There may not be another rapper who paraphrases or outright quotes Notorious B.I.G. as much as Jay Z. According to Hova, he’s “only bigging up my brother,” while his detractors accuse him of thievery.
photo: WENN
Whatever your stance is on the matter, you can’t deny how many of Biggie’s phrases appear in Hov’s songs. Hit the jump for 10 times Jay Z recycled Biggie’s lines, and decide who used them better.
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Photo: WENN
“The World Is Filled”
Anyone who remembers Jay’s 2000 single, “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” should remember him borrowing B.I.G.’s first handful of bars from “The World Is Filled.” Biggie said, “When the Remy’s in the system, ain’t no tellin’,” and Jay gave a slightly modified version. If this single dropped today, we’d probably be hearing about D’usse instead of Remy Martin.
“Kick In The Door”
A year later, Jay scoffed at the competition by barking, “Y’all reign on top was shorter than leprechauns.” It was a slight modification on the late Christopher Wallace’s original line. On “Kick In The Door,” B.I.G. spat, “Your reign on top was short like leprechauns / As I kill so-called willies, thugs, and rapper dons.”
“Victory”
The infamous flip on the name “Mike” may have been one of Notorious B.I.G.’s best lines. It was so good, Jay flipped it for he and Kanye West’s “Ni**as In Paris.” While B.I.G. said, “I perform like Mike / Anyone, Tyson, Jordan, Jackson / Action, pack guns, ridiculous,” Jay co-opted it into, “Psycho / I’m liable to go Michael, take your pick / Jackson, Tyson, Jordan, Game 6.”
“Big Poppa”
It’s hard to top B.I.G.’s ladies anthems, so Jay Z did the next best thing by incorporating one of them into one of his own. On “Big Poppa,” Biggie implored the knuckleheads not to shoot up the place, ‘cause he saw some ladies that should be having his baby. And with the Neptunes-produced “Excuse Me Miss,” Jay wasn’t trying to procreate, but he did borrow a cadence that B.I.G. gave birth to when he said, “‘Cause I see some ladies tonight that should be rollin’ with Jay-Z…Jay-Z.”
“Hypnotize”
Does Notorious B.I.G.’s line from “Hypnotize” qualify for the “You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song” treatment? B.I.G. rapped, “Squeeze first ask questions last / That’s how most of these so-called gangsters pass.” Jay turned the line into half of the chorus for a song named “Squeeze 1st.”
“Who Shot Ya”
It turns out, there are two B.I.G. references on “Squeeze 1st.” Aside from the obvious hook, Jay took some liberties with a line from “Who Shot Ya?” Biggie gave listeners the 11th commandment, and Jay etched a very similar version of that commandment on his own tablet by rhyming, “Thou shalt not f–k with raw me, or he / Face a thousand deaths from Mr. Shawn Corey.”
“Unbelievable”
Much like B.I.G., Jay Z and DJ Premier had some great collaborative moments. So it was only right Jay pay homage to a great Premier-produced Biggie song. B.I.G. told foes, “Get ready to die, tell God I said hi / And throw down some ice for the nicest MC.” On “Friend Or Foe 98,” Jay passed the ice cubes right back up, rhyming, “Take that ice up, for the nicest MC / And please yo, tell BIG, he’s unbelievable.” Of course, anyone who listened to Ready To Die knows B.I.G. didn’t want to be in heaven with the goodie-goodies.
“One More Chance”
In true player fashion, Biggie had his imports on coordinated schedules lest a sidepiece catch him slipping. “Isn’t this great, my flight leaves at eight / Her flight lands at nine, my game just rewinds,” he rhetorically asked while proclaiming himself the “playa president.” While feeling awfully pimpish himself, Jay used the exact same line on “Girls, Girls, Girls, Pt.2.” to end his second verse.
“Real N—s”
There’s not a lot to decipher on Jay Z’s 1997 Too $hort collaboration “Real N—-z.” With a slightly different spelling, it’s a flip of Notorious B.I.G.’s song of the same name with a nearly identical hook that has been copied multiple times: “On the road to riches and diamond rings / Real n—-s do real things.”
“Friend Of Mine”
One of the album cuts from Biggie’s debut is the underrated “Friend Of Mine” where he spits, “Thug ni**a ’til the end, tell a friend b*tch’/Cause when I like you, then you go and f*ck my friend b*tch.” Jay parlayed the line on his DJ Premier produced “So Ghetto.” His version: Thug ni**a ’til the end, tell a friend b*tch/Won’t change for no paper plus I been rich.”
“Be Happy”
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Don’t pretend like R. Kelly and Notorious B.I.G. didn’t give us one of the greatest Rap/R&B collaborations ever. Kelly was in the midst of some (allegedly) self-induced legal drama, so he and Jay eventually fell out, but not before paying homage to a B.I.G. line. Jay and Kellz flipped an ice-cold phrase from “Be Happy” on their own “Break Up To Make Up,” with ‘Hov throwing in a Roc-approved product placement with, “Think about it while the streets you roam / It’s Dom P and Army in the fridge when you get home.” Did anyone ever really drink Armadale vodka?
