Notorious BIG ~ “Going Back To Cali” (L)

“If I got to choose a coast, I got to choose the East

I live out there, so don’t go there

But that don’t mean a _____ can’t rest in the West

See some nice breast in the West

Smoke some nice sess in the West, y’all ______ is a mess

Thinking I’m gon stop, giving L.A props

All I got is beef with those that violate me

I shall annihilate thee”

As a kid from the DMV, this track always resonated with me. I always wanted to take trips to the left coast until as an immature adult, I just decided to move there. Ever since, whenever I’m travelling, I hear “I’m going going, back back, to cali cali…” playing in my head when I am on my way home. Every. Every. Time. Time. 

It’s a shame Notorious B.I.G.’s love letter to the West Coast was released posthumously. Maybe, if it was released before the 1997 Soul Train Awards it might have diffused the East Coast/West Coast feud before he was murdered. There needed to be more tracks with Biggie rapping over West-coast style beats. Actually, there just needed to be more tracks of Biggie rapping. Ugh. What could have been.  

“And if ya don’t know, now ya know.” FYI – The Notorious B.I.G. Box Set goes on sale Saturday as part of this month’s RSD release. I will definitely be trying to snag a set for myself!  

Samples:

Zapp ~ “More Bounce to the Ounce”

Lil’ Kim ~ “No Time”