Ten years ago, along with his co-d P. Diddy, Biggie Smalls made history. He proved that an MC could make commercial bangers without sacrificing an ounce of street credibility. In his memory, we've gathered up the players to recollect on his star-making jump-off.

 

1 "Intro"
Produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs

Easy Mo Bee: The whole story line for the album--starting in the beginning when you hear the robbery happening on the train and "Rapper's Delight" in the background and everything--that was Puff's concept: to create a story line for the album. He just gave me a list of records that he wanted and I brought them back to him. He said he wanted "Rapper's Delight," Audio Two's "Top Billin'," "Superfly." We had "Got To Give It Up" by Marvin Gaye, [but it got changed] probably for sampling reasons. Songs that explain their era.

"Prince" Charles Alexander: First of all, I'm the father on the intro. There are all these voices on the intro. That "Wilona, what the fuck you doing? You can't control that goddamn boy!" That was me. And the guy at the end, the guard that lets them out of jail and says, "You'll be back," that's me also. And the reason that they used me is because three guys had gone in and tried, I forgot who. I was there, Puffy was there, Biggie was there. I was engineering and a couple of guys who were just hanging around went in and tried to do that part. And they're like very stiff-sounding: "God damn it, Wilona." And I'm like, "Yo Puff, I am an angry Black man. You should let me try that." I went in there and I screamed. I mean, Goddammit, Wilona! What the fuck you doing?! I was way, way up in it. They fucking rolled. They loved it. They kept it. That was one of the things that kind of helped me to bond with the whole project. 'Cause I'm about 10 years older than Puffy, so I was really professional. I had a really professional vibe. So when I went in and did that, that really broke a whole lot of ice.

  2 "Things Done Changed"
Produced by Dominic Owens and Kevin Scott

Lil' Cease: That was one that was most played in the car. Big loved that song. There was no particluar story behind it. It was more of a song that had a concept behind it rather than a story itself. Biggie made it to represent Brooklyn. To show how he grew up, how we grew up. He wanted to show what he was accustomed to and the lifestyle he was used to. It was one of the very first ones made. Whenever you make a track of that nature, with lyrics so real, it stands out.

  3 "Gimme The Loot"
Produced by Easy Mo Bee

Easy Mo Bee: When he did "Gimme The Loot" I was like, Whoa--dude's got problems! People who wanna battle him, go up against him? Nobody's gonna wanna battle this cat. If you heard everything he said in his lyrics, you won't live. I remember very clearly that that song was done during the daytime. It was still light outside. Junior M.A.F.I.A. was there. I ain't never really worked with nobody that really spit that hard before. So when I was in the studio, I was like, "Yo, man you sure you ain't sayin' too much?" And I remember Cease and Chico sittin' back and sayin', "Yo, Mo, just chill! You sensitive!" I was like, "I just wanna make sure we get sold. I don't want no records getting snatched off the shelves." That's my whole thing. I guess that was their [definition] of being "sensitive."

Maybe Puff didn't necessarily respond to me at the time when I came to him and presented [my concerns] to him, but I remember telling him, "Yo, the shit about being pregnant, and the 'Number One Mom' pendant? Yo, be careful with that. Because you could have all kinds of Christian rights and women's rights organizations trying to pull your stuff down off the shelves and all that." At the time, Puffy kind of brushed it off. And I just walked away in my mind like, all right. But I guess later it made sense to him--even without him coming back to me. 'Cause [that lyric] got blurred out. So it worked out the way it was supposed to.

[As far as Big rhyming the two different characters' voices], he went in the booth and then it just kind of happened. He just started doing it. He would do one voice, then come behind and do the other one later--just like, leave a gap so he could come back and fill the spaces. I was like, Yo, that's creative! And he really had cats fooled. Even just last year, I was around somebody who was playing that, and still after all this time he was like, "Yo, who was that--that was Puff?" I was like, "Man, y'all really can't hear that? That's him! He did two voices." That just shows you how good he was.

Mister Cee: I clearly remember "Gimme The Loot," because I did the scratches on it. Remembering that is like yesterday. I used Kid Hood's verse from A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario (Remix)." And how I did the turntables and made the word "Bad, bad, bad" from turning the knob off on the turntable from pressing the stop button. Each time that I brought the record back, it's a different effect to where you turn the knob off on the turntable to where you stop the turntable. You get a different effect on the record. So when you bring it regularly it's like, "Bad." Turn the knob off, "Baaad"--slower. Press the button, "Baaaad"--slowest.

  4 "Machine Gun Funk"
Produced by Easy Mo Bee

Easy Mo Bee: Biggie picked that beat in my car. I had this green Acura, and we used to ride around Brooklyn. Like Fulton St. and St. James where he lived. I'd pick him up off the stoop where he lived. It'd be me, him, D.Roc, Lil' Cease, Chico--as many as we could--ridin' around in the car. We'd just ride around and just blaze and listen to beats. And that's how he picked a lot of the beats. But the actual session for "Machine Gun Funk"... It's vague to me, to be honest. Let's put it like this: There was some hazy years. I'm a changed man now.

Chucky Thompson: Big was crazy. He was just in there with some socks on and some boxer drawers--'cause it was really hot--doing his rhymes. That's when he was actually writing stuff down. He didn't take long at all. It was like he knew what he wanted to say. He'd be in there chilling, smoking or whatever and then he'd write two words, and then he'd go back to chilling and write two more words, and then he'd go in the booth.

  5 "Warning"
Produced by Easy Mo Bee

Easy Mo Bee: The significant thing about "Warning" is--and I'm definitely not trying to diss him, he put me on the map, he's the first I ever worked with, so total respect to him--but that beat was offered first to Big Daddy Kane. I remember him sittin' in my crib, and I was playing him beats. I forget the album at the time that he was doing. And you know Kane was always into the Barry White, Isaac Hayes thing. So I did this joint off of Isaac Hayes, and I'm just feelin' it. I'm feelin' myself. I just know he gonna love this. This is the vibe. But he was like, "Play the next beat." I was like, "Yo, hold up, man. You sure you don't want that? That's Isaac Hayes!" He said, "You heard what I said, play the next beat."

So I just kept the beat and held onto it. A few months later when it was time to play Big beats, I played it for him. Aw man, Puffy went crazy! He went crazy, like, "Yo man, this is it!"