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Originally Posted by rapgenius
Biggie on “Kick in the Door”:
Your reign on the top was short like leprechauns
As I crush so-called Willies, thugs and rapper dons
Jay-Z on “The Ruler’s Back”:
Your reign on the top was shorter than leprechauns
You can’t fuck with Hov, what kind of X you on?
The minimal, non-transformative alterations don’t add any value to Biggie’s original; rather, they suspiciously serve to mask the line’s origin…
Biggie on “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Kills You” (Jay must really like this song!):
Stop your blood-clot crying
The kids, the dog, everybody dying, no lying
which Jay-Z bites unaltered on “D.O.A.”:
Stop your blood-clot crying
The kid, the dog, everybody dying, no lying
And so on and so on. Jay claims he’s honoring Biggie, but the untransformed, verbatim bites seem to stifle creativity; at times, he seems to use Biggie lines as filler, which is disrespectful to B.I.G. and Jay both.
In addition to the “artfully transformative”-factor, another worthwhile consideration in judging the merit of a bite is the recognizability of the line bitten: if Jay copies a well-known line, the claim of homage becomes more credible. If he were to quote a classic Biggie line — one that every white person in America knows, say, “It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up Magazine” or “I love it when you call me big poppa” then purists wouldn’t have a problem.
But he never does that…
One could contend that Jay is trying to draw attention to lesser-known jewels through his knock-offery. But an amateur rap audience is unlikely to catch the reference, tending to give Jay-Z credit for clever lines that are actually Biggie’s. To make matters worse, Jay-Z’s Biggie-bites are most often found in his radio-designed singles, which command a novice audience.
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