Unbelievable
RIP Christopher Wallace. They should’ve made a movie about Biggie’s lines, not his life. Here I break down my favorite song by him “Unbelievable.”
Verse one:
Live from Bedford-Stuyvesant, the livest one.
Representing BK to the fullest.
(Hip Hop was the first genre where being proud of where you come from is as important as other factors like street credibility. Everybody knew Biggie was from Brooklyn. Vanilla Ice is a prime example of where “not keeping it real” went wrong. He could’ve had a career if he told us where he was really from. I’m kidding.)
Gats I pull it. Bastards ducking when BIG be bucking.
Chickenheads be clucking in my bathroom fucking.
(Gunplay is a Rap staple and the way he describes his shooting is dope; you can actually visualize it. And then he follows that with an ill line. One of the illest of that decade. “Chickenhead” is a funny word on its own but the way he formats the line is really clever. It’s definitely a line you don’t forget. You say it along with the song and laugh.)
It ain’t nothing. They know Big be handling.
With the Mack in the Ac’ door paneling.
(Here he elaborates on how he gets the chicks. Essentially they like him because he’s a bad dude; they know he totes guns, and he conceals them in his car door. That’s James Bond swag he’s referencing, but in a 90’s context. Bananas. Plus Acura Legends were choice cars for low to mid-level drug dealers in the Tri-State Area back then. This line birthed Big Pun’s “Packing the Mack in the back of the Ac’”)
Damaging MC’s. Oxygen, they can’t breathe.
Mad tricks up the sleeve.
(Sick word play here. Again very visual. You can see someone reaching for an oxygen mask in fright. He’s very relative with his lyrics. It’s like we ask how he damages MC’s and he answers “I’m a magician.” Retarded.)
Wear boxers so my dick can breathe
Breeze through in the Q-.45 by my side, lyrical high
(This first line really funny. Especially following the last one. Nobody likes tighty-whities. Conceptually this whole group of lines translates that he’s nimble and smooth. It’s like Ali’s “Float like a butterfly.” He’s saying “I’m light on my toes, but I’m like the wind. I’m air and I’ll take yours away.” The Infiniti car model (Q-45) reference combined with the gun model (.45) is sick, and he toots his own horn by adding in “lyrical high.” He’s saying “I actually like that line. Yeah, I just said that. I’m nice.”)
And those that rushes my clutches get put on crutches.
Get smoked like Dutches, from the master.
Hate to blast you, but I have to.
(Excellent. His syllables have rhythm just written. That’s how you know you can rap. If your words are creatively saying something and you can deliver them with charisma, you can Rap.)
You see I smoke a lot.
Your rhymes is played out like Kwame,
and them fucking polka dots.
Who rocks the spot? Biggie!
You know how the weed go, unbelievable.
(Double entendre here with “smoking.” Smoke meaning “smoke you” as in kill you, and then smoke weed, because the end states that he smokes the best weed. So he in a way says that he’s only shooting you because he’s satisfying a sick hunger like a serial killer. Ruthlessly witty. Poor Kwame. Pure infamy here. Forever and ever he’ll only be remembered as a funny reference in a Biggie line. He sure did love polka dots. He wore some outrageous (TLC-outrageous) get-ups. Google him.)
Verse Two:
B-I-G, G-I-E, A-K-A, B-I-G.
Get it? Biggie.
(This is related to his opening line in the first verse where he’s talking about where he’s from. Now he’s telling us who he is. He was very cool here.)
Also known as ‘The Bon Appetit.’
Rappers can’t sleep, need sleeping. Big keep creeping.
Bullets: Heat-seeking. Casualties need treating.
Dumb rappers need teaching.
(This is just plain skill and talent. I’m also known as “very delicious and flavorful.” I’m so good rappers are losing sleep over me. Still I go to work and what I have is the best there is. It will find you and hurt you. Matter of fact, there are rappers I already hurt and they need medical attention. I did it for their own good. LUDICROUS.)
Lesson A: Don’t fuck with B-I.
That’s that, “Oh I,
thought he was wack.”
Oh come come now. Why y’all so dumb now?
(Complex, and really over the top, but so chiseled. That’s real poetry right there. He’s showing off. He’s flexing.)
Hunt me or be hunted.
I got three hundred and fifty-seven ways
To simmer-sautee.
I’m the winner all day.
Lights get dimmer down Biggie’s hallway.
(Great line about hunting, from the killing to the cooking. And the “get me before I get you, following the line about knowing better than to step to him. Great .357 gun model metaphor here and horror movie nod with the lights dimming in a dark hallway.)
My forte causes Caucasians to say “He sounds demented.”
Car, weed-scented.
If I said it, I meant it.
Bite my tongue for no-one.
Call me evil, or unbelievable.
(Straight rhyming prowess. No other way to put it.)
Verse Three:
Buck shots out the sun roof of Lexus coupes
Leave no witnesses. What you think this is?
Ain’t no amateurs here, I damage and tear.
MC’s fear me, they’re too near not to hear me
(Fun speech, and again the scene is practically in front of your eyes. This is a stanza that makes me say, “wow, he just said all that and it rhymed.” Crazy.)
Clearly, I’m the triple beam dream.
One thousand grams of uncut, to the gut.
It seems fucked up, the way I touched up your grill.
Trying to play gorilla, when you ain’t no killer.
(Bravado rap in this case. I’m what’s known as “graduating from eightballs to Kilos.” I represent that sense of accomplishment. I laced you pretty badly too. You didn’t lose too many teeth did you? It’s a Zoo out here you can’t half-step. If you’re not a lion or bear, go run with the zebras and gazelles.)
The gat’s by your liver; your upper lip quiver.
Get ready to die. Tell God I said “Hi.”
And throw down some ice, for the nicest MC.
Niggas know the estilo, unbelievable.
(Get ready to die. Tell God I said, “Hi,” is official, like the line before it. It’s crystal-clear. Then he goes on to say well while you’re at it give up the jewels, just cause I’m dope on the mic. Everyone knows I’m unbelievable. That’s raw.)