"Duets: The Final Chapter" came out in 2005. It was the third posthumous release from The Notortious B.I.G., who died back in 19997 in a fatal shooting. This release has modern producers take past material (both released and unreleased tracks) and take snippets of them to form completley new tracks, and have the remainder of the time taken up by raps from stars of the time.
1. "Intro"
2. "It Has Been Said" (feat. Eminem, Obie Trice and Diddy)
Personally, I saw this as a poor way to start off the album as it began with Eminem, and I simply cannot listen to his music, so there was no way that I was going to feel this one at all. Em' produced it too, and so had full control over the recording.
**One Star**
3. "Spit Your Game" (feat. Krazyie Bone and Twista)
This was one of the single from the album, and it has Big's old material re-used and worked inot a club banger by one of the top party rap prodcers of that year, Swizz Beatz. With him backing things up, the strong foundations give way for two of the most well-known speed rappers in the game, Twista and Bone Thugs member, Krayzie Bone.
**Five Stars**
4. "Whatchu Want " (feat. Jay-Z)
I expect that this one was received well by all East Coast fans aas the two kings of these ends come together as Young Hov joins Biggie on this one, and together on some some fly Danja beats, it is a hardcore one as they take lines from old Big freestyles, and a flow from Jay-Z which seems to have a similar level of energy.
**Five Stars**
5. "Get Your Grind On" (feat. Big Pun, Freeway and Fat Joe)
This album allows great things to happen,l and so if you would like to see a collab that can never happen actually occur, you get this, and so here you have Biggie working with another
deceased MC, as you get him with Big Pun (and others). personally, I don't really care for Pun, and Fat Joe, so this did very little for me, but others may feel differently towards this cold track.
**Two Stars**
6. "Living The Life" (feat. Faith Evans, Cheri Dennis, Bobby Valentino, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg)
The line-up for this one excited me much more than any other on the album as you get him with some of the biggest mainstream names of the time with Luda and Snoop being the main attractions, and I felt that the rsults lived up to the expectations as hey should have with. Ludacris showing that he can make this thing his own, and Snoop is able to ignore the history to do one for his album.
**Four Stars**
7. "The Greatest Rapper" (Lude)
8. "1970 Somethin'" (feat. The Game and Faith Evans)
You get much of this one taken up by Biggie, which is a bonus )as he is the main attraction for the album). You have many of the lines out of "Respect" used in this as he speaks on the early years of his life and even prior to this when he was growing in the womb. From here, The Game spits fire, and seems to set u a great contrast from Big's work.
This was the big singel off the album, and you surely must have heard it as its release had it hyped for at least 18 months as you got Jazze Pha taking it to the clubs with his synth-based work as he modified Big's "Nasty Boy" with the aid of Nelly and Diddy with raps, and the vocals from Jagged Ege and Nelly's Derrty Ent. signee Avery Storm.
**Five Stars**
10. "Living In Pain" (feat. 2Pac, Nas Mary J. Blige)
You wnat and Biigie and 'Pac collab; you've got it. Despite all the East Coat-West Coat beef in the mid-nineties (which led to the death of both of them) this one has them together obvious to the significance of it all. Nas is one this too, and personally I felt that he verse was the highlight of it.
**Four Stars**
11. "I'm With Whateva" (feat. Lil' Wayne, Juelz Santana and Jim Jones)
Stevie J (of The Hitmen does the beats here, anmd initally seems to take on Whodini's "Friends" beats before abandoning it and adpting it to make it a more modern-sounding one, and it wokrs perfectly to get the best of the new school wokring together on a hot track as you get Lil' Wayne (years before global superstardom) with then-Dipset members Juelz Santana and Jim Jones.
**Four Stars**
12. "Beef" (feat. Mobb Deep)
In a direct rip from "What's Beef", this one has it remade with a Mobb Deep twist as you get the East Coast dou both producing and doing the additional verses for the track in a hardcore track from the artist that has him go to his extremes with rhymes about how far things can go in the world of "Beef".
**Three Stars**
13. "My Dad" (Lude)
14. "Hustler's Story" (feat. Akon, Scarface, and Big Gee)
The voice of Akon put me off, so it wasn't the best way to start off the track, but after he passes over it and Big raps some of his lesser knonw lines off a Bab Boy promo disc. The Geto Boy, Scarface brings his hardcore southern thing to this one, and it seems to work with the overall soudn of things as the Akon hook seems to bring you into this type of sound.
15. "Breakin' Old Habits" (feat. T.I. and Slim Thug)
This one has him take in to the Dirty South (the ends of the USA which weren't really saying much whilst he was aroudn) and so to show that the south is in full effect, two of the top performers from the key cities of Houston and Atlanta drop in to kick it with Biggie, and show that his stlye wokrs just as well with a southern twist.
**Four Stars**
16. "Ultimate Rush" (feat. Missy Elliot)
Here Missy takes on a big task of perfomring on her own with the Biggie material, and I felt that she managed this challenge fairly well as she attempts to work aroud the raps of his and make it sem as if the stuff (which was made for Lil' kim's "Drugs", was just for this track, and the thing fitted it all perfectly without any force.
You have a more gentle one hear as the collaboration is with a pair of R&B artist, and with Uncle Charlie Wilson and Kells you have the thing taking a different turn, but with the hard way that he is rapping with the lines from "Friend of Mine", the fly lines (which take from Wu-Tang) set up a ideal hook by the soulful duo.
**Four Stars**
18. "Little Homie" (Lude)
19. "Hold Ya Head" (feat. Bob Marley)
This one has Big doing one alongside Bob Marley as he does a sectio of "Johnny Was" for the chorus, and the notorious one simply does the verses from "Suical Thoughts". Although the themes of both tracks work together, I felt that the fact that the prodcuer simply cut the Hip hop beat and just put in the Reggae section in (without a mix) meant it was just forced, and they didn't really fuse any of the material.
**Two Stars**
20. "Just a Memory" (feat. Diddy and Clipse)
Reading that Clipse were on this, I wondered if it meant that there was going to be a a track with The neptunes producing for Biige, but it doesn't happen as Scram Jones takes on this role (and frankly it would never have worked). I felt that the results were great as he sows that he knows his work well, and comes up with a big mix of his lyrics to come out with well-structured phrases.
**Four Stars**
21. "Wake Up" (feat. KoRn)
I can't believe that the notorious one would have gone on to do this under his own control, however it was nice to see some change as the final musical track on the release gets him working with the Nu-Metal band, KoRn. They completely take the track over by putting a Metal spin on a couple of verses in "If I Should Die Before I Wake" and "Kick In The Door", but I wouldn't say that the adaptations are favourable.
**Three Stars**
22. "Love Is Everlasting" (Outro)
I liked this album for what it does as it is does thigns that were unable to occur in the past, and I felt that it was good at making such things happen. However I felt that not all of them came out right, and it led to it being quite inconsistent. There are only a couple of real bangers on this album, but I think that any fans of the artists will be excited by this one.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Still good to hear BIG and some good special appearances Disadvantages: Lakes new material and far to few high quality songs for a BIG album
Advantages: Still good to hear BIG and some good special appearances Disadvantages: Lakes new material and far to few high quality songs for a BIG album
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Mar 14th, 2009
(Jan 10th, 2009)
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