When I started high school in 1997, my sister received this album as a birthday gift by accident from my mother. My mother didn’t realize that “Mo Money Mo Problems” was actually on The Notorious B.IG.’s album Life After Death, which was released earlier that same year. Therefore, this hit machine was kindly discarded onto the back of Gina’s C.D. holder, where The Rugrats Soundtrack and Jock Jams took precedence.
I gladly took advantage of this scenario. Being a newly minted freshman who sat by the radio listening to FunkMaster Flex every single night, I played this ad nauseum and enjoyed every single song…and still do. This is one of the albums that epitomizes urban New York to me. It’s the first of it’s kind to make the true crossover from hip-hop to pop seamlessly. “I’ll Be Missing You” is a classic example of this and history is proof; it stayed #1 on the Billboard charts for 11 consecutive weeks. “Been Around the World” is most likely my personal favorite because of the Bowie sampling but “Senorita” is also a contender because of it’s melodic R&B touch.
A true classic, now that it’s 15 years old (!), perhaps my mom was on to something.
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