+ THROWBACK THURSDAY #11 (THE COMEBACK EDITION): THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. - EVERYDAY STRUGGLE (1994)

Thursday came and Thursday went and you know what that means..... Oh wait it's Friday. My apologies first and foremost I have been flat out this week and thus Throwback Thursday Friday was delayed until now. It also never helps that The Footy Show airs on a Thursday night so that basically rules out getting anything done from 9:30-11:30pm on a Thursday night. So it may be a Friday and a day late but what better way to start your weekend than with another classic Throwback track! This week's selection is from an artist that many of you may be familiar with, but this selection is a song that a lot of people gloss over or don't give enough attention. The song that I speak of is "Everyday Struggle" by Christopher Wallace, although you may know him better as "The Notorious B.I.G.", "Biggie Smalls" or "Big Poppa". This is one of my all time favourite Biggie songs, he truly speaks from the heart on the track and tells the story of what it was like for himself and many others coming up on the street. The song chronicles the trials and tribulations of a street hustler, selling drugs on the street to survive. It's one of the great dilemmas in life, you're doing something that you know is illegal and detrimental to society (i.e selling drugs), but you're doing it just to get by and put food on the table, "another day, another struggle".

Everyday Struggle certainly isn't an upbeat song by any means but I think it's sombre tone is what makes it so powerful and such a great song. The first words that you hear Biggie utter are "I don't want to live no more, sometimes I hear death knockin' at my front door". It's a truly haunting track and the minimalistic instrumental consisting of a ghostly organ, combined with subtle horns and punchy drums that help to emphasise the words of Biggie. There are so many quotables in this track and Biggie paints a vivid picture of life in the struggle "I'm seeing body after body and my mayor Giuliani ain't trying to see no black man turn to John Gotti". This track is an example of truly great 90's American hip-hop. As much as people may loathe Puff Daddy, Diddy or whatever the heck he's calling himself these days, you can't deny that he and Biggie made a great team and Bad Boy Records and Biggie came out with some truly great hip-hop tracks, Everyday Struggle amongst them. Check out Everyday Struggle below with stream/download of the track, and a stack of other bonus content after the jump.

DOWNLOAD: Notorious B.I.G. - Everyday Struggle

Everyday Struggle appeared on Biggie's debut album Ready to Die which was released in 1994 and went on to be bother a critical and commercial success. Even though I didn't listen to much Notorious B.I.G. when I was younger I have since listened to this album many times and can tell you it's a bona-fide classic and Biggie was one of the most gifted lyricists to ever do it. Tragically in 1997 Biggie was shot dead in Los Angeles in a murder that has never been solved. I won't go into all the details regarding the east cost/west coast rap beef during the 90's, 2pac and all the conspiracy theories as I'm sure all you readers have heard them before. All you need to know is that Biggie was taken far too early and it's sad that we'll never get to hear the progression that he would have made musically or see where he'd be now if he were still here. If you haven't heard much of Biggie Smalls music I suggest you pick up a copy of Ready to Die or one of his greatest hits compilation album. Click the image below to go through to iTunes and purchase yourself a copy of Biggie's remastered debut album.

BUY: Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die: The Remaster (2004)

Now comes the real fun part of Throwback Thursday, where I lace you with some other classic remixes and musical gems from Notorious B.I.G. This week I've got a plethora of great Everyday Struggle remixes and another couple of classic Biggie tracks from the 90's.

First up I have a remix of the Everyday Struggle by producer Astronote featuring acclaimed female MC, Bahamadia. I've been a very big fan of Astronote ever since I heard his remix of Jay-Z's "American Gangster" album The Real Album (Astronote Remixes). This track appeared on another of Astronote's remix album's entitled "Bigger & Better: The Notorious Remixes". It's yet another great remix by Astronote so make sure you give it a listen below.


DOWNLOAD: Notorious B.I.G. - Everyday Struggle (Astronote Remix) ft. Bahamadia

If you like what you heard above make sure you download the entire Bigger & Better: The Notorious Remixes project for yourself. Download link and artwork below -

DOWNLOAD: Astronote x Notorious B.I.G - Bigger & Better: The Notorious Remixes (2009)

Next up I have another great remix of Everyday Struggle that I stumbled across on YouTube. There's not really too much more I can say about this track besides that it was produced by DeTayl and is really good. Check it out below -

The next musical bonus is an awesome mash-up of Biggie Small's Everyday Struggle with Frank Sinatra's "A Day in the Life of a Fool". I've got no idea who produced it but it's always awesome to hear cool mash-ups like this that brng together artists from completely different genres or eras.

Finally I'm going to leave you with some more video's for two of my other favourite Notorious B.I.G. tracks. Now these two tracks may not be prime example of Biggie at his most lyrically compelling but there's no denying that they are ridiculously catchy. Firstly we have "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" which appeared on Biggie's second album "Life After Death" and features the lyrical stylings of Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and rapper turned preacher turned rapper again, Ma$e. I just love this song, it's a great track, the hook is stupidly catchy and the video is a perfect example of a typical rap video in the 90's, the mirrored rooms, the fisheye lenses and those ridiculous multi-coloured jumpsuits.

While the final video is for the seminal Biggie song "Juicy". This song is a true hip-hop classic and it is considered by many to be one of the greatest hip hop recordings of all time. It's a really introspective song and a true storytellers track, chronicling Biggie's rags to riches story. Enjoy both of these hip-hop gems below.

Sadly that brings us to the end of the comeback edition of Throwback Thursday. Turn that frown upside down because I will be back next week bringing you another lost musical gem. As you readers have become accustomed to having a clue on who or what will be featured in next week's edition, I suppose I should oblige. Next week will signal the end of the run of hip-hop music that we've recently featured on Throwback Thursday and I'll be moving onto some other genres. This doesn't mean I'm never going to post another hip-hop track as a Throwback selection, I'm just trying to mix it up and bit and have a little bit of variety. So next week's musical selection will feature a very well known English punk-rock band. This particular band was very big in the 70's and 80's. They were part of the new wave of British punk and were dubbed "The Only Band That Matters". The song that I have chosen isn't necessarily a "lost gem" but when I decided to go with this band for Throwback Thursday #12 there was no doubt in my mind it had to be this song because it's my absolute favourite. This particular track appeared on their 5th studio album which was released in 1982 and the song became their highest charting single worldwide. I really don't want to to say too much more otherwise I'll give it away but I will throw in the word clue "Sharif". Again if you think you know the group, the song or both post it in the comments sections below. Otherwise I'll see you back here next week where all will be revealed. Throwback!