4 STORIES
1994 · 90S
CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, USA
The most famous rags-to-riches record in rap is not really a boast about money — it is a thank-you note, addressed first to the people who s…
1994 · 90S
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, USA
"Juicy" sounds like a victory lap, but it is really a letter written backwards in time: a 21-year-old from Brooklyn telling his broke, hungr…
1995 · 90S
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, USA
The smoothest, most charming song on one of rap's darkest albums is also its biggest lie of omission — a 22-year-old former crack dealer fro…
1997 · 90S
"Hypnotize" sounds like a carefree victory lap of champagne, speedboats and swagger, but it became a ghostly farewell: Biggie was murdered d…