The 10 Best Biggie Freestyles, Ranked

From his “first” freestyle to his freestyle with Tupac, we’re honoring the great Notorious B.I.G with these 10 best Biggie freestyles.

notorious big chris walter getty
Getty

Image via Getty/Chris Walter

notorious big chris walter getty

The Notorious B.I.G. had it all: style, charisma, humor, the ability to tell vivid stories—everything that made a hip-hop star. One of Christopher Wallace's greatest skills, though, was his ability to rap off the dome. No Blackberry, just blunts and his imagination. We took the liberty of sifting through the internet to find popular freestyles and rare freestyles alike so we could rank them and make you mad. You know how we do. These are Biggie's 10 best freestyles, ranked.

10. 2Pac and Biggie Freestyle

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "I rather make a buck/Drive a phat ass truck/Grab the nine, two clips, and run amuck"


Chilling at a hotel, Big and Pac get lit off the Tanqueray and go off top. The funniest shit about this rare clip is how Big says "peace and love" after rapping about acts of violence.

9. "I Got Cha Opin (Remix)"

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "Is it 'cause I rip the props/Or peep the cops/I got more dough than a pizza shop"


With DJ Enuff one the turntables, Big spits various lines from multiple songs in this very rare freestyle. This just sounds so good in all its lo-fi glory. He must've smoked 1,000 blunts before this session. It was too easy for him.

8. San Francisco Freestyle

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "A repetitive loop/All I need to destroy a soloist or group"


He goes, "only a little bit of flavor," at the end as if everything is cool. Not like he just murdered this session. My jaw would've been on the floor.

7. “No Time” Freestyle

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "How can niggas stand there and say I sound like them?/Hello, push wigs back and push six coupes that's yellow"


This freestyle was first heard on the fourth and last Bad Boy Mixtape from 1996Short and sweet, Big delivers multiple quotables in less than a minute. I mentioned his best line above but the "Crack baggin'/Sick of braggin' how my mink be draggin'" line is my favorite.

6. “C.R.E.A.M.” Freestyle With the Lox

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "Wherever I go/My crew is true to swarm/Got stripes in New York like Yankee uniforms"


Listen, Styles won this session. Fuck what you heard. However, Big's ability to freestyle a scene of a stick-up will always be impressive. Especially when he follows the story with raps about high art.

5. Tim Westwood Freestyle With Craig Mack

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "I went from Construction Timbs/To Acs with rims"


This gem features two of Puff Daddy's flagship Bad Boy artists. Craig Mack and Biggie visit the U.K.'s premiere rap DJ, Tim Westwood, and go in on Redman's “Rockafella (Remix) beat. As Craig Mack struggles a bit going off top, Big floats effortlessly.

4. "The Wickedest"

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "Niggas say I'm pussy? I dare you to stick your dick in this"


Big was always vivid whenever he rapped. In this not-so-rare freestyle, Big transforms himself into every STD in the book, and challenges MCs to step to "Big, the Merciless."

3. “Real N****s”

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "Hanging wit the niggas don't pay the bills/And being broke at 30 give a nigga the chills"


Here Big goes off over some of Death Row's best production. Imagine if Big never had beef with the West? We would've gotten him over some original Dre beats. One of Jay Z's earliest Biggie "bites" was inspired by this freestyle.

2. Madison Square Garden Freestyle

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "Oh my God, I'm droppin' shit like a pigeon/Smackin' babies at their Christening"


Big Scoob, Biggie, 2Pac, Shyheim the Rugged Child, and Big Daddy Kane played New York's Madison Square Garden and gave rap probably the most famous freestyle session in history. But all we remember are Pac and Big's verses, and rightfully so. The two legends steal the show with their respective signature styles. Pac came with his revolutionary thug shit while Big spits a story off top.

1. His "First" Freestyle

View this video on YouTube

youtu.be

Best line: "Jewels and all that/Clothes is all that/Punk steppin' to me?/That's where you take your fall at"


He was 17 here. 17! Look at the crowd's reaction. I wanna cry.

Latest in Music