The 50 Best Notorious B.I.G. Songs (2024)

‘Miss U’ feat. 112 (1997)

There’s a scene in the 2009 biopic Notorious where a producer, after hours of bar-crammed takes, tells Biggie’s character, “That’s fire!” once he hones a radio-friendly hook. And on this tribute to his fallen friends, B.I.G. exhibits his dominance as a legit song crafter. His admission that “I swear for three days I cried” still makes you shed a thug tear. And his recitable verses made this elegy a heart-rendering hit. —W.D.

‘Spit Your Game’ feat. Twista, Krayzie Bone, and 8Ball & MJG (2005)

Centered around Biggie’s classic verse from “Notorious Thugs” and remixed by Swizz Beatz for Duets: The Final Chapter, “Spit Your Game” is one of his better posthumous tracks. The video remix finds Krayzie Bone from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Twista and 8Ball & MJG garlanding the track with Southern and Midwest flows, while Killer Mike, Sleepy Brown, Layzie Bone, Wish Bone, and R&B singer Cheri Dennis make cameos. “Don’t really wanna show you what a G I be/I’d rather be sipping Remy in the VIP/We can hear the music, it’ll be by me/Twista with the legendary nigg* BIG,” raps Twista in a tongue-twisting homage. —M.R.

‘Da B Side (Dirty)’ Da Brat feat. Jermaine Dupri and the Notorious B.I.G. (1994)

Da Brat was barely off her debut on a Kriss Kross cut when this promo 12” dropped featuring Biggie, still a relatively new artist at the time. He was post-”Juicy” but new enough that Dupri refers to him as “the Big,” which remains jarring. Yet the handclaps and slickly, sickly syncopated congas courtesy of a Gap Band sample are a perfect bed for Frank White’s flow. Prophetic verse: “No human being, Korean or European, be seein’ what Big be seein’.” —J.G.

‘The Wickedest’ Funkmaster Flex feat. Mister Cee and the Notorious B.I.G. (2000)

“The Wickedest Freestyle” is just straight bars of pure pain, with some of the former horror-core-adjacent MC’s most punishing lines. On this 1994 session, from Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 radio show, Biggie compares his mic prowess to at least three STDs (“Herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia, gettin’ rid of ya”) before boasting that “MCs break fast like flapjacks and bacon” any time he steps near a booth. No one’s measured up since. —W.D.

‘Realest N****s’ The Notorious B.I.G. and 50 Cent (2003)

On “Realest nigg*s,” 50 Cent and producers Red Spyda and DJ Whoo Kid revive verses from Biggie’s “nigg*s,” a track released on the 1999 posthumous album Born Again. It dropped at the tail end of 2002, just as 50 Cent was emerging as a superstar, and was subsequently included in the 2003 Bad Boys II soundtrack. Biggie’s style here hearkens to his protean “Party and Bullsh*t” phase as he kicks hardcore verses about smoking trees, flipping keys, and making crazy cheese. “Damn, a nigg*’s style is unorthodox,” he brags. —M.R.

‘Can’t You See’ Total feat. the Notorious B.I.G. (1995)

B.I.G. kept it gully on every cameo he blessed. And, far from compromising, he added the most gutter verse to 1995’s sexiest single, with such finesse, that you couldn’t locate the joints. Who else but B.I.G. could slip an ominous threat (“My rap lines is like land mines/One step, ka-boom! Black suits fill the room”) into a bashful hit about longing? Undoubtedly, we could all see he was the greatest. —W.D.

‘Only You (Bad Boy Remix)’ 112 feat. the Notorious B.I.G. and Ma$e (1996)

Leave it to B.I.G. to somehow get off references to Audio 2’s “Top Billin'” and Pablo Escobar in a song about the virtues of monogamy. But on this 1996 slow jam, the undisputed King of New York proved once more why he’s the realest to ever do it. His street credibility fuels everything here, making this remix one of the hottest songs of that spring. —W.D.

