By Stefan “Trishes” Trischler
West Coast rapper YG’s song is featured on the soundtrack to the latest, tenth film in the Fast & Furious series. As in Trailer but also quotes the tune of an iconic 1997 collaboration: „Notorious Thugs“ by Notorious BIG with the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Appearing on Biggie’s posthumous sophomore album, Life After Death, the track is intriguing for a number of reasons. The rapper, who almost surpasses many of the classic criteria for a good MC, appears here in double time and with triplet cadences. A flash of potential that Christopher Wallace could have continued to shine with to this day – because that’s how he would have fitted on crunk to trap beats.
Again, the reason he’s doing this in 1997 is because of his partners: the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Coming from Cleveland, they had this rap flow combined with doo wop harmonies with super hits like „Tha Crossroads“ or „1st Of Tha Month“ made socially acceptable – by the way, there was also one for the latter Kruder & Dorfmeister-Remix. After the death of their mentor, Eazy E of NWA, some members of his label Ruthless Records felt betrayed (as did Dr. Dre and Ice Cube before them). This in turn led to internal disputes and lawsuits and unfortunately the Bone Thugs could not continue their great success.
But it is undisputed that they are associated with melodic delivery and triplets, which are widespread in rap today. And they too will have the question “What happened if?” in view of „Notorious Thugs“ particularly virulent. We should have heard a lot more from everyone involved. Unfortunately, the remake or homage by YG, Ty Dolla $ign and Lambo4oe can’t quite keep up in terms of timelessness:
That’s why Natalie Brunner, Mahdi Rahimi and myself in the HipHop reading circle speak in more detail about the original song and its meaning:
FM4 HipHop Reading Circle about “Let’s Ride” by YG, Ty Dolla $ign & Lambo4oe