The second Notorious B.I.G. post-death release "Duets: The Final Chapter" (2005) dropped a few days ago. After listening to this one thoroughly I will be honest in saying I am not feeling it on the whole. Recycling B.I.G.'s old rhymes, and jazzing it up with new beats, and combining him with artists he never worked with does not really appeal to this reviewer. I still get play from "Ready to Die" and "Life After Death", so I know Biggie Smalls lyrics well. To make something clear I don't have anything against post-death albums but do believe they should be handled properly. I feel like a lot of the production is sub par (and does not fit with B.I.G's style), verses/choruses are not blended well at all, and guest appearances are average/weak. Another disappointing thing about this is very few of B.I.G.'s former Bad Boy label mates, and friends are included on this release. Their are also no new B.I.G. verses. Also whats up with the artwork, there is a lot of better images then this one that makes B.I.G. look bloated. Tracks that I thought were good: "It Has Been Said", Eminem and Obie Trice pay tribute to B.I.G. well, "Whatchu Want" feat. Jay-Z - a track to bump, "Hold Ya Head" feat. Bob Marley - combination of two legends from two different music genres is worth hearing. I think people who are new to Notorious may appreciate "Duets: The Final Chapter" more then those of us who know his lyrics by heart.

Now, don't think of me as another person debating over whom is better, Biggie or 2Pac, because it's not like that. The reason why I'm bringing up Pac in my review for Biggie's Duets album is that there's a difference between his and Biggie's posthumous albums. That is, Tupac had a huge catalog of unreleased material left over after his passing; Biggie didn't. All the songs on here are verses that we've all heard already from either Biggie's first two albums or from his guest appearances on other people's albums. Thus, this is really a remix album disguised as a regular album. Get it?

And as my brother said, the most irritating thing about this album (aside from the fact that "duet" means two people) is how the songs are constructed around these old Biggie verses. It's hard to say what the worst songs are, but I'll have to go with "Mi Casa" (with R. Kelly and Charlie Wilson) and the badly produced rap/rock song "Wake Up" (featuring Korn). "Nasty Girl" is also pretty cheesy, and speaking of that, if Biggie was alive, I seriously doubt he'd be collaborating with Nelly, or some of these other average emcees like Boyz N Da Hood ("Hustler's Story") or especially Jim Jones (see "I'm With Whateva" -- but actually, Biggie's not even in that song, so I don't know if that really counts).

Another annoying thing is the way Diddy tries to change the meanings of some of these songs. The aforementioned "Nasty Girl" was originally "Nasty Boy", and now it just seems to be a club anthem about nothing. And "What's Beef" has transformed into "Beef", with Diddy yelling at the end, "Beef doesn't not happen on records. You don't KNOW what beef is!" Apparently, HE doesn't know, or he forgot.

While ALL the guest stars' verses don't necessarily fall short, the only really interesting parts of this whole album are the testimonies from Voletta Wallace and Biggie's kids. And I'm not really surprised by the four and five-star reviews for this album because, not to be funny, but I think that if an album came out called The Notorious B.I.G. Sings Sinatra, those people would give THAT a high rating too. Anyway, I'm a fan of Biggie too, but continually reusing his verses is not the way to preserve his legacy, so...Diddy? It's time to quit.

Anthony Rupert

Being a huge Biggie fan I rushed out and picked it up the day it came out. I was somewhat disappointed after listening to the whole album a few times. This is the same old raps played out to different beats and choruses. Just Diddy trying to make some more money off the only good artist on the bad boy label. I was even disgusted listening to Diddy on track #2 talk about how he took BIG from coal to diamonds, molded his mind, and calls him his frankenstein like Diddy was the mastermind behind the success of the Notorious one. Anyone who knows anything about rap is laughing at Diddy right now. BIG's flows were incredible and would have been hits over any beat chosen. If you are a true Biggy fan, get Ready to Die and Life After, stay away from this one. Diddy please stop digging up Biggy every couple of years. Stick to making your terrible bands on MTV and leave the legend alone.

Why have people played with Biggie Smalls' music? This album is a pathetic attempt to revive his legendary music.
THE ONLY GOOD SONG IS "1970 Somethin'"!
The collaborations are below par, and do not deserve to be put under B.I.G.'s name. Pathetic. Download "1970 Somethin'" and you have the best of this album.

I tried to be honest and I bought the cd just to find out that it has a security so that you can't use it in your computer!!!
So if you plan (as I did...) to load it in your iPod, forget it: rip it from the internet, and you get the money in your pocket and the music in your iPod!!!