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Duets: The Final Chapter (2005)

Where the lyrics of Duets: The Final Chapter take you, and where it was really made.

A posthumous album sold as a set of duets, yet one Rolling Stone critic said its title was inaccurate because the guest artists often overshadowed Biggie.

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Album story

Overview

• Duets: The Final Chapter, sometimes referred to as The Biggie Duets
• Second posthumous album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G.
• Released by Bad Boy Records and Atlantic Records; UK date December 19, 2005, US date December 20
• Album built around duets between Biggie and guest artists
• Certified platinum by the RIAA, the second of his posthumous albums to receive that certification

Background

• Guest artists share the album with Biggie
• Several tracks contain excerpts from earlier Biggie songs, according to the sample credits
• Lead single "Nasty Girl" was released on October 11, 2005, featuring P. Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge, and Avery Storm
• "Nasty Girl" contains excerpts from "Nasty Boy" by Biggie
• "Hold Ya Head" also draws on older material, including a Bob Marley and the Wailers song

Recording

• Credits list co-producers and additional producers for individual tracks
• Track samples are drawn from songs by Biggie, Puff Daddy, Lil' Kim, and other artists

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), known as the Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was an American rapper and songwriter from Brooklyn, New York City.
• He was raised by his mother, Voletta Wallace, after his father left the family when he was about three.
• He first gained attention through a 1991 demo tape, which was featured in The Source magazine's "Unsigned Hype" section in 1992.
• In 1993 he became the first artist signed to Sean Combs's Bad Boy Records, which Combs founded after leaving Uptown Records.

Career

• Rooted in East Coast hip-hop and gangsta rap, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time.
• His debut album Ready to Die (1994) brought East Coast hip-hop back to prominence and produced the singles "Juicy", "Big Poppa", and "One More Chance".
• In 1995 he was named Rap Artist of the Year at the Billboard Awards and released Conspiracy with his group Junior M.A.F.I.A.
• He was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997, at age 24, six months after Tupac Shakur's murder.
• His posthumous album Life After Death (1997) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and produced the Hot 100 number-one singles "Hypnotize" and "Mo Money Mo Problems".
• Later posthumous albums include Born Again (1999), Duets: The Final Chapter (2005), and The King & I with Faith Evans (2017).
• He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critical reception was mixed
• Peter Relic of Rolling Stone said the title was inaccurate because the guest artists often overshadowed Biggie, adding that the appearances lacked substance
• Andy Kellman of AllMusic rated the album 2.5 out of 5
• Soren Baker of the Los Angeles Times gave it two stars out of four
• Steve Jones of USA Today gave it a perfect four-star rating
• Method Man was a vocal critic of the album
• Method Man noted that he was the only guest rapper Biggie intentionally chose for his debut album, Ready to Die

Records

• Debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, selling 438,000 copies in its first week
• Debut trailed Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough and Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable
• Reached No. 13 in the UK
• Lead single "Nasty Girl" reached No. 1 in the UK and stayed there for two weeks, Biggie's first UK number-one single
• "Nasty Girl" peaked at No. 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100
• Certified platinum by the RIAA, his second posthumous album with that certification

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Method Man, a guest on the album, was a vocal critic of it and said Biggie chose him as the only guest rapper for Ready to Die
• "Hold Ya Head" draws on "Johnny Was" by Bob Marley and the Wailers, written by Rita Marley
• "It Has Been Said" and "Spit Your Game" also contain excerpts from earlier Biggie and Puff Daddy songs
• "Mi Casa" contains excerpts from "Friend of Mine" by The Notorious B.I.G.
• The album's first single, "Nasty Girl", was the group's first UK number-one for Biggie as a solo artist
• The album is also called The Biggie Duets

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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