‘Biggie Got the Hype sh*t’ demo (1991)

Biggie’s 1991 demo presented a fully formed MC. Though he rapped in a hyper, high-pitched register, the confidence and impeccable cadence were already evident at this early stage. “Biggie Smalls Got That Hype sh*t” shows signs of B.I.G.’s burgeoning greatness. When he boasts, “I thought you knew the pedigree of the B.I.G/Cut emcees like lumberjacks cutting trees,” over Mister Cee’s bass-heavy track, he sounds destined to conquer the world. —W.D.

‘You’ll See’ The Lox feat. Puff Daddy and the Notorious B.I.G (1996)

This is mostly a Lox joint and Puff takes up too much space, but B.I.G.’s rock-solid, prime-era verse talks products (“Crystal pops I’m sippin’ it, mob hats and lizard sh*t”) and product (“Stashin’ keys, hidin’ Gs overseas”) and Trump (“I treat my bitches like Ivana” — welp). His verse was later recycled for the extremely posthumous 2005 track “Hustler’s Story.” —J.G.

‘Somebody’s Gotta Die’ (1997)

Revenge is a dish best served cold, and on this cinematic yarn, Biggie delivered a full course of icy vindictiveness. His matter-of-fact admission that “If I go, you got to go” — as if he were arranging a dinner reservation — still sends goosebumps up your spine. Nobody but B.I.G. could make the most grisly crimes sound perfectly palatable to the mainstream. By the song’s dramatic denouement, it’s clear why he’s rap’s Alfred Hitchco*ck. —W.D.

‘Young G’s’ Puff Daddy feat. Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G. (1997)

While it’s impossible to say who bested whom on this third and final collaboration with Jay-Z, B.I.G.’s verse stands out as an example of why he was the pride of his borough. Here, he floats over the track with a flow that goes down as smooth as a bodega quarter water. Though he makes a funereal demand to “dress my body in linen by Armani,” on this sleeper he was still rap’s OG Teflon Don. —W.D.

‘N****s Bleed’ (1997)

When B.I.G. describes the tattoos etched around a villain’s bullet wounds on this suspense-filled deep cut, it’s a gripping example of his mastery of narrative. His progression as a storyteller is evidenced here in his granular descriptions. Biggie’s “Warning,” for all its anecdotal force, doesn’t give us a character as memorable as Arizona Ron. And the goons hiding in the showers with MAC-millis are Scorsesean in their pictorial authenticity. —W.D.

‘Runnin’ (Dying to Live)’ 2Pac feat. the Notorious B.I.G. (2003)

When “Runnin’ (Dying to Live)” peaked at Number 19 on the Billboard singles chart, it was the culmination of a long and tortured history. The original recording session took place during the two’s famously brief friendship and included members of Dramacydal, Randy “Stretch” Walker of Live Squad, and former Interscope artist Radio. Verses from the session eventually appeared on the 1995 One Million Strong compilation as “Runnin’.” But the collaboration earned lasting fame when producer Eminem repurposed the material into the lead single for the 2003 documentary Tupac Resurrection. Here, Biggie’s memorable opener — “I grew up a f*ckin’ screw-up/Got introduced to the game, got an ounce and f*ckin’ blew up” — becomes an elegy for two lives tragically interrupted. —M.R.

‘Going Back to Cali’ (1997)

In the midst of the so-called East Coast/West Coast feud, rapping over Easy Mo Bee’s chopped-up sample of g-funk icons Zapp, Biggie offered a peace offering of sorts: “Y’all nigg*s is a mess/Thinkin’ I’m gonna stop givin’ L.A. props/All I got is beef with those that violate me.” Then, of course, he added, “I shall annihilate thee,” and the chamber of the gun kept spinning. —C.A.

‘Respect’ (1994)

With singer Diana King providing a fierce dancehall chorus (and vocal nod to our hero’s Jamaican roots), Biggie runs down his life story, from the womb (“Ten months in this gut, what the f*ck?”) to teenage conflicts with Mom (“School I didn’t show up/it f*cked my flow up/Mom said that I should grow up”) and rap success in ‘94 (“Not the same deranged child stuck up in the game”). A funny, smart autobiography. —J.G.

