Signing Off Is The Hardcore Rap Singer (Life After Death - Notorious B.I.G)

Member Name: XICripZ

Product:	Life After Death - Notorious B.I.G
Date:	06/04/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of bangers

Disadvantages: A few tunes let it down

Unfortunately, the relevance of the title to The Notorious B.I.G.'s second album wasn't realised until it was competed, and her was killed just two weeks before it was planned to be released. The record came out regardless of the tragedy which surrounded it with the artist in question murdered, but this seems to have boosted it as an even bigger-selling one with it reaching Diamond sales and topping the charts. It is a double-album and the final official release from him.

Disc 1:

1. "Life After Death" (Intro)

2. "Somebody's Gotta Die"

To start this one off you find him blazing through with some hardcore lyrics to show exactly what he wants to do on this one. It is powerful work and it takes from the introduction, which explained where things were left off on his debut album where he 'died'. He seems to take on the sort of style he adopted then as this one begins, but then you quickly see a much more sinister side of him emerge from the lyrics.

**Four Stars**

3. "Hypnotize"

This is one of the tunes which topped off the artist's career as this one was the first single from this album, and it showed a new side to him as it was almost a full change of character from the debut single "Juicy", which has him coming up as almost nothing, but here he is on top of his game, and this is reflected in the fact that he flows in such a laid-back manner, and his lyrics focus upon how he has made it to a stage where he is confident about his position in life.

**Five Stars**

4. "Kick in The Door"

With so much of the attention placed upon the beef going on between the West coast and the East around this time, many overlooked the fact that there were more local issues going on around the time, and here Biggie addresses this with a banger of a Gangsta Rap track which directly takes on Nas. It is a hardcore one, and Primo goes hard with the beats to match the hype he has.

**Five Stars**

5. "F**k You Tonight"

He appears to clam things down by following on from an early collaboration on R. Kelly's self-entitled 1995 album with this one, as Kells seems to dominate by having a go at leading a tune which has himself written all over it with his seductive lyrics which are driven by a hook, on which he is the sole perform for this part. Big's flows suit the mood, and it works into it well.

**Five Stars**

6. "Last Day"

On this one you find him going at it hard, but I felt as though he wasn't really given enough time on this one as the members of D-Block, The Lox seem to dominate the thing and take away from his amount of time on what is a dark, hardcore rap track, and it supports the way the underground New York scene would develop from this point, onwards.

**Four Stars**

7. "I Love The Dough"

Here you fin him coming off a big collaboration with him on his debut, "Reasonable Doubt", and so Jay-Z comes to join Big on this one, and up-tempo joint which has the jamming to describe how they have a thing for money, and simply wouldn't be able to function without it. This one really stands out for all the right reasons, and many are bound to like it for the combination of artists here.

**Four Stars**

8. "What's Beef?"

Here you have a very dark one from him, and it has him going right into the feel of such a tune without any hope of any sort of escape as he speaks on exactly what 'beef' is and how people shouldn't liken their petty argument to the type of stuff which he is likely to see out on the streets.

**Four Stars**

9. "B.I.G. Interlude"

10. "Mo Money Mo Problems"

This is one of the artists most well-known singles and it find him doing a radio-friendly one to make a change from what else you find within it. You have him in a collaboration with Puffy and Mase on top of a sample of Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out" to give things a party mood. It is a killer one, and you really can't complain about a single thing within it as he straight kills it with the content of this tune.

**Five Stars**

11. "N***as Bleed"

On this one you find him rapping in knowledge that all people are essentially the same, and so he can't say that he is actually scared by anyone out there because when it comes to the type of fighting which he is into, anyone has a chance with guns involved. Some of the lines in this one show just how strong a lyricist he is and it shouldn't be underrated.

**Four Stars**


Disc 2:

1. "Notorious Thugs"

To kick off the second disc of this album, you find yourself throw into a tune which gets him doing a big collaboration alongside the Bone Thugs. I'm sure that many newer fans will recognize that this one as Biggie rapping out lines which were later on used "Spit Your Game". Here, you find him taking on the rapping style of the Bone Thugs who rap in the speed-rapping smanner, and he seems to kill it with this one, and it makes for a big way to start this CD with.

