Warning (by Notorious BIG)

The track's real masterstroke is the opening exchange between BIG and his chum on the phone(the chum being BIG with a different vocal treatment, i think). The pal has already told him some folks are coming to get him, and then reminds BIG of some folks he used to hang with.("Remember them niggas from the hill up in brownsville / thatcha rolled dice with / smoked and got nice with")

Big remembers, but says nah, they wouldn't do that. His pal cuts in quickly - he didn't say it was them, it was just that those chaps introduced him to the real villains!

Great attention to detail - instead of the pal ringing up and immediately revealing the identity of the attackers, the exchange takes an unnecessary de-tour. It's much more conversational and unforced this way - human exchanges are full of false starts and tiny misunderstandings like this. It's so nicely observed.

Lots of great moments still to come! When his pal finishes, BIG wasting no time in telling him to "Call the coroner!" The rottweilers by the door being fed gunpowder. The pronounciation of "Hard-COOORE!" reprised from the previous track "Machine Gun Funk".

An odd personal observation - the "sss" sound Big uses at the end of "dang-er-usss" sounds curiously effeminate to these ears - most definitely at odds with the macho tone of the track. I prefer not to bother listening to the short skit after the song, where the two robbers arrive on BIG's property and get shot. I prefer to think of "Warning" as the sound of BIG psyching himself up for a violent conflict, without any real ACTION.

There's so much going on in this song, i could write all day about it. It's great!

What do you think?