Various

Notorious

BY Kevin JonesPublished Feb 17, 2009

One of the few points of solace for anyone with reservations at the thought of a Biggie bio-pic is that, no matter how bad the film turned out, it would take a special kind of otherworldly ineptitude to fail with the soundtrack. As it stands, this collection of tunes "from and inspired by" the film earns a passing grade for covering the important basses with its serviceable mix of grand hits, lesser known career landmarks and raw demos, but there's still the sense that so much more could have been done. Serious points of reference come by way of tracks like "Party and Bulls**t," "What's Beef" and even the revelatory Bone Thugs collaboration "Notorious Thugs." However, you'd have to think that two versions of "One More Chance" (the latter a forgivable inclusion featuring Christopher Wallace, Jr.), a cut from Jadakiss and the unnecessary Jay-Z/Santogold track "Brooklyn Go Hard" could surely have been swapped for a few more savoury B.I.G. masterpieces.
(Bad Boy)

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