Your reaction when you first heard Biggie's Hypnotize?

[Big Mark]

Nas was supposed to the the second coming to Rakim, so him doing a commercial record was looked down on. And I'm not saying that was right or fair either lol. After RTD dropped, Big was looked at as a ill rapper that could do street & commercial records, but not compromise himself as an artist. But the backpackers weren't happy with that either

I understand all that but what I hear you saying is that after RTD people weren't calling BIG the King and the GOAT and overlooking Nas? Not true. RTD was an instant classic, I think everyone knows that and some people were comparing it to Illmatic.

If I Rule The World was a dope concept, it utilized a classic beat, it contained street content that street nikkas could get with and not any bragging BS and the video included hustlers, gamblers, and realistic street shyt. It was a double standard. I ain't gone front. Hypnotize gets no play around here.

 

[BantuKnotz99]

I was 7 so I thought it was just another banger for Bad Boy.

Me and my cousins thought Big and Puff were the coolest dudes around

Big facts!!! That shyt had me hype af. It was playing everywhere

 

[Rell84shots]

When I heard the video version I was like
When I heard the album version with the "Uh" opening I was like

 

[SuburbanPimp]

Didn’t love it myself, felt more like puff than Big’s shyt.

 

[Canon]

instant classic

 

[$cam-U-Well_Jack$on]

I've never Iiked it.

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

I thought it was average to trash then and 25 years later I still feel the same way. I don’t give a damn how many times it’s played.

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

Always wondered why Big ain’t get no flack for Hypnotize but Nas got flack for If I Ruled The World. If I Ruled the World was 100X better. Proof that Nas catalog always get fukked over.

Nas didn’t have Clive Davis in his corner to have his record on radio during the day all day. I don’t know about your area, but they weren’t playing too much hip hop on the radio during the day on major stations in my area back then. There were a few songs that were in the rotation ( and they had to be huge) but it’s not like now where they just play trap songs all day every day. If you play a song enough, people will be be brainwashed into thinking it’s hot. shyt, Biggie didn’t even like a lot of the shyt puffy had him rhyming over on the 2nd album but puff and Clive made that mf a star.

 

[jerzboy]

“At last, a nikka rappin' bout blunts and broads
t*ts and bras, ménage à trois, sex in expensive cars
I still leave you on the pavement”

underrated Big lyric..

 

[CHICAGO]

I LIKED THE VIDEO
MORE THAN THE ACTUAL SONG.

shyt WAS EPIC.

​

 

[L. Deezy]

Hook is cheesy ..

Dont care for the song at all. I will acknowledge its classic tho, just not a record I like

 

[Mike Wins]

“At last, a nikka rappin' bout blunts and broads
t*ts and bras, ménage à trois, sex in expensive cars
I still leave you on the pavement”

underrated Big lyric..

"Condo paid for, no car payment
At my arraignment, note for the plaintiff
Your daughter's tied up in the Brooklyn basement
Face it, not guilty
That's how I stay filthy
Richer than Richie
Til you nikkas come and get me"

 

[Awesome Wells]

Nas didn’t have Clive Davis in his corner to have his record on radio during the day all day.

Nas had Tommy Mottola.

Stoute said he was able to get Nas his first multi-million dollar budget for It Was Written. "If I Ruled The World" was playing on the radio all day in NY, and the video was on MTV and BET in what seemed like every 20 mins, lol. So that summer, Nas was all over the place. And Columbia was making a ton of money with him and The Fugees, so they had a lot to spend on videos and making sure those tracks got mad radio play. It was a different time. There was a lot of bread to invest in these artists back then.

 

[28 Gramz]

Never liked it even as a kid, beat is wack and hook is cheesy. Ironically I feel the same way about the original California Love.

 

[Heavy_Handz]

BIG is the GOAT.

My first thought was of course “OH shyt BIG DROPPING NEW shyt!”

I loved the hook since it was a nod to Slick Rick & the beat was crazy back then. It was just something so different that you knew BIG was always ahead of his time & always progressing. The lyrics & flow were top tier as usual. He was just talking his shyt & he was #1 shyt talker just his overall ability to say slick shyt & make it sound fly.

Girls walk to us, wanna do us, screw us
Who us? Yeah, Poppa and Puff (hehe)
Close like Starsky and Hutch, stick the clutch
Dare I squeeze three at your cherry M-3 (take that, take that, take that, haha!)
Bang every MC easily, busily
Recently nikkas frontin' ain't sayin' nothin' (nothin')
So I just speak my piece, keep my piece (come on now)
Cubans with the Jesus piece, with my peeps (thank you God)
Packin', askin', "Who want it?" (who want it?)
You got it nikka flaunt it
That Brooklyn bullshyt, we on it