“Big Poppa” by the Notorious B.I.G.

An ultra-smooth seductor.

Hello! 😊👋

Welcome to a new edition of the Best Music of All Time newsletter!

Today’s music pick continues my celebration of Biggie Smalls’s Ready to Die turning 30 this week.

Genre: Hip-Hop, Gangsta Rap

Label: Bad Boy

Release Date: December 24, 1994

Vibe: 👑

In my essay on Ready to Die, the Notorious B.I.G.’s full-length studio debut that catapulted him to instant hip-hop superstardom, I spoke a lot about how gritty truth-telling was at the heart of his crossover appeal. However, “Big Poppa” illustrates another equally compelling side to Biggie’s rap persona—a smooth-talking, uber-confident ladies’ man.

To achieve that aesthetic, this track has more in common with the G-funk megahits of the era than it does with Bad Boy’s purposely East Coast-leaning sound. From the delectable Isley Brothers sample to a flow that producer Chucky Thompson said reminded him of Ice Cube, “Poppa” reinforced Biggie’s stature atop rap’s mid-90s hierarchy while also standing apart from much of his best-known work stylistically. I hesitate to call it an anomaly in his discography, but it’s not 100% in step with the rest of Ready to Die.

“Knowing Biggie as a person, he’s bigger than New York. He’s a real universal artist,” Thompson explained to XXL. “[I] was like, ‘Let me see if I can put him on a bigger page.’ And that’s why I came with that little West Coast line. I just kind of took him out of the New York vibe and took him a little bit more out West, and he carried it […] Big just knew the culture, he knew what was going on with hip-hop. It was more than just New York, it was all over.”

Predictably, “Big Poppa” took the pop charts by storm, becoming Biggie’s first Top 10 hit on the Hot 100. What’s more impressive is how pervasive a pop culture artifact it’s been in the years since, with everyone from Will Ferrell to Taco Bell interpolating its greatness with varying degrees of success. The latter may honestly be one of the whitest commercials ever committed to tape, though I’m saying that without having done all the required research.

Anyway, all hail rap’s legitimate GOAT.

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