People know it b y heart because BIGs verse was a lot slower and simplistic compared to Bones verses. I know word 4 word all the verses on notorius thugs, including bones.
People who try 2 shyt on bones style and say that they can't understand them, essentially expose their ability to adequatley listen. It goes way over their heads, while bone fans have a sharp ear to decipher what they are saying. I have never met anyone in real life off of the net that thought that BIG was the best on that track. Everyone I have ever came across collectivelu agreed that Bone rapped circles around BIG. And kep in mind, I'm a BIG fan
Dude im 33 and I bought life after death for $5 from my friends who stole like 10 copies that day when it was released..
How long have I been listening to hip hop...since rappers delight, the message, run DMC etc..why?
My people still paid attention to who had the better verse. But you're right that people started exaggerating about this one killed the other one post ether. I can tell you that at some point in 1997 I just started fast forwarding to the next song after Bigs verse. Mel has said he did the same thing. I know some of my people did it to. I think if you have trouble hearing everything Bone says (like I always have) it's hard to really rock with them.
I work early mornings but what the hell are y'all doing up at this time?