Born Again is the first posthumous album by The Notorious B.I.G. It was released on December 7, 1999. It is composed primarily of early recorded verses with newer beats 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 Double-platinum on January 14, 2000. Born Again received generally mixed reviews from music critics.
The album generally received mixed reviews from critics. In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Touré wrote that the "album won't damage his legacy. But Born Again won't improve that legacy much, either." Rob Sheffield later wrote in The Rolling Stone Album Guide, "the posthumous Born Again proved Biggie was still dead, but his place in the MCs Hall of Fame remains untouchable." Robert Christgau, who gave the release a "dud" rating, later wrote, "Remember that posthumous outtakes CD Bad Boy attributed to Biggie? No? Good then—it was foul, not just ill shit but stupid ill shit."
Notes
Biggie's verse in "Notorious B.I.G." is from his unreleased song "Real niggaz" from 1995.
"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 "The Ugliest" which was originally going to be on Busta Rhymes' 1996 album The Coming. Because he had subliminal disses aimed towards 2Pac the track was not included on the album to avoid beef between 2Pac and Busta Rhymes. The original is produced by J Dilla.
The Notorious B.I.G.'s part in "Biggie" was from "Let's Get It On" from the album Eddie F. and the Untouchables on the title track "Let's Get It On" featuring 2Pac, Heavy D and Grand Puba. The compilation featured the only known in-studio collaboration of two up-and-coming hip-hop MC's at the time, 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G..
"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, produced by Frankie Cutlass.
"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", from Life After Death.
"If I Should Die Before I Wake" has Biggie's verse from a 1994 song called "Stop The Breaks" which features Raekwon, Killa Sin, O.C. and KRS-One. It was recorded without portion of lyrics, so verse is censored too.
"Who Shot Ya?" is a B-Side to his 1995 single "Big Poppa".
"Cant I Get Witcha" uses Biggie vocals from a 1993 demo.
"I Really Want To Show You" has Biggie's verses from "Everyday Struggle", from Ready to Die.
Sample credits
"Notorious B.I.G." contains a sample of "Notorious", performed by Duran Duran.
"Dead Wrong" contains a sample of "I'm Glad You're Mine", performed by Al Green.
"Biggie" contains a sample of "Hang Your Head in Shame", performed by New York City.
"Big Bootie Hoes" contains a sample of "Crab Apple", performed by Idris Muhammad from the album Turn This Mutha Out.
"Would You Die for Me" contains a sample of "Kiss", performed by Prince.
"Come On" contains a sample of "Hey Mama", performed by Doc Severinson and excerpts from the film Harlem Nights.
"Rap Phenomenon" contains a sample from "Risin' to the Top" performed by Keni Burke.
"Let Me Get Down" contains a sample of "Love Serenade (Part II)", performed by Barry White from the album Just Another Way to Say I Love You.
"Tonight" contains a sample of "Just Say Just Say", performed by Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross from the album Diana & Marvin.
"If I Should Die Before I Wake" contains a sample of "This Is for the Lover in You", performed by Shalamar.
"Who Shot Ya?" contains a sample of "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over", performed by David Porter.
"Can I Get Witcha" contains a sample of "Livin' It Up (Friday Night)" performed by Bell & James, "Humpin'" performed by The Gap Band and "Life Will Pass You By" performed by Faith Evans.
"I Really Want to Show You" "Charisma" by Tom Browne and contains interpolations of "Come and Talk to Me", performed by Jodeci.
"Niggaz" contains a sample of "(Don't Worry) if There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" by Curtis Mayfield.
"Party and 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" (Remix) (featuring 2Pac and Stretch): a Bad Boy remix of the unreleased 1993 song.
