Toppa Top 10: Biggie’s 10 Best Jamaican References

Words by Jesse Serwer—

This Saturday, May 21, would be the 39th birthday birthday of one Christopher Wallace. Every Biggie fan knows of his Jamaican roots, but lesser known is the degree to which patois dialect and dancehall music informed his lyrics. While some instances are dead obvious—stop your bloodclot crying—others require some more explanation. In the spirit of the late Frank White, we figured we’d hit you with a little Biggie 101, so those that don’t know… now you know.

10.

Lyric/Song: “Get in that ass, quick fast like Ramadan/It’s that rap phenomenon Don dada”— “Kick in the Door”

Reference: This was one of several times Biggie dubbed himself don dada, a term ascribed to the most powerful figure, or don, in a Jamaican garrison community. We can’t say that Biggie was the first rapper to use the term in a hip-hop song, but he certainly helped popularize it. In this case, the line may also have been a reference to Supercat and his classic 1992 album Don Dada, which spawned “Dolly My Baby.”

9.

Lyric/Song: “Jimmy hats for Patra/I’m usin’ all of them”— “Dreams (Just Playin’)”

Reference: While listing all of the R&B bitches he was dreaming about fucking, the “boss of intercourse” made room for dancehall queen (and ’90s style icon) Patra, of “Pull Up To The Bumper” and “Queen of the Pack” fame:

8.

Lyric/Song: “Here’s a tissue, stop your blood claat crying”– “Your Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)”

Reference: Biggie slides into a Jamaican accent to deliver this line including the harshest (along with its variations–bumaoclot, rassclot, etc.) of all patois curse words. Popularized internationally in part by Peter Tosh, it has since turned up in virtually every Jamaican accent parody ever.

7.

Lyric/Song: “Man, I throw him in the Beem, you grab the fucking cream/And if he start to scream/Bam! Bam!/Have a nice dream.” — “Gimme The Loot”

Reference: Biggie could have just been going for dramatic effect when he excitedly interjects “Bam! Bam!” into his rhyme scheme. But “Bam Bam” is a term that turns up throughout modern Jamaican music, from Toots and the Maytals’ ’60s-era festival classic to Sister Nancy’s early ’80s dancehall hit, and Pliers’ “Bam Bam,” from the popular riddim of the same name.

6.

Lyric/Song: “That’s how I got the weed spot: I shot dread in the head, took the bread and the lambsbread”— “MSG Freestyle”/“Come On”

Reference: This is kind of two references in one, speaking both to the prevalence of dreadlock-operated weed operations in early ’90s NYC, and the particularly green and sticky strain of Jamaica-grown collie known as lambsbread. On another note, while most people know these lines from the infamous “MSG Freestyle,” (or “Live Freestyle 95” with 2Pac, Big Daddy Kane, Shyheim and Scoob Lover), their original source is “Come On (Motherfucker),” a Ready to Die outtake with Brand Nubian’s Sadat X later remixed and remade into the version heard on the posthumous album Born Again.

5.

Lyric/Song: “Me holla respect/To all di gunmen dem/Gunman alone keep gunman friend/Fire bun fi allla informer dem/Informer alone keep informer friend”— “Respect”

Reference: The hook that Jamaican singer Diana King sings on this Ready to Die track closely follows the lyrics to 1990’s “Gun Man Tune” by the late Panhead. Though known primarily for his gunman tunes, Panhead was moving towards more cultural themes in his music when he was shot and killed near his home in Spanish Town, Jamaica, in 1993.

4.

Lyric/Song: “Bitches in the back looking righteous/In a tight dress/I think I might just/Hit her with a little Biggie 101/How to tote a gun/And have fun with Jamaican rum”— “Party and Bullshit”

Reference: This stuff. Jamaica is world-famous for its rums—Myers’s, Appleton Estate, Sangsters, etc. We’re pretty sure, though, that, on his very first single, young Biggie was talking about the white, overproof rum distilled by J. Wray & Nephew—the most ubiquitous kind in Jamaica and in early ’90s Brooklyn.

3.

Lyric/Song: “Yes, it’s Bad Boy, hard to the core/Lawwwwwddddd! Me cyan tek it no more”— “Dolly My Baby (Hip-Hop Remix)”

Reference: When Biggie closed out the hip-hop remix of dancehall don dada Supercat’s “Dolly My Baby” by howling the above line, it wasn’t just a way of getting extra attention on an early guest verse. He was directly quoting one of the funniest and most over-the-top dancehall tunes in history, Papa San’s “Maddy Maddy Cry.”

2.

Lyric/Song: “Cause you know I love it young, fresh and green/With no hair in between/ Know what I mean?”— “Dead Wrong”

Reference: On 1988’s “She’s Mine,” Barrington Levy sang, “She’s young, fresh and green/And I like how she bright up the scene.” Self-professed nasty boy Biggie added his own pervy twist to Barrington’s stated weakness for young things, expressing his preference for punanny of the well-groomed kind.

1.

Lyric/Song: “You could be as good as the best of them, but as bad as the worst/So don’t test me (Get money)/Ya better move over (Get money)” — “Gettin’ Money (The Get Money Remix)” (Junior M.A.F.I.A.)

Reference: While it’s safe to say that more people know these words today as Biggie’s hook from DJ Enuff and Lance “Un” Rivera’s remix of Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s ’96 hit “Get Money,” they are paraphrased nearly verbatim from the late Deborahe Glasgow, specifically her hook on the 1990  Shabba Ranks collaboration “Don’t Test Me.”

HONORABLE MENTION:

Lyric/song: “Ooh-wee, you see the ugliest/money-hungriest, Brooklyn Loch Ness/9 millimeter cock test, who wan’ fi test?”— “Dangerous MCs”

Reference: “Who wan’ fi test” is patois for “Who wants to test?

For more exchange between Biggie and Jamaica, download DJ Gravy’s B.I.G. Tings A Gwan mixtape here.