Two days before his 25th birthday, and just over 20 years since his heartbreaking and still unsolved murder, The Notorious B.I.G. will live on with his widow Faith Evans' duets album, The King & I.
The iconic rapper (born Christopher Wallace) met and married R&B singer and fellow Bad Boy Records label mate Evans in 1994--a turbulent but often loving relationship that ended when Biggie was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1997, 16 days before his second album, Life After Death, hit stores.
The King & I, which features a mix of familiar and rare or unreleased verses from The Notorious B.I.G. is the third posthumous album with a formal credit to Biggie, after 1999's Born Again and 2005's Duets: The Final Chapter. Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, 112, Jadakiss, Lil' Kim, Lil' Cease and Jamal Woolard (who portrayed Biggie in both the 2009 biopic Notorious and this summer's All Eyez on Me, a biopic about Wallace's rival Tupac Shakur) make guest appearances on the 25 tracks on the record, which feature production by DJ Premier, Just Blaze, Salaam Remi and more.
The album drops May 19 on CD and June 9 on double vinyl. Hear lead single "NYC" above, and pre-order below!
Faith Evans & The Notorious B.I.G., The King & I (Atco/Rhino, 2017)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
- A Billion
- Legacy
- Beautiful (Interlude)
- Can't Get Enough
- Don't Test Me
- Big/Faye (Interlude) (feat. Jamal Woolard)
- Tryna Get By
- The Reason
- I Don't Want It (feat. Lil' Cease)
- I Got Married (Interlude) (feat. Mama Wallace)
- Wife Commandments
- We Just Clicked (Interlude) (feat. Mama Wallace)
- A Little Romance
- The Baddest (Interlude)
- Fool for You
- Crazy (Interlude) (feat. 112 & Mama Wallace)
- Got Me Twisted
- When We Party (feat. Snoop Dogg)
- Somebody Knows (feat. Busta Rhymes)
- Take Me There (feat. Sheek Louch)
- One in the Same
- I Wish (Interlude) (feat. Kevin McCall & Chyna Tajere)
- Lovin' You for Life (feat. Lil' Kim)
- NYC (feat. Jadakiss)
- It Was Worth It
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