Song of the Day 02/10/22

Today's Song of the Day "I Got A Story To Tell" by the greatest rapper of all time, The Notorious B.I.G. This song is beautiful example of Biggie taking a nice soul beat (samples drums from Al Green's "i'm Glad You're Mine") and telling a raunchy story with vivid details.

Many people have wondered if the story is true, and if so, which Knick was it?

In 2014, Knicks player John Starks appeared on ESPN’s Highly Questionable and was grilled about this song, which he said is based on a true story but wouldn’t specify who it’s about.

Then, in 2015, Jadakiss appeared on Highly Questionable and was grilled about the subject of Biggie’s story, too. He claims B.I.G. wouldn’t tell him who it was about but Jada’s done some investigation on his own over the years.. “Out of my candidates, it would have to [Anthony] Mason, Larry Johnson, maybe Derek Harper,” he said. “Could have been any of that team. Those were the crazy Knicks back then.” In 2016, Fat Joe revealed that the Knick in question was Anthony Mason. Diddy confirmed that the story is about Mason.

So biggie cuckolded the 1995 6th man of the year, NBA all star Anthony Mason. That makes this song even better knowing the story was true, and the player was no scrub. Must have been tough for Mason, (assuming most Knicks players were NY hip hop fans) listening to Biggie with his teammates, trying his absolute hardest not to bop his head to this downright slander.

This song takes me back, which may seem silly considering I've posted 3 songs that predate 1975, but (born in 1999) I grew up on Biggie Smalls and 90s hip hop just as much (maybe even more) as classic rock. A 12 year old version of myself would be smiling reading this blog, listening to Biggie with a backwards hat, Jordans, and a pair of levis 3 sizes too big.

*Side note* Saggin was a crazy fad --- I think I stopped by middle school, but it is crazy to meet at one point in my life it was in fashion to wear your pants too low. Like you just know that started from some guy showing up to a party and he forgot his belt --- and once everyone starts ripping on him, he claims that he's wearing his pants low cause it's cool and everyone in his neighboor does it- then bam! Everyone starts doing it for real.

Got super sidetracked there, but hopefully we can get a rapper in my lifetime that touches Biggies musical genius-- what a talent at making timeless club bangers. He famously said "You gotta make music that girls want to listen to- cause guys will listen to whatever the girls are listening to". Safe to say it worked for him