RDAT Tournament – Game 13 – NYC Final

Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt vs. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die

• Game 3 – NYC – Polaris vs. The Latin Comet
• Game 6 – NYC – Marlo vs. Omar
• Game 7 – NYC – Business, Man vs. Microphone Fiend

This could easily be a soliloquy to ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’, easily one of the greatest rap songs in the last 25 years and arguably the best collabo between separate artists in hip-hop history.

Half-Assed Internet Research has deduced that DJ Clark Kent is the centerpiece to the song, not only as its producer but the man who introduced Shawn Carter to Christopher Wallace for the first time.

Kent and B.I.G. had mutual friends, one of which recommended the DJ to serve as his show DJ while on tour. They hit it off and eventually the former would create beats for Lil Kim and Junior M.A.F.I.A. like ‘Player’s Anthem’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd5Dl3yUytM

After this song blew up, Kent is in a session with Biggie playing beats. The reigning GOAT MC heard a beat and demanded it, but it was already promised to Mad Skillz for the second single ‘Move Your Body’ off his 1996 debut album From Where??? The next beat he heard was another one he wanted, but was already spoken for, according to Kent in an interview with Complex.

“Yeah, so B.I.G. wanted the beat, but I said it was Jay’s.
He was like, ‘Nah Clark, I want that record, that beat is for me!
You give everything to this nigga!’
That was his favorite words. But I’m like, ‘He’s my artist. What do you want me to do?
You’re not my artist, you’re Puff’s artist.’
“So B.I.G. knew I was going to the Jay-Z session after the Mad Skillz session [which was when he first heard the ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ beat], so I’m like,
‘Just come to the studio and wait downstairs.’
He wanted to be on it, and I wanted him on it, but they’re not friends yet.
They don’t know each other. But I’m going to make this work somehow.”

Jay-Z recorded his verses in about five minutes, then Kent says he should put B.I.G. on the track. Both Jay and Dame Dash say no, the latter not wanting to pay any fees to Puff Daddy for his artist. Kent leaves the room and returns with Biggie, who had been waiting outside in a car!

He comes in, introductions are made and a blank pad and pen are introduced. Both push it back and forth before realizing neither wrote their lyrics on paper. Then Jay got up, went into the booth and completely changed the lyrics to the song, leaving space for B.I.G. When Jay came out, Biggie admitted that he wasn’t ready. He returned weeks later and did his parts. There would have been a video for the track, but according to Dash, Sean Combs wouldn’t clear it.

Clearly, this union continued to blossom as both would appear on Biggie’s next album, Life After Death. There was talk about a new group called The Commission, whose names are mentioned at the beginning of ‘What’s Beef’. It’s one of the many versions of ‘What If?’ one can play when thinking about the career of Christopher Wallace.

An interesting ‘What If’ is what if Jay-Z didn’t make a conscience effort to repeat and remind his listeners about the late great MC? Wikipedia reports that his second album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 “was made during one of the worst periods of his life when he was reeling from the death of his close friend, The Notorious B.I.G.” An article by HipHopDX says Jay continues to ‘quote’ B.I.G. because…

“There was a vow in that song about Big. So doing that was my way of always keeping him fresh and keeping his music fresh on everyone’s mind,” he said.
“So I’m inspired by music and I’m a fan and a historian. I study music and different emotions and things like that.
So, if I’m inspired by it, I just use it. It’s not a crutch for me. I can write a song without using anyone’s lyric at all.”

Nas would kick at this proverbial crutch in ‘Ether’, his follow-up to ‘Takeover’. Luckily as hip-hop fans were forced to choose sides, the two artists came together on Hip Hop Is Dead, Nas’s Grammy nominated return after the somewhat underwhelming Street’s Disciple.

Just like anything great seems to take place in a moment. Nas explained to The Onion A.V. Club that, “Jay-Z and I were in the studio, and I had the track, and he started just rapping along to it, so I said ‘Lay it down, let’s do this,’ and we just did it.”

That is the linking factor between Jay and B.I.G. Neither artist wrote their lyrics, meaning they each produced some of the greatest rap records ever literally off the top of their head. Think about that, then think about lines like:

Thinkin’ back when we first learned to use rubbers
He never learned, so in turn I’m kidnappin’ his baby’s mother
My hand around her collar, feedin’ her cheese
She said the taste of dollars was shitty, so I fed her fifties
About his whereabouts I wasn’t convinced
I kept feedin’ her money ’til her shit started to make cents

Or,

Yes love, love your fucking attitude
Because the nigga play pussy, that’s the nigga that’s getting screwed
And bruised up from the pistol whipping
Welts on the neck from the necklace stripping
Then I’m dipping up the block and I’m robbing bitches too
Up the herringbones and bamboos
I wouldn’t give a fuck if you’re pregnant
Give me the baby rings and the #1 Mom pendant

Biggie is at his best when he’s telling a story, whether he’s describing how he approaches women in ‘Big Poppa’, what is was like to grow up poor in ‘Juicy’ or how he learned about the two gentlemen attempting to rob him in ‘Warning’.

Jay is more of a lyricist. He can paint a picture, but seems to take more pleasure in turning words on themselves and utilizing multiple meanings and similes . He routinely puts both on display and as grown as an artist. It’s hard to argue against his claim as the greatest ever, but was that talent prevalent and expressed in his initial offering to the world, enough so that it’s better than the better of B.I.G. only two albums?