What happens when you put two of the best MCs to ever spit on the mic on the same song numerous times? While at least one of the songs was made after the passing of Biggie, that still didn’t take away from the great chemistry. Jay Z and Biggie held not only Brooklyn on lock, but they also had the entire rap game in a choke hold for decades. We can always wonder what could’ve been if Big never died.
What made this pair so amazing, was that in their early stages, neither MC did many features. However, they always made time for each other. Here is a ranking of their tracks together. (From least favorite to favorite)
Whatchu Want (Biggie Duets)
The only reason this song is last on the list is due to the fact that Biggie had already passed and these are recycled lyrics. You could tell by his subject matter and cadence that there is a time gap there. Nevertheless, a Biggie verse is still a Biggie verse and when these two are on the same track, magic is bound to happen. Big, despite the old bars, still kept pace with Hov with lines such as:
Now he’s singin’ sad songs with Elvis
Three to the head, ’bout six cross the pelvis
Ya fuck with the high guy ya die
Yeah, the same motherfucker trickin’ “Look up in the sky!”
I’m on some old neck shit, Suplex shit, hardcore sex shit, and Tec shit
As with all their features together, this song just made you wish everything worked out and they were able to drop The Commission album, especially when Jay said:
Lucky Lefty of the Commission, bow down
By now you fuckers know this is our crown
Two Uptown bullies, Brooklyn Biggie
Bedstuy Hov like Bedstuy Gold
Behold the fly-est (it’s the Commission)
Young Gs (No Way Out)
Unless it’s Nas or Pac, there should not have been another rapper to be featured on a track with Biggie and Jay. Puffy adding himself was just so he could say he did a track with both artists. It doesn’t matter if Jay, Biggie, or even Jadakiss wrote his lyrics, this was a no-no. Did it take the shine away from either artist? Not at all. Jay expressed how his bars went over the heads of others.
Solemnly, we mourn all the rappers that’s gone
Niggas that got killed in the field and all the babies born
Know they ain’t fully prepared for this New World Order
So I keep it ghetto like sunflower seeds and quarter waters
To walk ’em through it, you know, talk ’em through it
Know these beats is more than music whenever I talk to it
Big going last was the best move here as he closed out the track with jarring lines that still hit decades later.
My brain is haunted with mean dreams
GSs with BBs on it, supreme schemes
To get richer than Richie quickly, niggas wanna hit me
If they get me, dress my body in linen by Armani, check it
My lyrical carjack make your brains splat
High-caliber gats is all I fuck with, now peep the rough shit
I Love The Dough (Life After Death)
Boasting, bragging, and feeling yourself, are the traits you can have as a rapper who can back it up. Biggie and Jay held that right. And that’s what “I Love The Dough” was all about. It was two MCs letting the rest of the game know exactly where they stood. The story surrounding how this song came to be just adds to its legacy. But who expected nothing short of remarkable when Jay spit his verse?
And the watches be all types and shapes of stones
Bein’ broke is childish and I’m quite grown
Run up in the club with the ice on, me and Paisan
Scope the spot out, see somethin’ nice and I’m gone
You cats is home screamin’ the fight’s on
I’m in the fifteen hundred seats, watchin’ Tyson
But Big was not going to be outdone.
Lost chips on Lakers, gassed off Shaq
Country house, tennis courts and horseback
Ridin’, decidin’ cracked crab or lobster
Who say mobsters don’t prosper?
Niggas is actors, niggas deserve Oscars
Me I’m, critically acclaimed, slug pass your brain
Brooklyn’s Finest (Reasonable Doubt)
Talk about a classic. Doesn’t matter how long ago this track was made, “Brooklyn’s Finest” is one of the blueprints on how to successfully do a back-and-forth. Jay and Big traded bars that many in Hip Hop still claim as one of the best songs ever. Just two up-and-coming rappers. Big set it off here:
Fuck fist fights and lame scuffles (Uh!)
Pillow case to your face, make the shell muffle (Woo!)
Shoot your daughter in the calf muscle (Mmm-hmm)
Fuck a tussle, nickel-plated
Sprinkle coke on the floor, make it drug-related (Haha)
Jay, looking to prove his worth opposite Biggie, did not let down either when he spit:
While y’all pump, willie (What?), I run up and stunt silly (Uh-huh)
Scared, so you sent your little mans to come kill me (Uh)
But on the con-trilli, I packs the MAC-milli
Squeezed off on him, left them paramedics breathin’ soft on him
“What’s ya name?”