‘It’s All About the Benjamins (Remix)’ Puff Daddy & the Family feat. the Notorious B.I.G., Lil Kim, and the Lox (1997)

This covertly weird song hit Number Two on the Billboardpop singles chart behind the immovable “Candle in Wind 1997.” Over a Marc Solomon guitar hook, Puff, the Lox, and Kim spit about ruling all the cash around them, but a smart Jackson Five sample turns the spare music lush for a sharp closing guns-n-girls verse from “Francis, the praying mantis.” Except for a reference to Hebrews in Jadakiss’ verse, it’s aged oddly well. —J.G.

‘You’re Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)’ (1997)

‘Victory’ Puff Daddy & the Family feat. the Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes (1997)

If Puff’s “I’ll Be Missing You” is a benediction, “Victory” is his howl of rage: background wailing, an unhinged-sounding Busta, and Puff sobbing for everyone when he screams “It’s all f*cked up now.” Over a relentless loop built from Bill Conti’s “Rocky” soundtrack, “VIctory” belongs to Biggie, his verses recorded days before his death. A spectral presence, flickering in and out of focus, B.I.G. is a fallen Viking, ripping some of his all-time hardest verses direct from Valhalla: “I’m in your mama crib waitin’/Duct tapin’, your fam’ destiny/Lays in my hands, gat lays in my waist.” The most melodramatic hip-hop song of a melodramatic rap moment, “Victory” is the fury of life after death. —J.G.

‘Me and My Bitch’ (1994)

Which is more stupider[sic]? Reading pop-music lyrics literally? Or defending a seemingly misogynistic line like, “The wine is right, I treat you right/You talk slick, I beat you right”? This brash, habitually line-steppin’, tragic-comic vignette views Biggie’s ultimate romantic and criminal co-conspirator as his equal, his “best friend,” and a victim of his lifestyle. He’s bitter, salty, heartbroken. Perhaps the song is not so easily parsed because the song is so exceptional. —C.A.

‘A Buncha N****s’ Heavy D & the Boyz feat. 3rd Eye, Guru, the Notorious B.I.G., Rob-O, and Busta Rhymes (1993)

The closing track on Heavy D and the Boyz’ Blue Funk album not only marked an early appearance for the artist then known as Biggie Smalls, but also epitomized Heavy D’s mentoring influence at Uptown Records on a new generation of hip-hoppers. “It was a unit, everybody was family up there,” Lil Cease remembered to XXL in 2011, citing Uptown acts like Mary J. Blige and Jodeci as well as Biggie, who was briefly signed to the label. Despite competing in a stacked cipher, Biggie acquits himself well on the Jesse West-produced track as he drops bombs: “I bring drama like you spit on my mama/Cannibalistic like that nigg* Jeffrey Dahmer.”—M.R.

‘Dolly My Baby (Bad Boy Extended Mix)’ Super Cat feat. Mary J. Blige, 3rd Eye, the Notorious B.I.G., and Puff Daddy (1993)

Talk about humble beginnings: Biggie made his wax debut on the fourth of six remixes on Jamaican deejay Super Cat’s “Dolly My Baby” 12,” his verse coming fifth after four other featured artists (even behind Puff). But it’s all here: the confidence, the flow, and the immortal words “I love it when you call me Big Poppa.” —J.G.

‘Notorious Thugs’ feat. Bone, Thugs-N-Harmony (1997)

“Notorious Thugs” not only exemplifies the Notorious B.I.G.’s ability to conquer any style, even the melodic chopper flow made famous by Cleveland group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, it also marks his ambition to be an artist who resonated globally. Despite his reputation as the king of New York, he admired scenes in the South and the Midwest as well. “He was marveling off of us. And we were telling him how much love we had for him,” Layzie Bone told XXL in 2003. Still, a studio session between Bone and Biggie forced the latter to contemplate how he could equal Bone’s superior performance. “He really wanted to sit there and master that sh*t,” added Lil Cease in the XXL story. —M.R.

‘Get Money’ Junior M.A.F.I.A. feat. the Notorious B.I.G. (1995)

A mid-Nineties, glasses-in-the-air classic. Biggie’s verse starts out a little seductive, then switches to vengeance (which has aged poorly) on a squeeze who ratted him to the feds. Lil’ Kim, on the other hand, is back and as dirty as ever. Like many Clinton-era hip-hop smashes, the clean version, with a combination of word substitutions and whole phrases vanished, is just as dope and much weirder.—J.G.

