“And while Puff was a successful translator, Big’s peers were unable to synthesize those qualities. Jay-Z has swiped entire verses from the Biggie oeuvre to great success but never struck the same chords. Shyne and Guerilla Black had their brief moments in the limelight while directly mimicking his voice, but they never came close to synthesizing its emotional power. Biggie’s individuality had value in its own time, but the slippery, irreproducible nature of his music and his persona have diminished his tangible influence on rap a decade and a half after his death. In many ways, today’s rap landscape looks like the exact inverse of the world that Big strived to create. Underground and mainstream hip-hop across the board are instead dominated not by an energy but by a disaffected cool, more Jay than Big. Narrative storytelling is out, formless stream of consciousness is in. Beats, rhymes and content are less aggressive than ever. It’s as if Biggie never even existed. This generation digests Big as an icon, not a human. And to do so is to misunderstand him completely.”