The Biggie of the Bronx — a gone-too-soon master storyteller with a voice as heavy as gold and a lyricism that’d knock the most backpackery abstractionist’s head backwards. All you’d have to do is quote that “then in the middle of Little Italy…” line from “Twinz (Deep Cover 98)” to reinforce that, but even with late ’90s rap album skit bloat that level of ingenuity is all over this record, with the best beats money can buy (Dre and RZA!) and a practiced ear can find (Domingo, V.I.C., and Showbiz shine here).