**Five Stars**

2. "Miss U"

You would have to liken this recording to "Sky's The Limit", as this one has him drop all the hype in order to his friend, Obie, who he had recently lost. It is a sombre tune, and a thought-provoking twist to the thing as he is forced to focus on the other side to the whole beef issues, and the side of it which nobody wants to see; death. 112's part in it all is effective, and they make the most of this to show off their vocals.

**Three Stars**

3. "Another"

The beats in this one from The Hitmen seem to take from a time much earlier from this, and it gves a great twist to it all as it doesn't sound like something which he would typically rap on. However he seems to adapt to it well, and make the most of it as he does a tune which has him speak on how he doesn't dwell on times when he falls out with a girl he is with, he quickly moves on. Lil' Kim acts as the female response to it, and she does well to work off Big's lyrics.

**Five Stars**

4. "Going Back To Cali"

This one is a straight banger of a tune, and no one who is into West Coast Rap will be able to deny this as you have him changing everything he stood for at the time as one of the main antagonists in the East Coast/West Coast issues, and hear he takes on the classic West Coast slaps of "More Bounce To The Ounce" as he does a tune in the style of a LA rap tune, and he straight kills it.

**Five Stars**

5. "Ten Crack Commandments"

This one is based upon a basic list of things which he considers to be the "Ten Crack Commandments"; a list of rules which most who enter this game should follow if they wish to succeed as he did. He fills it out with explanation to each point, aside from those which speak for themselves, and it makes for a very good one.

**Five Stars**

6. "Playa Hater"

Anyone who has gone through this album is bound to remember this one as it sticks right out in the thing as the most different thing he has ever done, and unfortunately I didn't think that it was done well at all. You find him actually singing for the entire thing on this one in a classic Soul kind of manner, but really it wasn't happening for me, and despite the fact a few of the lines are a bit funny, its not worth doing a whole track's worth of this stuff.

**Two Stars**

7. "Nasty Boy"

To all listeners who have entered into his music late, you will see these lyrics as what were used later in "Nasty Girl", rather than understanding that it was later adapted to that commercial single from him. In comparison to the more popular one, this one lives up to it 'nastiness' with very explicit lyrics which start from and opening interlude with him on the phone. It is another killer tune by him, and it stands right out here.

**Five Stars**

8. "Sky's The Limit"

Here you find him on a tune which really switches the mood of things as you find him doing a big collaboration with Bad Boy's 112 doing there thing by singing in the hook to calm it down and put you into a relevant mood as he chooses to alter the way he goes about rapping things out and explaining how he has made it by never limiting his abilities.

**Five Stars**

9. "The World Is Filled..."

Here you find him on a track with Oakland's Too $hort and Puffy, together they come together well to do a low-tempo joint to really suit the way in which they all perform their music best. It is done well, and this collaboration of talent seems to be fairly effective under these circumstances.

**Four Stars**

10. "My Downfall"

You can't call this one a bad one, but it isn't really the best you find here either, and I know that many will feel the same towards it because it clearly has him dropping the standard here with something which you are likely to forget about easly. This is the last you want when you have a tune which features DMC as a guest performer. Some of the lines in this are big, but overall, it is pretty average.

**Three Stars**

11. "Long Kiss Goodbye"

I would have to say that you really need to work with this one to make it really engage with it as it isn't really the sort of thing that you would really like from him, but you can't really call it a weak one either. It has him on some beats from Wu-Tang's RZA, and so you find the typical Soul samples, but there's something missing to make it all come together.

**Three Stars**

12. "You're Nobody"

Ending the album off, you find him doing a track which really explains how he feels about life, and how he views it all. He speaks on how you have no real identity until you are dead, and it is certainly the case that you will become a lot more well-known for such a thing (he is a case of this), and the lyrics to this refer to how he sees it on much more localised scales.

**Four Stars**

This is a big album from The Notorious one and although I would have to say there are many good one on here, it is a bit overrated as there are a fair few average ones, a and one single one which he surely knew wasn't going to be liked by many at this time. It is a shame he didn't get the chance to record any more full albums, as this gives off lots of potential for bigger and better things.

Summary: The Notorious B.I.G.'s second album