‘Mo Money Mo Problems’ feat. Ma$e and Puff Daddy (1997)

‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ Jay-Z feat. the Notorious B.I.G. (1996)

Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G.’s smooth mic-passing routines on “Brooklyn’s Finest” make this song one of the standout moments from Jay’s classic Reasonable Doubt. “Brooklyn’s Finest” was also a major look for a then-independent artist who had begun to make waves with buzz singles like “In My Lifetime.” Ironically, neither man knew each other at the time, though they became friends afterward; Biggie wanted Clark Kent’s flip of the Ohio Players’ “Ecstasy,” but when the latter insisted that it was for Jay, Biggie settled by offering to jump on the track. Puff Daddy nearly derailed their plans by blocking the release of their collaboration, but to everyone’s benefit he eventually relented. —M.R.

‘Machine Gun Funk’ (1994)

Over a silky, snaky guitar snipped from ’70s funk band Black Heat (Easy Mo Bee again!), Biggie goes full tilt, his voice engulfing every inch of the track, a human subwoofer, clear as a bell on a pitch-black night, hurling quick-fire barbs that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and run away. —C.A.

‘Player’s Anthem’ Junior M.A.F.I.A. feat. the Notorious B.I.G., Lil’ Cease, and Lil’ Kim (1995)

‘The What’ feat. Method Man (1994)

Wu-Tang Clan’s raspy, grimy rising star, yet to release his debut solo album, goes head-up with New York’s other fastest rising star on his debut album. Highlights: The Biggie line “Excuse me, flows just grow through me/Like trees to branches, cliffs to avalanches” is still a startling poetic aside. And Method Man’s boast, “I’ve got more Glocks and TECs than you/I make it hot, nigg*s won’t even stand next to you,” was actually written by Big. —C.A.

‘Sky’s the Limit’ feat. 112 (1997)

According to producer DJ Clark Kent, the beat for “Sky’s the Limit” passed through several rappers, including Jay-Z and LL Cool J, before the Notorious B.I.G. secured it for Life After Death. “When he heard ‘Sky’s the Limit,’ I was like, well this track is for Akinyele, so you can’t have it. He’s like, ‘Nah, I need that’,” the producer told BET in 2017. Peaking at Number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Sky’s the Limit” finds Biggie reminiscing about his pre-stardom hustler days over a soulful groove lifted from Bobby Caldwell’s “My Flame.” But it’s mostly famous for Spike Jonze’s imaginative video, where young children were cast in the roles of Biggie, 112, Lil Kim, Puff Daddy, and Mase. —M.R.

‘What’s Beef?’ (1997)

The supposed feud with Death Row Records was working Biggie’s last nerve; rappers posing like they were eager to start a shootout with any and everybody was laughable. So he tried to give some perspective. Hip-hop, like all art, is an imaginative shading of reality, and the studio does not protect you from life outside, which our antihero explained using a series of torture metaphors. Unfortunately, 2Pac, as we know, did not give a f*ck. —C.A.

‘Crush on You’ Lil’ Kim feat. Lil’ Cease (1996)

What Biggie brings to Lil’ Kim’s hit is an anchoring earworm of a hook that takes it over the top. B.I.G., whose appearance on the track isn’t credited, comes through with the most mellow voice you hear. And it works like a charm. His playful overtures seem to harmonize with the lush chords (lifted from Jeff Lorber’s 1979 single, “Rain Dance”), making this flirt fest the aural equivalent to a “Do you like me? Check yes or no” note. —W.D.

‘Ready to Die’ (1994)

“Ready to Die” is a chilling blast of fatalism from a man who all but invited death to a staring contest. Like some Fulton Street version of Antonio Block in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, Bed-Stuy’s Finest played chess with mortality. When he pleads, “f*ck the world, f*ck my moms and my girl/My life is played out like a Jheri curl,” you can’t help but be moved by his stoicism. —W.D.

