Notorious BIG at his most chilling, delivering a litany of horror вЂ“ his threats cover everything from raping and murdering children to arson and castration вЂ“ in a disturbingly blase tone, the mood heightened by the trackвЂ™s eerie strings, excerpted from, of all things, a luxuriant 70s cover of Bacharach and DavidвЂ™s Close to You. If you believe the rumours, they sound evenly matched because Biggie had a hand in writing her rhymes. Take your pick from the Sylvia Striplin-sampling original, or the remix based on Dennis EdwardsвЂ™ DonвЂ™t Look Any Further, itвЂ™s all about the sparring between Biggie and LilвЂ™ Kim, who trade different verses on each version. Junior Mafia вЂ“ Get Money (feat the Notorious BIG) (1996) Note the original lyrical twists вЂ“ no howвЂ™s-your-father until Biggie has had his dinner! вЂ“ and period detail: a pre-Auto-Tune, wildly off-key vocal on the hook.

Craig MackвЂ™s debut album was duly eclipsed by the release of Ready to Die a week beforehand.Д«y most accounts, the making of BiggieвЂ™s debut album was a struggle between the rapperвЂ™s street instincts and Sean вЂњPuffyвЂќ CombsвЂ™s commerciality. Craig Mack вЂ“ Flava in Ya Ear (remix feat Notorious BIG, LL Cool J, Rampage & Busta Rhymes) (1994)Д«oth an incredible single and an object lesson in the perils of getting Biggie Smalls to guest on your track despite the stellar company, his verse turns the song into his show. Posthumously, it sounded like a self-penned eulogy, complete with epitaph: вЂњLive the phrase вЂSkyвЂ™s the limitвЂ™вЂќ. One of several tracks that took on a different hue after BiggieвЂ™s death in 1997, aged 24, SkyвЂ™s the Limit was initially Life After DeathвЂ™s equivalent of his breakthrough hit Juicy, an alternately wistful and dark account of his rise. The rapper elects to lie in wait: needless to say, it doesnвЂ™t end well for his would-be assailants. A beautifully concise bit of storytelling, complete with an impressively naturalistic conversational interlude during which Biggie, in character as a friend, informs himself that someone has taken a hit out on him.

Notorious big albums ranked