[Si] TV

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For the past decade the constant debate has been who’s better: Biggie, Pac, Jay or Nas. And I must say, i've spent so much time arguing that the late great Notorious B.I.G was thee greatest of all time that to coalesced all those hours you’d end up with an entire calendar year and then some. Now Tupac was a close second, but it did take him a few albums to create his classic (Makaveli). Biggie did it on his first try (Ready To Die) and followed it up with another (Life After Death).

On this subject alone I’ve had debates that would convince you that I could make it in the world of politics if I put my mind to it. With my man, Khalid, alone i've had some pretty intense discussions on the topic. 

And yes, It can very well be that i'm just bias. Big's from Brooklyn. That's enough reason alone for me to consider him the greatest. But it's deeper than that. His songs marked different times in my life that were pivotal to me becoming the man that stands before you.

Like the first time I got “blessed” by a shorty all I remember hearing was, “…thought he worked his until I handled my biz / there I iz! Major Payne like Damon Wayans / Low Down Dirty even, like his brother Keenen / scheming! Don’t leave ya gurl round me / true player for real, ask Puff Da-dee…” My body began grooving to the beat. Shorty thought she was that nice, but it wasn’t just her! My n*gga Biggie had something to do with the groove. Oh the smile on my face. Not only because of what was going “down” at the moment but because I loved Major Payne and A Low Down Dirty Shame (Great B movies). Twas the summer of Big and O. I was on fire just as much as Big was. That summer he dropped that One More Chance Remix, Who Shot Ya, Can’t You See, Players Anthem AND a few ridiculous freestyles. That summer the Notorious B.I.G. cemented a special place in my heart. I had the muuurrrda Barkley’s too. I was crushing ‘em that summer, boooyeee!!

So for years I’ve defended his name and legacy against naysayers and I must say each year it gets harder and harder. What with all these rappers with dances and sh*t. “Biggie was never good enough to come up with a dance!” My man, have you ever seen a picture of the man. He could barely lift a leg to go up stairs (“Climb the ladder to success escalator style…”) much less come up with a dance that has him jumping around and throwing his arms everywhere. His dance was boppin’ his head back and forth while rhyming. And he was the best at doing that. So trust that I’ve heard every argument…

But nothing i've ever heard about Biggie could ever prepare me for what I heard this week.

I was in class with my peeps and we're all yapping away about hip-hop and who's hot right now. My dogs, Raymond and Darby, had been talking about how Rick Ross' new album was the truth and how he's the man, yada yada yada. The young scrapper's only 18 so I understand his infatuation with the Miami native. I mean when I was 18, Big Pun could do NO wrong, na'mean? Darby’s about my age (27) but he has hip-hop history in his soul. 

So one day this week I was giving out mixtapes that I no longer needed/wanted. My homie, Lebron, got open when he found some Biggie mixes and threw one in the CD player so we could listen to it while we worked on our class projects.

Right outta left field this muthaf*cka, Ray, declares "Biggie's WACK!" I've heard dudes say that before just to f*ck with me so I didn't take him seriously. So I was like, "N*gga! Rick Ross is wack! Biggie's the f*ckin' man!" And Ray responded, "Biggie's wack. He never had a dope record." My jaw dropped when I realized that Ray was speaking what he felt to be true. He really feels that Big is a wack rapper. Lebron wigged out too.

I'm thinking like are you kidding me? All Big had was dope records. He NEVER had a wack record. His catalogue is nothing but hot joints. So I started cuttin’ ass on my man Ray for a few minutes, but then things died out and we went back to work.

About 20 minutes later Ray dropped a BOMB that NO ONE was ready for.... "Rick Ross is the Biggie of my generation..." I was like, "Are you out your monkey ass mind?!?!?!" Lebron said, "Oooo! Roast this n*gga!" I flipped on Ray and sh*tted on Rick Ross for the next few minutes.

I’m not even gonna front, I like Rick Ross, but to compare him to Biggie in any way other than darkness and body fat is straight blasphemy. You might as well compare Cassie to Mary J. Blige; toe jam and crackers to fried chicken and french fries. Or like my man, Kha cleverly put it, "You might as well say that Halle Berry is ugly!" He even said, "You shoulda brung him to the office. I would've shot the five with him based off that statement alone." He would probably do it too. Kha’s a madman. He was ready to knuckle this dude down in Justin's (Puffy's restaurant) one night cause this dude took my chair at the bar. I had to calm him down like, “Dunn! We’re here to meet my homegirl and her friends. Not to pound n*ggas out.” LOL. But that's another story on it’s own…

Anyway, my question is, can Rick Ross... the Boss really be considered by these youngn's the new Biggie?? His coke metaphors aren't even as good as those of the Clipse. Much less Biggie. Rick Ross doesn't have ONE metaphor that can compete with Big's, "I make MC's break fast like flapjacks and bacon..." What!!?!?! And that was back in 1995!!

Not only was Biggie far more superior in his metaphors, but seriously, Ricky Ricardo only wishes that his flow had half the current to that of Christopher Wallace.

And to say that Biggie never had a dope record… Sacrilege. Only Jay-Z had more dope records than Big. And Jay made a lot of wack songs (Ninjan’s gonna be tiiiiiiight about that last statement). Big only made one wack joint. “Player Hater.” And even that song was a jumpoff.

Ray’s my homie for real, so he got a pass. But next man to say Rick Ross is as good or better than Big is gonna feel the full wrath of this Salvadoreno. I’ll always love Big Poppa and I don’t even have to say no homo cause any TRUE Big fan will say they love that hearse of a man.

So if Rick Ross is considered to be on the same plane as the greatest of all time... or even in the same sport as Big, then i've truly lost touch with hip-hop. And if that’s truly the case then I really don't think I wanna hold hip-hop's hand again. I guess you can say I used to love her.