‘Madison Square Garden Freestyle’ Big Scoob, the Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Shyheim, Big Daddy Kane (1995)

On Oct. 22, 1993, Big Daddy Kane, backing dancer Scoob Lover, and DJ Mister Cee performed a 10-minute set at the Budweiser Superfest — an annual touring revue headlined that year by SWV, Bell Biv Devoe, and Silk. “Being it’s New York, we wanted to do something extra crazy for the show. So we asked Big to come out,” Mister Cee told MTV in 2010. When they got to the venue, 2Pac and onetime Wu-Tang affiliate Shyheim were there, too. Kane then brought all three rappers onstage for one of the most memorable live freestyle sessions in rap history. Thanks to Mister Cee capturing the moment on cassette, Biggie’s shout “Where Brooklyn at?” is now legendary. —M.R.

‘Suicidal Thoughts’ (1994)

OnReady to Die’s closing song, all Biggie’s bravado and audacity have been ground down to guilt and self-pity. A phone call from Diddy shakes him awake, and he raps his reply in one three-minute verse: “I swear to God I want to just slit my wrists,” he spits. It’s an unmatched, hip-hop portrayal of utter despair, especially when he admits that he willfully betrayed his loved ones. —C.A.

‘Real Love (Remix)’ Mary J. Blige feat. the Notorious B.I.G. (1992)

Most of the time, Big’s ladies were off-screen, singing the hook. “Real Love” is a balance of equals, the queen of hip-hop soul and the king of New York as natural allies. Biggie dips in, support a fellow monarch in her time of need (“Look up in the sky It’s a bird, it’s a plane/ Nope, it’s Mary Jane, ain’t a damn thing changed”) and bounces. Perfect. —J.G.

‘One More Chance / Stay With Me (Remix)’ feat. Faith Evans (1995)

Sharing very little but subject matter with the p*rny Ready to Die album cut called “One More Chance,” this R&B remix sports a few lines as iconic as anything in his catalog. This is Biggie at his second-person best, laying out the case (“First thing’s first…”) for sex with him, complete with future separated spouse Evans singing the hook. Closing argument: “Your flight leaves at eight/Her flight lands at nine, my game just rewinds.” Why yes, he was indeed the player president.—J.G.

‘Gimme the Loot’ (1994)

If you were walking alone, epecially at night, in 1980s/’90s New York City, getting mugged was a daily concern. Here, Biggie voiced what that reality meant for Black youth — the need to project fearlessness and strength, while constantly being suspicious, on alert, and harassed by bigoted cops. Rapid-fire rapping as himself and his younger self (using different voices), he played a pair of overamped thieves, doing more posturing than robbing, to a morbidly absurd extent (“I been robbin’ motherf*ckers since the slave ships”). —C.A.

‘I Got a Story to Tell’ (1997)

Not a fable or jarring, pothole-level street drama, this is pure dramatic monologue told simply for the raw-dog joy of telling. It boasts nothing but the protagonist’s considerable, if nasty, charms and resourceful wit. Propelled by Bucwild’s lickety-split beat (built from Al Jackson Jr.’s crispy drums on Al Green’s “I’m Glad You’re Mine”), Biggie talks sh*t about his sexual perils, in this case on the mattress of New York Knicks bully baller Anthony Mason. —C.A.

‘Kick in the Door’ (1997)

DJ Premier was a drummer himself, and perhaps that’s why his beats have such an immutable grit, jolt, and dimension, yet snugly fit with the song’s other elements (sharply scratched samples, sound effects, etc.). And maybe that’s why, on “Kick in the Door,” Biggie’s slightly bemused voice has such a hyperfocused, pinpoint force. Yes, the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins sample adds a bone-chilling thrill, but the show is Biggie methodically rhyming circles, trapezoids, rhombuses, and f*cking obtuse triangles around his hapless contemporaries. It’s not a diss song; it’s over. —C.A.

‘Warning’ (1994)

In the history of murder ballads, Biggie should be in the pantheon, along with Ghostface Killah, Slick Rick, Kool G Rap, Ice-T, et al. And “Warning” is a spiky myth of hateration told with shuddering concision and visual splendor that would fluster the Greek god of jealousy (what’s gucci, Phthonos?). Big raps in the voice of two different characters; is depressed and dismayed that Brooklyn kids would try him simply because of his success; and then flips to their point of view as they recognize the infrared dots on their foreheads. —C.A.

