Big Poppa ; The Notorious B.I.G. ; Ready To Die, 1994
Big Poppa is a song by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. It was released as the second single from his first studio album Ready to Die. It features a sample of the song, Between the Sheets written by The Isley Brothers. Big Poppa was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards. It also went on to win at the Billboard Music Awards.
The single was certified platinum by the RIAA and sold over 1,000,000 copies domestically.
There was an official remix released in 1995 featuring Jermaine Dupri, called Big Poppa (So So Def Remix) which has similar lyrics, with Dupri replacing Puff Daddy, and Biggie providing a new third verse. This remix appeared as a single.
This song and its intoxicating beat is ingrained in the story of my youth, present at every stage: driving around in a friend's run-down Chevy Nova, which couldn't make left turns, during high school to rowdy, fraternity college toga and Halloween parties to more casual, calmer house parties in my late twenties and early thirties. Mr. Keanu Reeves even saw the song's allure and timelessness when it was featured in his campy, heartfelt, urban attempt at a Mighty Duck-esque storyline, Hardball 2001. I sometimes wonder how many more classics would have emerged from Biggie Smalls if his career hadn't been shortened so abrubtly, because even though his catalogue of work is short, he is still considered on of the greatest rappers of all time.
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