Biggie could never have become as big as Jay is.

[Nemesis]

I think Im one of the few people that thinks that If BIG and Pac were alive they wouldnt be as big.....

reason being when I look at any rapper that at one time had the biggest buzz you can think of, years later they fell off sales wise..... DMX had the streets on lock, Snoop was huge, Ja rule and murder Inc was running shyt,Nelly was doing crazy numbers, who remembers the Buzz when 50 came out....... look at them now

The only exception to the rule has been Eminem (and we all know why)

I dont think even when Jays buzz has been at his greatest its been as big as any of the above cats, even in recent years wayne and Drake have had more hype,

I think the main reason why Jay is still doing well is he seems to have a decent sized loyal fanbase, and thats because apart from a few tweaks here and there hes doing the same thing hes done throughout his career, the same as Nas.... you more or less know what you are going to get with those two.....

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

I was just listening to "Who Shot Ya" and I was thinking this is a track that only biggie could make. This shyt is just grimey, and as much as biggie was able to make them straight crossover tracks, he was still extrememly street and extremely dark. And I started thinking about how Jay took up biggies spot after he passed. Realisitcally, biggie wouldn't have been able to make the transition to the boardroom the way Jay has. Jay was always kinda street, but his music was never dark, it was always flossy to a degree. I dont think biggie would ever have been quite as accepted in the mainstream outside of hip-hop. Dont even know if I really even have a point, just thinking out loud

edit - meant to post this in The Booth

the issue with this post is biggie was already doing all this... he had a clothing line.. not shirts with his name on them. brooklyn mint. a real clothing line that could stand apart from name recognition. he already had a label. undertainment with cam'ron as his lead artist and i think charlie baltimore at that point. he was already doing ads and commercials and was on martin not as a cameo, but the focal point of the whole episode. he had puff to learn from and basically puff would have forced the ideas on him

so everything you saying he wouldn't do, he was already starting to do. then would still say shyt like "your daughter tied up in the brooklyn basement" while cheesing on a boat in a million dollar video. he WAS jay-z. the hustler who never lost his street cred but could easily drop a platinum record in no time. you think he'd be doing all that, then jay would drop reasonable doubt and somehow take over that lane??

there's only room for so much types of rappers. and they both from the same borough. both on songs together. shyt jay was apart of the commission. in other words, jay was in BIG's group. so when you a producer, who you taking your hottest beat to first?? the platinum nikka on tv or this other guy who's kinda nice but we don't really know. jay would have as much a time trying to take over big's spot as all these rappers have trying to take over jay's

 

[Ninjaz In Paris]

Biggies biggest album sold 5 million, Jay-z's biggest sold 5 million 1 year later.
So they were both big, both legends and could both reach far as fukk. Big didn't even get the time to smarten up, no one knows what he would be doing @ 40.


Time has proved that? 3 stacks peak period in hiphop was between 94 and 2003. The love below was hailed, loved and huge as fukk. Every damn single was a hit. We can't compare their fame as solo artists cause Andre has never been a solo artist and he's never gone after young fans (who are the people that make noise). Like how could one know that Sade would do 500k first week in 2010 without any successful singles?

Andre is definitely on their level, but he's not and hasn't been competing in the same league. He's not chasing twitter followers or rapradar comments, that's how nikkas notice buzz these days.

Andre3k is, never has & never will be as marketable as Kanye West... not possible... his personality by itself isn't in the same league as Kanye's & the reason Andre3k has never put out a Solo Album is because when he get would drop a Solo Single it wouldn't get the same response as an Outkast single because people don't care about him like that...

Don't let being a fan cloud your judgement about an artist's perception... I'm an Andre3k fan to the fullest but dude's life is just not as interesting as Kanye's... Kanye has mastered the art of being famous without needing music as a crutch... people really don't understand that aspect which is why Ross has never & will never be as big as someone like 50, Jay or Kanye...

The average fan loves Outkast, not Andre3k by himself...

 

[ManBearPig]

lol @ this thread

 

[feelosofer]

so we gon act like BEY didnt open up ALL THESE LANES for HOV

your going to tell me that he would be just as big and would have crossed over as well without his beyonce conncetion?

He was already a crossover artist well before connecting with Bey, you could argue that he has really crossed over since the Blueprint and the beef between Nas and Jay.

 

[Big Mel]

Jay has never been as big as BIG was with life after death.

 

[up in here]

Jay has never been as big as BIG was with life after death.

we all know dead rappers get better promotion

 

[Big Mel]

Oh.

 

[FukyourFort]

ya'll dont think jay would be rappin different if he had competition like biggie?

 

[Canada Goose]

I wonder if Biggie's physical appearance would have held him back.

For Biggie to become as big as Jay is today White People would have to fukk with Biggie as well, Whites is notorious for not fukking with people because they not good looking.

