Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 at 8:55 am  |  52 responses

Biggie’s Best Bball References

If you didn’t know, now you know.

Canibus once rapped “The greatest rapper of all time died on March 9th,” and though we try to leave the hip-hop stuff to our friends over at XXL, we’ve got plenty of love for The Notorious B.I.G. here at SLAM. After watching a recent Outside the Lines special about Biggie’s relationship with Shaq, we couldn’t help but realize that Big had a thing for sneaking hoops shoutouts into his rhymes. So exactly 14 years after his tragic death, we reminisce by bringing you a collection of Biggie’s best roundball references. R.I.P. to one of the greatest MCs to ever hold a mic.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Newer Comments →
  • tomtom

    love this. awesome.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    “I gotta story to tell” is one of my all-time favorite songs

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    One More Chance is my favorite Biggie Smalls jam.

  • Riggs

    It was john starks and the girl was a groupie

  • allenp

    Not the only options but the most heavily marketed.

  • Pingback: Linkin’ Center: Where Marijuana Is One Former Knick Away (Not Zach Randolph) « Buckets Over Broadway | A New York Knicks Blog

  • Omar

    LOL @ Riggs, I just got through telling my homie that it was John Starks.

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    So dope. Massive props to Adam and Tzvi for this.

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    (And Cris.)

  • http://www.twitter.com/olearychris Chris O’Leary

    I always thought that Big was talking about John Starks. He says in the song that the guy was 6-5, so that’s all I needed to hear.

  • http://nba.com gp23

    Im just waiting for the 2pac and biggie comparisons to evolve anytime soon in this comments section.

  • Maurice Bobb

    RIP BIG

  • JTaylor21

    Tupac who?

  • SI44

    The GOAT imo. RIP Biggie Smalls.

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    Pac will get his love on June 16th and September 13th.
    For now, it’s all about Biggie. RIP GOAT.

  • http://idunkonthem.blogspot.com/ albie1kenobi

    one of the best storyteller ever.
    one of the illest emcee ever.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    this is dope

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    Everyone should post their favorite Biggie verses. I’ll start it off.

    I had the master plan
    I’m in the caravan on my way to Maryland
    With my man Tutex to take over this projects
    They call him Tutex, he tote two techs
    And when he starts to bust
    He likes to ask who’s next?
    I got my honeys on the Amtrack
    With the crack in the crack of her a**
    Two pounds of hash in the stash
    I wait for hun to make some quick cash
    I told her she could be lieutenant b*tch got gassed
    At last I’m literally lounging Black,
    Seating back counting double digit thousands stacks
    Had to re-up see what’s up with my peeps
    Toyota dealer cars had it cheap on the jeeps
    See who got smoked, what rumors was spread
    Last I heard I was dead with six to the head
    Then I got the phone call
    It couldn’t hit me harder
    We got infiltrated
    Like Nino at the Carter
    Heard Tec got murdered in a town I’ve never heard of
    By some b*tch named Alberta over nickel-plated burners
    And my b*tch swear to God she won’t snitch
    I told her where she hit the bricks I’ll make the hooker rich
    Conspiracy should be home in three
    Until them I look south for the home family
    A true G, that’s me blowing like a bubble
    In the everyday struggle

  • http://slamonline BossTerry

    Awesome piece.. Thank you.. Big is one of my all time favorites.. Recently On facebook I made a list of favorite rap albums between 1993-1997.. The list was crazy, way better than anything we’ve seen in 2000+..

  • JC

    Unbelievable…

  • http://slamonline BossTerry

    Sure, E, i’ll play along… Too many to have a single favorite, but here’s 1- “Smokin’ mad newports/cuz i’m doin’ court/ for an assault/ that I caught/ in Bridgeport New York”….

  • http://www.angryarab.net Tariq

    Laugh now, cry later/I rhyme greater/than the average playa-hater/And spectators/buy my CD twice/ They see me on the street they be like “yo, he nice”

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Pac is underrated

  • http://www.angryarab.net Tariq

    Allenp:
    I have mixed emotions when it comes to Tupac. He was my favorite rapper when I was in high school. I still like some of his stuff, but he isn’t what I would call a lyricist.

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    “I got seven mac-11′s
    about eight 38′s
    nine 9′s
    ten mac-10′s
    the sh*t never ends…”

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Tariq
    I would say that you probably didn’t listen to his stuff closely enough.
    If Biggie was prose, Pac was poetry.
    Biggie told stories. Funny stories, violent stories, sexy stories, but they were all stories.
    Pac spoke emotions. He could tell a story. But he was better an evoking a feeling. I have never listened to a rapper who was better at making you feel something than Tupac. Any emotion, he could make you remember it, feel it and want to express it.
    I’m not dissing Biggie, or downing his skill. Just saying that Biggie was prose and Pac was poetry. Two different skills, two different purposes.

