Song by Song: "Juicy" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ready to Die

Born Christopher George Latore Wallace on May 29, 1972, Notorious B.I.G. is also known as Biggie Smalls. His debut album, "Ready to Die" was released on September 13, 1994. The "Juicy" single included "Unbelievable" on the B-Side. The song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart, at 14 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and at 27 on the Hot 100.

Answer: teachers

Notorious B.I.G. also dedicates the album "To all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustlin' in front of / Called the police on me when I was just tryin' to make some money to feed my daughter..." This record was certified gold in the US by RIAA and platinum in the UK by BPI. It was also certified gold in Denmark by IFPI.

Answer: Puff Daddy

Sean "Puffy" Combs is also known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy, or Puffy. Born in New York City in 1969, he began his career as a talent director at Uptown Records. In 1993, he established the label Bad Boy Entertainment.

Answer: Poke

Poke, born Jean-Claude Olivier, along with Tone, born Samuel Barnes, are known as the "Trackmasters." They produced numerous commercial hit records from the mid-1990s through the 2000s, including records by Nas, LL Cool J, Destiny's Child, and 50 Cent. They were eventually joined in their work by Frank "Nitty" Pimentel.

Answer: Word Up!

"It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up! magazine
Salt-n-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine
Hangin' pictures on my wall."

"Word Up!" magazine, owned by Enoble Media Group, has been defunct as of 2012. It published articles on African-American teen models, singers, and musicians, with a focus on rap, R&B, and hip hop music. Heavy D and Salt N' Peppa were major early 1990s hip-hop celebrities, and Salt N' Pepa went on to have their own VH1 show beginning in 2007.

Answer: Rap Attack

The tape popping refers to the fact that if you listened to a music cassette tape all the way to the end, it would pop out of the player when it reached the end (unless you had one of those fancy cassette players that would flip it over within the case). "Rap Attack" was the first exclusive rap radio show aired on a major station, by WBLS, in April of 1983. It was lead by Mr. Magic and featured Marley Marl as its DJ. The show was co-produced by Tyrone "Fly Ty" Williams. The show - and Mr. Magic - had a great influence on broadening the popularity of rap and hip-hop music.

Answer: The truck bombing beneath the North Tower of the World Trade Center

The song was released in 1994, before the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the 1999 protests in Seattle, or the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The line alludes to the February 26, 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, when a truck bomb went off below the North Tower.

The failed terroristic goal was to send one tower crashing into another and to bring down both to kill scores of people. This did not happen, though six people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in the explosion.

Answer: sardines

"Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner?"

In this "rags to riches" story, Notorious B.I.G. recalls his origins in poverty, when he had to eat sardines for dinner. In the September 13, 2012 blog article "Sardines, the Poor Man's Steak," dietician Nicole Maftoum writes, "As cheap as rice, [sardines] have always been considered the food for the poor... They were the first fish to be canned by Napoleon Bonaparte and gained popularity by feeding many citizens."

Answer: Robin Leach

Robin Leach was the host of the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" TV series that aired from 1984 to 1995 and profiled the opulent houses of celebrities. Here, Notorious B.I.G. is emphasizing how he went from lowly living conditions to lavish ones. Here "Leach" rhymes loosely with "thief."

Answer: dis

"Dis" is shortened slang for "disrespect." The term gained popular usage in the 1980s. In this rags-to-riches story, Notorious B.I.G. goes from getting no attention from women to being surrounded by them because of his success and popularity:

"Girls used to diss me
Now they write letters 'cause they miss me
I never thought it could happen, this rappin' stuff."

"Juicy" peaked at number 16 on the UK R&B (OCC) chart.

Answer: pistols

"Gats" originates from Gattling gun and is slang for any type of pistol. This line alludes to a rough and dangerous past life, which has now been revolutionized by the rapper's success. The Mississippi River runs from Minnesota to Louisiana, going through or alongside ten different states, and this line emphasizes Notorious B.I.G.'s widespread popularity. The honeys (girls) who once dissed the rapper now "play" him close in the same way "butter play" (or melds with or clings) to toast.

Answer: five carats

"Condos in Queens, indo for weeks
Sold-out seats to hear Biggie Smalls speak
Livin' life without fear
Puttin' five karats in my baby girl's ear."

In ten years, "Juicy" climbed Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time from number 424 in 2011 to number 32 in 2021. Meanwhile, BBC ranked the song number one on its list of the Greatest Hip-hop Songs of All Time.

Answer: Sega Genesis

Here "Genesis" rhymes with "this." The Sega Genesis was released in 1989 in North America. Notorious B.I.G. goes on to describe his rich life:

"50-inch screen, money-green leather sofa
Got two rides, a limousine with a chauffeur
Phone bill about two G's flat
No need to worry, my accountant handles that."

Music video cable station VH1 ranked "Juicy" number one on its list of the 40 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of the 1990s.

Answer: roaches everywhere

"Celebratin' every day, no more public housin'
Thinkin' back on my one-room shack
Now my mom . . .
. . . loves to show me off of course
Smiles every time my face is up in The Source
We used to fuss when the landlord dissed us
No heat, wonder why Christmas missed us."

According to Rolling Stone magazine, Notorious B.I.G.'s mother, Voletta Wallace, said, "I told him, 'No landlord dissed us!'" and Biggie replied that he was just writing "a rags-to-riches kinda story.'"

The Source referenced in these lines is an American hip hop magazine. The Source included "Juicy" on its 1998 list of the 100 Best Rap Singles of All Time.

Answer: Pete Rock

In a February 20, 2012 interview with the magazine Wax Poetics, Pete Rock (born Peter O. Phillips) claimed he created the original version of the song's beat but "didn't get credit for it." He said producer Puffy "came to my house, heard the beat going on the drum machine. . . and the next thing you know it comes out." The producer had Pete Rock do a remix of the song, "but I tell people," he told Wax Poetics, that "I will fight it to the end, that I did the original version of that." Pete Rock repeated his accusation in an interview with the Juan Epstein Podcast.