Jay Z is more marketable just because how he looks, lighter skin tone and thinner, its sad but true.

 

[Bolzmark]

Kind of a pointless topic. The hardest thing to do in music is achieve longevity. Of course there is no questioning BIG's talent but we only got two albums from him. So trying to predict if he would have survived 15+ years at the top of the game like Jay has is impossible to do.

One of BIG's greatest assets early in his career would likely have become one of his biggest liabilities, that being Puffy. I GUARANTEE you, had BIG not died, there would have been beef with Puffy over $$$ and control of his career. Especially since he and Jay were so close, and he would have seen him in control of his own career and gettin more paper.

 

[FreshAIG]

Comments like this are crazy. Jay would have def surpassed Big. From a marketing standpoint, Jay has a lot more appeal to ALL crowds. Big would have def been in Hip Hop, but imagine Big doing a song with Chris Martin?

Biggie has songs with Michael Jackson

 

[Big Mel]

I wonder if Biggie's physical appearance would have held him back.

For Biggie to become as big as Jay is today White People would have to fukk with Biggie as well, Whites is notorious for not fukking with people because they not good looking.

Jay Z is more marketable just because how he looks, lighter skin tone and thinner, its sad but true.

Jay Z is ugly as fukk. BIG was more fat lovable in appearance. Jay is just peculiar looking. Sometimes I wince if Jay makes certain faces.

bytches all loved when BIG was smiling in the hypnotize video.

 

[Rapmastermind]

From '94-'97

dropped Ready To Die, discovers and releases J.U.N.I.O.R. Mafia, releases Lil' Kim's debut, drops Life After Death and contributes heavily to Puff's No Way Out.

^^^ All of this was in a span of about three years. He also had plans of starting a clothing company in Brooklyn Mint. He was going to retire by 2000 with a triple disc album. Wasn't he one of the heads of Undeas with Un which released the JM project and Kim's first album. There was also plans for The Commission. One could argue that Jay basically used Big's blueprint to get where he is. It's likely that Biggie would've been bigger than Jay.

Yep, doing a song with MJ is a major accomplishment and privilege for any musician, gotta give Biggie major props for hopping on a track with MJ.

Michael Jackson and Biggie Smalls - This Time Around (HIStory) - YouTube

It would have nice if MJ did a song with Pac as well. Considering all the drama going though their lifes at the time, such a collab would have been dope.

These two post sums it up. From 94-97:

Ready To Die
Conspiracy (Executive Producer, Producer, Writer)
Hard Core (Executive Producer, Producer, Writer)
Life After Death (Double LP)
No Way Out (Executive Producer, Writer)


Biggie would be BIGGER than Jay is now. He was already executive producing after his debut album. "Conspiracy" went Gold the singles "Get Money" went Platinum and "Playa's Anthem" went Gold. Lil Kim debut went Multi-Platinum and "No Time" went Gold and "Not Tonight" went platinum. So Biggie was breaking artist while Jay was barely going Gold. Lil Kim sold more records than Beans and Bleek so Big artist were more successful. Cease career would of been bigger had Big not died. His clothing line "Brooklyn Mint" would of dropped before Rocawear and Sean John. He had a side label with Lance Un Rivera called "Undeas" which he was a partner in so he didn't even need Bad Boy long term, he could release his own projects on his side label. He had marketing deals with St. Ides and Pepsi. He lost his pepsi deal cause of an assault case but he still did the commercial which he ripped a freestyle about pepsi:



Also dudes talking about "Jay working with Chris Martin". SMH, Biggie as someone posted did tracks with Michael Jackson when he wasn't even in the game but a few years and he got MJ's attention. Jay was apart of "The Commission" LP which was headed by Big. The fact is if Biggie lived, Jay would of still been hot but there would only be one King and it was Big. Big also crossed over long before Jay Z did so White America already liked him even though he went hard in his bars.

The fact is Biggie laid out the golden yellow brick road for Jay to walk his 11 #1 albums, 500 Million on. Jay did not have huge success until Biggie stopped breathing. Also for people bringing up "Well Jay sold 5 Million with Hard knock life" A lot of those millions were from Biggie's fans who drifted over to Jay after Big heavily co-signed him before his death. Big was in Jay's 1 two major videos for "Dead Presidents" and "Ain't no nikka" he also made an appearance on his debut album. Jay owes a lot of his career and success to Big. No to mention Jay can not stop peeking in Biggie's book of rhymes, it's like he carry's it with him everywhere he goes.

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

Comments like this are crazy. Jay would have def surpassed Big. From a marketing standpoint, Jay has a lot more appeal to ALL crowds. Big would have def been in Hip Hop, but imagine Big doing a song with Chris Martin?

How old are ya'll nikkas? Do you understand big's 1st album run?