What to say about this… two of East Coast Hip Hop’s best, as the name implies, together on a beat like this.
They actually went to the same school together. It seems their area of Brooklyn was densely populated with rap legends!
When this was released, Jay Z wasn’t the titan he is today. But it’s work like this which laid the foundations for him to become one of Hip Hop’s biggest stars. And, sadly, that many of his high contemporaries were murdered.
Biggie Smalls and Jay Z have laid back flows, and for that style of gritty gangsta rap, have few equals.
The song was released in 1996 on Jay Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt.