Dear Hip Hop:
This month marks the ninth year since one of your most
promising disciples, Biggie Smalls, was murdered. As soon as BIG spit those
few bars on that Super Cat joint, the Hip Hop community embraced him.
However, similar to your legacy, the New School has misinterpreted what
Biggie contributed to urban music.
We were college students back when the producer formerly
known as Puff Daddy took his new label's first two acts on a promotional black
college tour. Though "Flavor In Ya Ear" hit the hardest that night, we knew
instantly that BIG was on another level. Rooted in freestyle rhyming, BIG's
experiences in Brooklyn helped him develop the ability to spit arguably the best
blend of lyrical, gangsta rhymes ever. Biggie could hold it down from the
Lyricist's Lounge to the Tunnel.
Nine years after his death, Biggie is still considered a Hip
Hop legend, but his legacy has not been preserved. Someone once said that
legends make everything before them obsolete, and everything after them bear
their mark. So while one can clearly see Michael Jordan in Kobe and Lebron,
there's not a single New School rapper who comes close to Biggie skill wise.
Jay-Z once asked his listeners, “Do you fools listen to music, or do you just
skim through it?” Apparently, the new generation only skimmed through BIG’s
work, but didn't study it. The New School hears Biggie, but they don't listen to
him.
So, Hip Hop, we don’t exactly know how to define Biggie’s
legacy. Many believe that Puffy has tarnished Biggie’s legacy by releasing two
shameful compilation albums bearing his name. Fortunately, two of Hip Hop’s last
“throwback” MCs- Nas and Jay-Z- learned from Biggie’s untimely death, and
decided to call a truce. We can only hope that 50 Cent and these other dudes
eventually follow suit.
Thanks for giving us Biggie, if only for a few years. Tell
BIG that we will never forget him.
Old School Tribune: An Urban Archives Publication
Hip Hop has been in an induced coma since 1996. This
is our open diary to Hip Hop; hoping that one day he will awaken and can catch
up on all that he has missed.