Categories : Music Reviews, Rap + Hip-Hop.
 |
Rating: 3/5 Released: March 6, 2007 Reviewer: Trent Depue |
Marking the tenth anniversary of the violent shooting death of his close friend and collaborator, Bad Boy Records front man Diddy expectedly took the drivers seat in producing The Notorious B.I.G.’s Greatest Hits. A seventeen track collection spanning the entirety of Biggie’s short career, this album looks to further immortalize the man by showcasing the best of his best.
As is the case with any greatest hits compilation, the success, or at least the critical success, all comes down to the selection of tracks that populate the record. There are always three sides to this, the songs that didn’t make it that you thought should have, those that did make it and you think shouldn’t have and finally, those that you thought would make it but are secretly glad didn’t, in this case, ‘Mo Money, Mo Problems.’
Greatest Hits is most heavily centered on Ready to Die, with each of the subsequent posthumous releases receiving less and less attention. Such classics as ‘Juicy’ and ‘Big Poppa’ rightfully take their places amongst the elite while tracks like ‘Ten Crack Commandments’ seem out of place with a plethora of tracks off Life After Death that seem to be better candidates. Perhaps with one of his more sentimental tracks such as ‘Sky’s the Limit’ and ‘Miss U,’ or with the blood pumping peace offering to the west coast, ‘Going Back to Cali’ being in highest contention.
As a whole, Greatest Hits never seems to take off, and rather than having the tracks work together to amplify Biggie’s accomplishments, they at times seem to fight each other, accomplishing the opposite and detracting from the cause. With universally essential tracks routinely followed up by additions that may be more prone to personal taste it will be difficult to win widespread acclaim. A result, not likely of bad planning, but rather that The Notorious B.I.G. simply has too many great songs to draw from in order to make a greatest hits compilation that pleases everyone.
Buy Greatest Hits from iTunes >> 
