the-store album, but it is pretty good. Think of it as a mixtape - a Bad Boy version of the Rap Phenomenon series, just not as good. You'll probably find some tracks you like more than others, and some you can't stand. It doesn't measure up anywhere near his studio albums or original material, but you won't mind having it in your collection. However, if you want to really see how it's done, you should probably seek out the very first Dirty Harry/DJ Vlad classic mixtape Rap Phenomenon.

Oh, one more thing - the lyrics rating isn't higher due to this being previously heard material - cuz we all know the two albums he made when he was alive were 5s.



Track List


1. B.I.G. Live In Jamaica (Intro) [2.5]
2. It Has Been Said feat. Diddy, Eminem & Obie Trice [3.5]
3. Spit Your Game feat. Twista & Bone Thugs N Harmony [3]
4. Whatchu Want feat. Jay-Z [4]
5. Get Your Grind On feat. Big Pun, Fat Joe & Freeway [3.5]
6. Living the Life feat. Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Faith Evans, Cheri Dennis, & Bobby Valentino [3]
7. The Greatest Rapper (interlude) [2.5]
8. 1970 Somethin' feat. The Game & Faith Evans [4.5]
9. Nasty Girl feat. Jazze Pha, Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge & Avery Storm [1]
10. Living in Pain feat. 2Pac, Nas & Mary J. Blige [3.5]
11. I'm Wit Whateva feat. Lil' Wayne, Juelz Santana & Jim Jones [4]
12. Beef feat. Mobb Deep [1]
13. My Dad (interlude)[2.5]
14. Hustler's Story feat. Scarface, Akon & Big Gee [3]
15. Breakin' Old Habits feat. T.I. & Slim Thug [3]
16. Ultimate Rush feat. Missy Elliot [2.5]
17. Mi Casa feat. R. Kelly & Charlie Wilson [3]
18. Little Homie (interlude) [2.5]
19. Hold Ya Head feat. Bob Marley [4.5]
20. Just a Memory feat. The Clipse [3.5]
21. Wake Up feat. Korn [2]
22. Love is Everlasting feat. Voletta Wallace (outro) [3]