NOTORIOUS BIG 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: A one-off reissue on Brooklyn's Finest - whose name in turn takes after one of B.I.G.'s many nicknames - Biggie Smalls' 'Sky's The Limit' set out Christopher Wallace's verbal message in piercing tones: go big or go home. The third and final single from B.I.G.'s second album Life After Death, this is the kind of song that obsessive fans might conclude portended his sticky end: not only was it the flagship song from the album, it also contained ominous sound design and sample work, and the music video features children dressed up as and imitating B.I.G., P. Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Faith Evans, and more, in a farcical pantomime of the rap game.

Review: Way before your Wileys, your Eminems and your Drakes there was Notorious BIG aka Christopher Wallace, the original hood rat turned rap god who would do things with words and wordplay that made the mind boggle. He remains one of the gratis to ever do it if you ask us, and all in a relatively short space of time before he was shot by no one quite knows who in an ongoing beef between two warring hip hop labels - Bad Boy and Death Row - on different coasts of the United States. This still seminal album collects Biggie's finest hits and every green classics, packed with iconic samples, mad bars and the juiciest of grooves.

Review: Amerigo's The Big Payback series finds him bring together some fantasy all stars for his "J.B. and The Soul Mates" tribute concept. Here, James Brown's music is reworked, edited and chopped together with the work of hip hop giant Notorious BIG. It results in speaker blasting, floor filling, ass wiggling jams that mash up all the most iconic verses and choruses from each singer with their most recognisable guitar riffs, drum breaks and samples. It's a colourful collage that is as fun as it is funky.