‘Things Done Changed’ (1994)

‘Party and Bullsh*t’ (1993)

Out of context, this debut single (paid for by Puffy Combs, then at Uptown Records) is in hot pursuit of fairly mundane, youthful pleasures — girls, weed, the latest sneakers. But it’s early ’90s New York, so Biggie’s guard is up and his body armored, rip-roaring and reckless, counterpunching with caustic punchlines, and quoting the Last Poets’ and Rodney King’s entreaties to Black America like some crazy sh*t some dude said at a party. —C.A.

‘Unbelievable’ (1994)

A neck-snapping call to order amid a hail of bullets, “Unbelievable” is Biggie announcing himself as “the livest one” on his Bed-Stuy promenade and beyond. Not only did he strike fear in MCs with a landslide of outlandish, gun-waving punchlines and elbow-throwing internal rhymes, he illuminated project-hallway imagery, taunted white bystanders, and instructed DJ Premier to sample the smoothly sung title from a random verse on an R. Kelly slow jam. —C.A.

‘Hypnotize’ (1997)

“Hypnotize” was released on March , 1997, five days before Biggie’s death, and many fans heard the tragic news of his passing just as they were first basking in the glow of this glorious party anthem. Skimming a sample of Herb Alpert’s “Rise” and a Slick Rick interpolation, “Hypnotize” was an opulent stunner, a smash-hit celebration of the wealth, women, and sweaters once dreamed about and now fully available, rapped in a style that was savvy, subtle, and slick. The more distance from 3/9/97, the more of a joyful remembrance this song became. —J.G.

‘Everyday Struggle’ (1994)

Philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote that if society broke down, life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” That broken society is Biggie’s subject on this bookend to “Juicy,” where the drug trade exploits those who suffer most from poverty, racism, and the rest. A lovely melodic phrase (here, from jazz pianist Dave Grusin) leavens the narrative’s unsparing baritone thunder, but it’s Big’s uncanny rhythmic cadence that keeps you breathless. —C.A.

‘Who Shot Ya’ (1995)

“As we proceed to give you…” a lyrical lambasting of Ecclesiastical magnitude. The atmosphere alone created by the resituating of that delicate piano sample from David Porter’s “I’m Afraid the Masquerade Is Over” makes you feel as if you’ve wandered into a religious service and can’t feel your face. But Biggie’s most battle-ending performance may be remembered more for microwaving his discord with 2Pac to a point of no return. Although the song absolutely was not written about his supposed rival MC, the fact is that the lickshot reverberations of the song remain, Big and ‘Pac do not.—C.A.

‘Ten Crack Commandments’ (1997)

In professorial mode, Biggie slaps you upside the head with a jewel-encrusted wooden pointer, and DJ Premier crafts a taut, back-stiffening beat that spotlights Chuck D’s stentorian countdown and Les McCann’s soul-jazz electric piano. The writing itself is peerless; the delivery is mesmerizing. The very idea that he’s sharing his co*ke-dealing tips in manual form is bonkers. Note: Just the other day, I heard a white sports-radio dork scold somebody for getting high on their own supply and wished Biggie was around to shut his ass down. —C.A

‘Big Poppa’ (1994)

‘Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)’ Craig Mack feat. the Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, and Rampage (1994)

An ineffable moment when the attitude, the sound, the movement, the art, the fashion, the business, and the whole damn sociocultural engine of New York City wentskrrrrrrrp. It started with the snare-crackin’, siren-swirling, funky-earth mover beat — produced by Easy Mo Bee on a SP-1200 sampler that he played like an eight-key grand piano. Apparently, Biggie thought Mack was, let’s say, “basic,” as an MC, especially beside three eventual G.O.A.T.s (plus Rampage). At the time, 22-year-old Biggie only had a single and a few features, but his opening verse set off car alarms around the world: “You’re mad ’cause my style you’re admiring/Don’t be mad, UPS is hiring.” —C.A.

‘Juicy’ (1994)