Think Big Even If You've Lost Biggy

When Pudgee was due to come out with his second album, King of New York, one of the singles was called "Think Big" and featured Notorious B.I.G. and Lord Tariq. It pretty much only got a limited, white label release (though it's since been repressed as a proper Perspective 12" and is easily found) because the label was folding just as this was coming out. And it probably only saw the light of day at all because it featured Biggy, who's of course a very big name.

It was a dope record and others have written a fair amount about it already (DWG wrote an excellent review of it here), but people generally overlook this second version of "Think Big" that was released three years later on DMD Records. They probably overlook it because Biggy's been removed from the track(!). I've no idea why... some kind of painful label politics must've been involved, I'm sure. But he's been replaced by Sadat X, and hey - he's no one to sneeze at either.

The original Minnesota-produced instrumental has been swapped, too (for sampling issues... explained in the DWG review linked above), and while this mix isn't quite as classic with it's infamous "Womp, Womp, A-Womp" bassline; this one, produced by The Co-Stars (whoever the heck they are), comes with a hard-hitting horn sample that's almost used like a drum track. Again, Sadat's verse is tight (Pudgee's and Tariq's are the same as on the original, and that's not a bad thing), talking about how, "My contract is wack, and my label's even wacker. So now I play the streets, and watch for drug sweeps." So, while this may not be the version everyone's after, it's definitely not a version to be slept on.

...Ok, there is one other drawback. The 12" only features the Radio Edit. This is especially distracting on Pudgee's verse, who's in nasty, hardcore mode and has a curse flipped practically every other word... it's almost like he's rhyming backwards! But the silver lining is that, since this is so over-looked, you can pick the 12" up dirt cheap... Amazon and EBay both even have multiple copies of the CD single (pictured; note the fancy picture cover) for a penny - new. ...Shit's definitely worth a penny, guys. 8)