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LIFE & ARTS

Last work is a fitting goodbye for artist

Album features B.I.G.'s hits and collaborations 

by ELI JABBE 
The Daily Cougar 

The latest posthumous release from The Notorious B.I.G., The Greatest Hits, serves as a good way of honoring the late singer, but fails to live up to the hip-hop artist's previous works. 

The album is reminiscent of the early 1990s when Bad Boy Entertainment was ubiquitous. Everywhere you turned you heard the upbeat songs and saw the videos featuring Bad Boy ringleader, Puff Daddy and his memorable antics, including his ever-present ad-libs and dancing. Unfortunately, Biggie was killed March 9, 1997 and the music world still isn't the same a decade later. 

Puffy announced that The Greatest Hits is the final posthumous release for Biggie. Of course, he had a classic debut ("Ready To Die") and the classic double-album Life After Death, but his past two albums, Born Again and Biggie Duets were released posthumously and featured previously released material and disappointing collaborations with artists who aren't on his skill level.

This compilation begins with Biggie's first hit, "Juicy." The positive message of the chorus is classic: "Don't let ‘em hold you down / Reach for the stars."

The next few songs are familiar hits that the man was known for: "Big Poppa" and "Hypnotize." However, it is disappointing to see some material on this album that clearly is out of place. 

Puff, and whoever else was in charge of the track listing, gets credit for including "Get Money" and a few other Biggie classics that weren't on his own albums. They should not have included anything from his posthumous albums. 

Of the five songs from Big's posthumous albums, only "Dead Wrong," which features one of Eminem's early appearances, deserves to be included. It's disappointing to hear a song with Nelly on a Biggie greatest hits album. 

What makes matters worse is the inclusion of these songs instead of his collaboration with Puffy and Mase for "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems," one of Big's biggest hits, or "Sky's The Limit," another hit that featured a very positive message.

In addition, fans will notice that there isn't one song with Jay-Z, one of the few artists on Big's level, included. A song with Nelly should not be included instead of one of the several classic collaborations Big and Jay did together, such as "Brooklyn's Finest."

Biggie's legacy will always be remembered. Fans who have already gotten their hands on his other albums, Ready To Die and Life After Death, won't want to buy this album because it is littered with posthumous collaborations with people such as Nelly and Ja Rule. It also suffers from a flawed track selection. 

However, if you don't have Big's albums and want to rewind back to the old days when the man, and the other members of the Bad Boy crew, dominated the radio with an endless stream of hit songs, this album might be for you. Big's memory lives on.

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