0075678388521. Pre-Owned: Good condition. CD. The weight of Notorious B.I.G. s legacy is so profound that most major rap MCs and R&B singers alive -- and some who are dead -- are willing to be attached to it in whatever form possible. It could also be argued that anyone with the means is more than willing to profit from it in a monetary way. Here s Duets: The Final Chapter released just before Christmas Day 2005 following 1999 s Born Again which was released just before Christmas Day 1999. Like Born Again Duets takes bits of unused material from the late legend and that can entail full-blown verses looped declarations or punctuative interjections. On some tracks Biggie s presence is no more prominent than a handclap or a snare hit. Check the lead track It Has Been Said where he s limited to what ungh yeah ha-ha uh-huh. If you can get past the fact that a lot of tracks barely feature the headliner or listen without imagining the original contexts of the patched-together scraps Duets can be sporadically riveting. The list of guests is overwhelming with Jay-Z Nas Mary J. Blige Faith Evans R. Kelly T.I. Slim Thug Eminem Lil Wayne Missy Elliott the Clipse Snoop Dogg and Freeway representing roughly half of the involved. Only a few tracks contain significant Biggie contributions and it s not as if they provide any further insight or add to his long-established legend. Many of his vocals are not pulled from professional studio-quality recordings which only makes them sound more displaced. Perhaps Korn s Jonathan Davis put it best when he told Billboard about the project: It s f*ckin weird to be doing a song with someone who is deceased! His description applies to what it s like to listen to the disc. ~ Andy Kellman Rovi