  • King David

    they heard about the rolex”s n the lexuz with the texas lights with plates outta state, they heard about the pounds ya got down in georgetown and they heard u got half virginia locked down, they even heard about the crib you bought ya moms out in florida the fifth corrida across the coriner, there”s gonna be a lotta slow singing n flower bringing if my burglar alarm starts ringing

  • Kas

    To whoever called Biggie one of the greatest storytellers ever: that’s just dumb. He’s most def. one of the greatest in rap, but a few blues- and country singers might argue with that “greatest ever”-statement.

  • Stickz

    There are serious holes in BIG’s stories, like the game being rained out, lol!

  • http://www.angryarab.net Tariq

    Allenp:

    I don’t know that the difference between prose and poetry is that the latter is more emotional. I think I kinda know what you’re getting at: like “Never Had a Friend Like Me” always makes me feel nostalgic or how if you listen to “Dear Mama” at a certain time it might tear you up. Right? But I still don’t think Pac is technically precise.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Kas
    I’m sure country singers are great storytellers, but clearly you are underselling BIG.
    Think about the form of his stories, the guidelines and rules of rap. Country and western is a totally different medium with totally different rules.

  • http://slamonline BossTerry

    Haha, heres another one of my favs- “LADIES/ my Mercedes/ holds four in the back/ two if you’re fat….”

  • http://Www.icetea.org Chicagorilla

    “I’m soAring and scoring like jordAn, uh ha uh ha uh ha, he musta had his wheaties this mornin”

  • http://slamonline Brion

    Cruisin in my 5.0, with the top down, so my hair can blow.

  • http://slamonline Brion

    uh sorry. that was my other favorite rapper^

  • http://slamonline.com The Fresh Prince of Nsam

    My fav MC of all time, One more chance (the remix) my fav rap song ever.
    And Matic, one 4 u :
    “U were the Reebok vandal
    Now u wear Chanel sandals
    I made u
    Why will I play U”
    You to be (be happy) – The reunion of 2 of my fav at that time, R. Kelly feat. The Notorious B.I.G in R. Kelly’s eponimous album

  • http://www.angryarab.net Tariq

    Girlies on the standby/Waiting just to say hi

    I’m so ashamed… I actually have Vanilla Ice lyrics memorized.

  • http://slamonline.com The Fresh Prince of Nsam

    “Money and blood don’t mix like 2 d!cks in no b!tch”…

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    “‘Nothing to lose’ tattooed around his gun wounds
    ‘Everything to gain’ imbedded in his brain”

  • allenp

    True it is not a perfect comparison. Prose evokes emotions too. I think your comment about being precise it true too. I can’t really explain why pac does what he does but I know biggie doesn’t. And who you prefer is based on what you value. I think both are amzingi think pac is better.

  • jerome

    “I pull out 44′s and go up in they clothes”

    Ten Crack Commandments was pure genius.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    I don’t like comparing the two- Tupac & Biggie. I love them both equally

  • Michael

    so sign allep about pac.

  • Michael

    co sign*

  • O

    I’m tight that my earlier post wasn’t posted. Said too much. RIP Christopher Wallace. We’ll always love Big Poppa.

  • http://slamonline BossTerry

    NEVER SAY NEVER!!!!!

  • Angel

    I thought the Knick player Biggie was talking about in “I Got A Story To Tell” was Allan Houston.Wasn’t he 6’5?

  • Thegfunk

    Biggie squeeze it to make shit fit, now check this shit
    I got the pack of Rough Riders in the back of the Pathfinder
    You know the ep along by James Todd Smith
    I get swift with the lyrical gift
    Hit you with the dick, make your kidneys shift
    Here we go, here we go, but I’m not Domino
    I got the funk flow to make your drawers drop slow
    So recognize the dick size in these Karl Kani jeans
    I’m in thirteens, know what I mean
    Biggie “One more chance”

    I’ll say me against the world will never be topped in terms of emotion for a rap album

  • Thegfunk

    I dont think me against the world can topped in terms of emotion felt on a rap album

  • j.riley

    lyrics form ‘I got a story to tell’…..Biggie refers to the knicks player as ‘one of them 6’5″ n***s….I don’t know’……. he is not saying the player is six/five….just that it was some tall cat.

Newer Comments →
Advertisement