The Best Remixes Ever, Part I

"The is the remix..." - SC

Taking a page from my friend Vinson's blog, The Red Umbrella ella ella a a a a, in which he profiles the Coolest Love Songs ever, I will be profiling the Best Remixes Ever. The Remix is a phenomenon pretty much only present in rap. Personally, I love The Remix. I just love the concept of taking an artistic piece and trying to make it better or, just enhancing it in some way. You can't really do that in other art forms (or maybe you can?). Regardless, the first song profiled is


Only You (Remix) - 112 featuring The Notorious B.I.G & Ma$e

"I thought I told you that we won't stop," proclaims Puff Daddy at the beginning of this gem. And in the nineties, Bad Boy did not stop. Releasing hit after hit after hit, this remix of "Only You" from 112's debut album in'96 heated up the charts while also featuring two of the greatest rappers of the era, The Notorious B.I.G. and up-and-comer Ma$e. Fusing sick verses with a great R 'n B hook, this song was a preview of what was to come later in rap. And the verses of the rap virtuosos were something. Biggie proclaims in a classic opener:

"Je-sus the notorious just/ Please us with your lyrical thesis,/ We just chillin,/Milk em top billin.."

And closes with an even sicker line:

"It's style is dondatta/Playas stay splurgin'/Game so tight, They call it virgin..."

Of course, in usual Puff fashion, even a verse that Big spit that same song is sampled on the chorus ("Room 112, where the playas dwell"). Unbelievable.

And just when you thought that the rappin couldn't get any better, M-A-dollar sign-E comes in:

"Now you can hum all you want to/ Cum all you want to/Money I'mma front you/ Girl I wanna flaunt you/
I'mma always want you/ When nobody want you/If I die now my love will still haunt you..."

And of course the classic lines:

"Everybody know I got more bounce than the ounce/
Bad Boy get more money than you can count/
Why I'm buying things you can't even pronounce/
I'd do it to you cat for a large amount..."

And you got to love Puff ad-libbing almost every second. Someone once said that Ma$e rapped like he had rocks in his mouth. So true. But he murders his verse. And, I think this is the only song that Biggie gets upstaged on. Pretty impressive.

I think this song is the tops of the Bad Boy era (circa 1994-1997). The is the gold standard. You have the soothing sounds of 112 mixed with the raw rap of Biggie and the cocky rap of Ma$e. Mixed in of course with classic Puff one-liners.

Beautiful.