David Bowie Meets The Notorious B.I.G. in This Mashup
No one will dispute that The Notorious B.I.G., the legendary Brooklyn rapper who was murdered at the age of 24 in Los Angeles, was taken before his time. What's staggering is that when David Bowie, the revered English artist, passed away this month two days after his 69th birthday, it felt as though he was cut down in yet another of his creative primes. Now for what is believed to be the first time, you can hear them together courtesy of DJ Terry Urban's mashup, "Biggie Stardust."
The song, which Urban uploaded to his Soundcloud page earlier this week, pairs Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" (from 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars) and the posthumous Big cut "Dead Wrong." The track ends with a moving excerpt from a Bowie interview, in which he cites "life" as his greatest form of worship.
Urban has previously used Big's vocals in the service of mashups, last year pairing them with the music of FKA Twigs. Urban cites the Bad Boy rappers as one of his biggest artistic influences.
The week since Bowie's passing has brought with it plenty of reflection about what he meant for music in the 20th and 21st centuries. Many have rightly pointed out that he took MTV to task for the dearth of Black artists on their airwaves. The chameleonic singer has not only been deeply influential within hip-hop, but was an admirer of many of its stars.
See New Music Releases for January 2016