JAY Z レコード& CD

Review: A one-off reissue on Brooklyn's Finest - whose name in turn takes after one of B.I.G.'s many nicknames - Biggie Smalls' 'Sky's The Limit' set out Christopher Wallace's verbal message in piercing tones: go big or go home. The third and final single from B.I.G.'s second album Life After Death, this is the kind of song that obsessive fans might conclude portended his sticky end: not only was it the flagship song from the album, it also contained ominous sound design and sample work, and the music video features children dressed up as and imitating B.I.G., P. Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Faith Evans, and more, in a farcical pantomime of the rap game.

Review: Hip Hop Classics delivers two back-to-back partystarters produced by the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) at the height of their dyadic powers. Emblematic of the pair's sparse, crisp hitmaking sound - a formula that would do well to score them many a hit from the late 1990s and into the 2000s - we're first met with 'Frontin', an ultra-crisp flirtation in sound that not only established Williams' personal gravitas, but also laid down his snowballing association with Jay Z; and the latter's 'La La La' on the B, a lesser-known gangsta cut by the hova on which a phat Reese takes centre stage.