The weight of
Notorious B.I.G.
's legacy is so profound that most major
rap
MCs and
R&B
singers alive -- and some who are dead -- are willing to be attached to it in whatever form possible. It could also be argued that anyone with the means is more than willing to profit from it in a monetary way. Here's
Duets: The Final Chapter
, released just before Christmas Day 2005, following 1999's
Born Again
, which was released just before Christmas Day 1999. Like
,
Duets
takes bits of unused material from the late legend, and that can entail full-blown verses, looped declarations, or punctuative interjections. On some tracks,
Biggie
's presence is no more prominent than a handclap or a snare hit. Check the lead track
"It Has Been Said,"
where he's limited to "what," "ungh," "yeah," "ha-ha," "uh-huh." If you can get past the fact that a lot of tracks barely feature the headliner, or listen without imagining the original contexts of the patched-together scraps,
can be sporadically riveting. The list of guests is overwhelming, with
Jay-Z
Nas
Mary J. Blige
Faith Evans
R. Kelly
T.I.
Slim Thug
Eminem
Lil Wayne
Missy Elliott
the Clipse
Snoop Dogg
, and
Freeway
representing roughly half of the involved. Only a few tracks contain significant
contributions, and it's not as if they provide any further insight or add to his long-established legend. Many of his vocals are not pulled from professional studio-quality recordings, which only makes them sound more displaced. Perhaps
Korn
's
Jonathan Davis
put it best when he told
Billboard
about the project: "It's f*ckin' weird to be doing a song with someone who is deceased!" His description applies to what it's like to listen to the disc. ~ Andy Kellman