4. Is It His Charm?: In a time when the music industry's archaic model was still successful, he went double platinum (2 million albums) on Ready to Die and diamond (10 million albums) on Life After Death. People can say what they want, but selling records is a largely important factor in a rap artist's career. It's not the end-all-be-all. After all, we know plenty of hip-hop artists who sold tons of records and weren't half as lyrical as Biggie. Yet, how many MCs had such universal appeal that they were respected everywhere from the clubs and the office to the hood and the bodega? Again, very few.
5. Life Before Death: Today, I probably heard the most lop-sided argument you'll ever hear about a deceased artist, and that's that Biggie's death only enhanced his status amongst the hip-hop community. I contend that, while many mourn his passing as a human being and as someone who touched the lives of so many young men and women to this day, people who think more objectively about Biggie's contributions to the hip-hop community realize that, regardless of whether or not he was still alive, his work is just undeniable, even without Born Again and the rest of the posthumous collages. To use the death argument as a way of downgrading his potency is also to discount that his star was, for sure, on the rise at that point. People heavily anticipated his effort before the March 9 tragedy, and that's where these blasphemers get it wrong.
While I've said that Biggie doesn't deserve my top spot (that spot belongs to Rakim), I just can't see how anyone omits Biggie. At all. His delivery was impeccable and the stories you hear about him in the booth, like how he never wrote his lyrics or how producers would have to change their beat to fit his flow and not the other way around, also add points to an MC who's had everything but a Grammy as far as accolades go.
He's your favorite MC's favorite MC, and it's no wonder why. He's not the greatest, but if he's not in your top five, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself. Please.
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