Born Again (The Notorious B.I.G. album)

Born Again
Studio album by The Notorious B.I.G.
Released	December 7, 1999 (1999-12-07) (US)
Recorded	1993–1997 (The Notorious B.I.G. vocals) 1998−1999 (Production, guest vocals, and mixing)
Genre	Hip hop
Label	Bad Boy Records
Producer	Daven "Prestige" Vanderpool, DJ Clark Kent, DJ Premier, Nottz, Mannie Fresh, Nashiem Myrick, Deric Angelettie, Clemont Mack
The Notorious B.I.G. chronology
Life After Death (1997) Born Again (1999) Duets: The Final Chapter (2005)
Singles from Born Again
"Notorious B.I.G." Released: November 24, 1999 "Dead Wrong" Released: January 6, 2000

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
A.V. Club	(favorable) link
Entertainment Weekly	B+ link
Rolling Stone	link
Los Angeles Times	link

Born Again is a posthumous album by The Notorious B.I.G.. It was released on December 7, 1999. Unlike the first album released after his death (Life After Death), this album was created with no input from Biggie himself. It is composed primarily of unfinished material and unreleased verses recorded mainly during his Ready to Die era from 1993-1994 with new production and guest rappers. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 485,000 albums sold in the first week, and was later certified Triple-platinum. Along with the usual guest roster of P. Diddy, Lil' Kim, and Junior M.A.F.I.A., the album also featured appearances from Nas, Ice Cube, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Mobb Deep, Method Man, Redman, Beanie Sigel, Too Short, Snoop Dogg, and the Hot Boys. Before his death, Biggie had intended his third album to be a three disc collection. However, there was not enough finished material to piece together such a massive project. This is the final album of Biggie to contain mainly original material. However, in 2005, a remix album was released called Duets: The Final Chapter, which was the last of his records.

Track listing

1. "Born Again" (Intro) — 1:28
   • produced by Harve "Joe Hooker" Pierre, J Dub
2. "Notorious B.I.G." — 3:11
   • featuring Lil' Kim and Puff Daddy
   • produced by Daven "Prestige" Vanderpool
3. "Dead Wrong" — 4:57
   • featuring Eminem
   • produced by Chucky Thompson, Mario Winans
4. "Hope You Niggas Sleep" — 4:10
   • featuring Hot Boys and Big Tymers
   • produced by Mannie Fresh
5. "Dangerous MC's" — 5:15 produced by Nottz
   • featuring Mark Curry, Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes
   • produced by Nottz
6. "Biggie" — 5:22
   • featuring Junior M.A.F.I.A.
   • produced by Nashiem Myrick
7. "Niggas" — 3:48
   • produced by Mario Winans, Clemont Mack, Ramahn Herbert
8. "Big Booty Hoes" — 3:27
   • featuring Too $hort
   • produced by Daven "Prestige" Vanderpool
9. "Would You Die for Me?" — 3:36
   • featuring Lil' Kim and Puff Daddy
   • produced by Daven "Prestige" Vanderpool
10. "Come On" — 4:37
    • featuring Sadat X
    • produced by DJ Clark Kent
11. "Rap Phenomenon" — 4:02
    • featuring Method Man and Redman
    • produced by DJ Premier
12. "Let Me Get Down" — 4:33
    • featuring Craig Mack, G-Dep and Missy Elliott
    • produced by Deric Angelettie
13. "Tonight" — 6:08
    • featuring Mobb Deep and Joe Hooker
    • produced by Cornbread
14. "If I Should Die Before I Wake" — 4:51
    • featuring Black Rob, Ice Cube and Beanie Sigel
    • produced by Henri Charlemagne, Coptic, Deric Angelettie
15. "Who Shot Ya?" — 3:48
    • produced by Nashiem Myrick
16. "Can I Get Witcha" — 3:36
    • featuring Lil' Cease
    • produced by Chucky Thompson
17. "I Really Want to Show You" — 5:09
    • featuring Nas, K-Ci & JoJo
    • produced by Fanatic
18. "Ms. Wallace" (Outro) — 3:18
    • produced by Harve Pierre, Voletta Wallace

Unused Tracks

• "Party & Bullshit" (remix)
  A Remix of the 1993 song. It had a new beat and Faith Evans singing the chorus and also featured Will Smith. It was not released due to concerns about harming Smith's clean image.

