Pepsi Turns Unreleased 1997 Biggie Freestyle Into A New Ad
To commemorate the late rap legend’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month, Pepsi has remastered a previously unreleased freestyle by The Notorious B.I.G.
On Wednesday (October 21), Variety reported that the soda brand worked with Biggie’s collaborators Cey Adams and DJ Enuff, to remaster the track. Biggie initially performed the freestyle on-air during an interview with DJ Enuff on Hot 97 in 1997. In the freestyle, the late Brooklyn rapper expresses his love for Pepsi.
“Nothing can beat the P-E-P-S-I drink it constantly / Something ’bout the taste feels great, less filling / Tell ’em Biggie said drink it all, don’t test me / Nothing else beats a Pepsi / If it is, let’s see/ I’m thirsty,” Biggie raps on the track.
Speaking to OkayPlayer, DJ Enuff revealed that Biggie was inspired to do the freestyle after they saw another unnamed rap group “put down a commercial for a competing soda company.”
“We were excited about that. And then, this was like the beginning of the culture just being accepted in mass media, all across the damn world,” he explained. Biggie approached him with the idea, which he was down for and the two came up with the concept for the rap. The radio veteran revealed that there were plans to turn the freestyle into a commercial Spike Lee was even attached to shoot the video, but things ultimately fell through.
DJ Enuff tried again for a commercial to roll out in conjunction with the Notorious film release in 2009 , which did not pan out. He decided to give it a shot “one more time” when Bigge’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was announced in January.
“I ain’t gonna lie, something that was done 25 years ago getting light today, in 2020, is bananas,” he told OkayPlayer.
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The remastered track arrives along with an accompanying animated visual from Antnamation in a nod to the late rap icon’s upbringing in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood. This comes as Biggie will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the institution’s 2020 class in November. He will be inducted alongside Whitney Houston, the Doobie Brothers, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and T-Rex. The ceremony was originally slated to take place on May 2. But the event was postponed until November 7 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Check out the visual below.
