Now here's a real slice of East Coast hip-hop history, packaged for those Londonites who - even as far back as the early to mid 90s - felt the genre's magnanimous influence deeply, despite the transatlantic journey required of its promotion outside the USA. Existing only so far perhaps on bootlegged white label vinyl marked "Import" in big block lettering, this mythical live recording of The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1995 performance at the Hammersmith Palais in London (as part of Tim Westwood's 1FM Rap Show Launch Party) otherwise floats the interwebs either in casual YouTube video or cassette rip format. Clocking in at just over 50 minutes, Big Poppa's tragic ghost sounds to haunt the record, masterfully moving through his most hard-boiled, ironed songs in quick sixteen-track succession, chopping and changing between them through the adeptest of DJ scratchups; the hypiest, airhorn-blariest transitions. All Biggie's greatest hits feature (he'd released most of his chart-toppers by 1995; this recording was made two years before he died) and the heavy douse of reverb, supplied by the venue, lends an extra historic gravitas to Smalls' not-so-small voice. The acapella at the end is an especially grave, hushed moment; it's as if the lack of instrumental backing portends the many moments of silence that would follow two years later.
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