• "Tribute Song" (featuring Lauryn Hill)

• "You'll See" (remix)
  A remixed version of the 1996 mixtape song by The Notorious B.I.G. and The Lox. This version had Puff Daddy, Black Rob and G. Dep.

• "House of Pain" (Featuring 2Pac & Stretch (remix)
  A Bad Boy remix of the unreleased 1993 song.

Samples

Notorious B.I.G.

• "Notorious" by Duran Duran

Dead Wrong

• "I'm Glad You're Mine" by Al Green

Biggie

• "Hang Your Head in Shame" by New York City

Big Booty Hoes

• "Crab Apple" by Idris Muhammad
• "Bust a Nut" by Luke
• Nasty Boy by Notorious B.I.G.
• Fuck You Tonight by Notorious B.I.G.

Would You Die For Me

• "Kiss" by Prince

Come On

• "For Mama" by Doc Severinson
• Excerpts from the film Harlem Nights

Rap Phenomenon

• "Keep Your Hands High" by Tracey Lee
• "Ten Crack Commandments" by The Notorious B.I.G.
• "Kick in The Door" by The Notorious B.I.G.
• "The What" by The Notorious B.I.G. f. Method Man

Let Me Get Down

• "Love Serenade II" by Barry White

Tonight

• "Just Say Just Say" by Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross
• "Long Kiss Goodnight" by Notorious B.I.G.

If I Should Die Before I Wake

• "This Is For The Lover In You" by Shalamar

Who Shot Ya

• "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over" by David Porter

Can I Get Witcha

• "Livin' It Up (Friday Night)" by Bell & James
• "Humpin" by The Gap Band

I Really Want To Show You

• "Charisma" by Tom Browne
• "Everyday Struggle" by the Notorious B.I.G.
• "Life Will Pass You By" by Faith Evans
• "Come And Talk To Me" by Jodeci

Note

• Biggie's lyrics in Notorious B.I.G. come from BIG's freestyle in 1995 over Death Row Records beats.
• Dead Wrong was an unreleased song from a demo tape back in 1994. The first verse of the original version was used in this version.
• Biggie's verse from Hope You Niggas Sleep comes from the second verse of the original version of Dead Wrong.
• Biggie's verse in Dangerous MC's comes from an unreleased song called Round and Round from 1996
• Notorious B.I.G.'s part in Biggie was from the song Let's Get It On featuring 2Pac and was produced by Eddie F. and The Untouchables.
• Niggas is a remix of an original unreleased version from 1993.
• Biggie's verses in Big Booty Hoes comes from the song Bust A Nut by Uncle Luke
• Come On is a remix of the original unreleased song from 1993 produced by Lord Finesse.
• Biggie's part in Rap Phenomenon comes from the song Keep Your Hands High by Tracey Lee
• Tonight has Biggie's first verse from Long Kiss Goodnight
• If I Should Die Before I Wake has Biggie's verse from the unreleased song Stop The Breaks with Raekwon and KRS-One. However Biggie's part in If I Should Die Before I Wake is censored a bit due to lyrics attacking Christianity. The original verse is: I'm Hard, Jehovah said i'm barred from the pearly gates/Fuck Him, I didn't wanna go to Heaven anyways/But my momma got me on my knees with my hands gripped/Talkin' bout some Praise The Lord Shit/Hail Mary, Fuck Her i never knew her/I'd probably screw her and dump her body in the sewer. The uncensored verse was used in the remix to Deadly Combination with 2Pac and Big L.
• Who Shot Ya is a popular Biggie Song that was originally on the Big Poppa single.
• I Really Want To Show You has Biggie's verses from Everyday Struggle.

Chart positions

Album

Chart (1999)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200	1
U.S. Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums	1
Canadian Albums chart	14

Singles

Song	Chart (1999)	Peak position
"Dead Wrong"	U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	39
"Notorious B.I.G."	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	67
"Notorious B.I.G."	U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	30

Preceded by All The Way... a Decade of Song by Celine Dion

Billboard 200 number-one album December 25, 1999 - December 31, 1999

Succeeded by All The Way... a Decade of Song by Celine Dion

See also

• List of number-one albums of 1999 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B albums of 1999 (U.S.)