Fourteen years ago today , someone mangle Biggie Smalls . It ’s a sad anniversary , but it ’s a wondrous occasion to face back on the incredible , incredible gift he was . And as we were sifting through our preferent MP3s , it hit us — the man was surrounded by electronics . Below , our favourite of Biggie ’s technical school lyrics :
Juicy
Super Nintendo , Sega Genesis
When I was utter broke , man I could n’t picture this
50 inch screen , money unripe leather sofa
get two ride , a limousine with a chauffeur
The dude undeniably loved videogames . And , almost two decades ago , he love playing them on giant television set , just like us . Also interesting to opine about the fact that many of us have larger TV than one of the most successful rappers of all time . But some things never change ! Except the Genesis part . It seemed he was , however , unprejudiced between cabinet God Almighty :
Get Money
You wanna sip Mo ’ on my living room flo ’
work Nintendo with Cease - a - Lion
plunk up my telephone set say , “ Poppa not home ”
Sex all night , insane promontory in the morning time ’
intelligibly Biggie ’s former eve videogaming sessions yield different consequence than mine , but , hey , an inspiration to us all .
Cali got shootout , model on the rails
Scream Biggie Biggie gimme One More Chance
I be whippin ’ on the freeway , the NYC way
On the celly - celly with my homeboy Lance
Though Biggie lived perilously , drive while on the telephone usually is n’t ranked among mellow brashest exploits . what is more , there were n’t even laws against it back then .
But the electric cell was n’t just for ( RISKILY ) yakking with Lance — it seems like it was kind of a pain in the ass in the backside , really :
Can I Get Witcha
It look about a hundred - and - two
It ’s a Saturday and Biggie ai n’t get nothin’ to do
Uhh , I ’m intrrupted by a phone doughnut
Sometimes I like I never got the motherfuckin ’ thing
I know how you felt , military personnel . It seems like , Lance aside , Biggie kind of hated digital attention . It was a pain then just like it was now . Case in item :
The Best Part about a Smartphone Is Never Having to Call Anyone
Warning
Who the fuck is this ?
Pagin ’ me at 5:46 in the mornin ’ crack a dawnin ’
Now I ’m yawnin ’ , wipe the cold out my eye
See who ’s this pagin ’ me and why …
Turns out he ’s getting paged to monish him of an impending execution attempt , but still . 5:46 am ! That horseshit is inconsiderate !
It ’s funny , also , to think about something as ghostly gone and staggeringly obsolete as the pager — sometimes it ’s only when listening to an sometime song like this that you call back these relic ever existed . But the beeper was ubiquitous — alarmingly , even minor started to be able-bodied to afford them , Biggie point out :
Things Done Changed
And now the shit ’s gettin demented and major
Kids jr. than me , they got the Sky Grand Pagers
I experience the same way when I see a 12 year old with an iPhone . But our forgotten oldtimer were his gadget toys . Another one on the list ? Film photography :
I Got a Story to Tell
Picture that , with a Kodak , Insta - mommy - tak
We do n’t get down like that , lay my game down quite categoric
Sweetness , where you parked at ?
The Kodak Instamatic ! Hugely cheap , wildly popular , and phase out in the 80s — just in prison term for Biggie to be part of a generation let on to low cost item - and - shooting . So it ’s not inquire the dinkey television camera find out their way into his headspring year afterward .
For someone as lyrically obsessed with money — how to get it , what to do with it , and what it does to you — it ’s no surprise that Biggie ’s words are litter with consultation like these . He was live , however briefly , in an age when consumer electronics were booming all-embracing than ever . But , of course , his songs were about a lot more than pagers . So plunk your favourite tonight , take heed to it on a gimmick Christopher Wallace could have never dream of , be glad you ’re awake , and miss the guy .
Illustration by Contributing IllustratorSam Spratt . Become a fan of hisFacebook Artist ’s Pageand follow Sam onTwitter
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