A crazy crab, your mic make my d!@% itch!

Cheers to R. for bringing the music video into our discussion. I can't say without strong bias that this video is better than Kelly Clarkson's, or all the Oscar nominees, or if it even qualifies as a "music video" in MTV terms (who gives a hoot though), but this guy, who some of you may remember dominating radio airplay and frightening caucasians with equal panache back in the early-to-mid '90s, definitely outraps Ludacris even while under six feet of lime, loam, and lush grass (Though I would also tell you that Mr. Chris Bridges is no slouch in the acting dept., that is, if you were to ask me). So in the spirit of Dave Chappelle's Block Party, I present this li'l block party, uncapped but no smaller in stature. Same neighborhood, different kind of performance. Surely he would've headlined Dave and Michel's gig, had someone not seen fit to end his life's freestyle way too early, today in 1997.


Things that make me smile:

a) the cat with the do-rag draped up underneath his hat in the background (right), clearly, surrogately (you know what I mean) loving every minute.
b) the way you have no idea who's getting lyrically undressed until he appears, suddenly, after the first well-flung bon mot that blows up the crowd (and makes even him laugh)
c) the way same dude doesn't make eye contact with his then-unsainted-but-destined-for-greatness nemesis, nervously bopping up, down, and around, suffering every second but at the same time knowing this is the greatest sheet he's heard, ever -- almost blessed to be the object of scorn
d) how 100 location scouts, casting agents, and art directors combined could never get the background/atmosphere more perfect
e) 17 yrs. old. 17.
f) all of the above

FUN FACTS!!!

One) Some may never have known the provenance of the name "Biggie Smalls": It comes from the 1953 comedy Let's Do It Again set in 1920s Montreal, refashioned for a 1975 musical comedy starring Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby (with titular theme song sung by The Staple Sisters, produced and written by Curtis Mayfield who produced every dope-ass piece of music from that era. Look it up).

Two) Christopher Wallace's middle names were George and Latore: his father's given and surnames. Big Poppa's pops was a small-time Jamaican politician.