Despite sometimes seeming strained, Big and Puff’s relationship was essential. Big was a natural talent whose legacy as a rapper was cemented as soon as he picked up a mic. But Puff was the catalyst in his transition from the streets to fame. If Jay-Z was the successor to Big Daddy Kane and Nas to Rakim, then Biggie was the natural Kool G Rap. But G Rap, for all his lisping fast rap bluster, is the most overlooked in that triptych for a reason. He wasn’t a star and had no real inclination to be one. Left to his own devices, Big could’ve very well been a rap legend and a commercial flop. In that same XXL “Making Of,” producers tell of Big not wanting to do “Juicy” originally, hoping instead that “Machine Gun Funk” would be his first single. Eventually he conceded to Puff’s populist sensibility. Biggie, the human, had undeniable star qualities and a pimp’s sense of swagger to offset his perpetual exhaustion, but musically he wasn’t a pop star. He was a hardcore rapper. That he slid so comfortably into party tracks like “Hypnotize” was a testament to his natural talent. But really his likeability was contingent on his personality. Puff was there as a liaison for this playful side.

And while Puff was a successful translator, Big’s peers were unable to synthesize those qualities. Jay-Z has swiped entire verses from the Biggie oeuvre to great success but never struck the same chords. Shyne and Guerilla Black had their brief moments in the limelight while directly mimicking his voice, but they never came close to synthesizing its emotional power. Biggie’s individuality had value in its own time, but the slippery, irreproducible nature of his music and his persona have diminished his tangible influence on rap a decade and a half after his death. In many ways, today’s rap landscape looks like the exact inverse of the world that Big strived to create. Underground and mainstream hip-hop across the board are instead dominated not by an energy but by a disaffected cool, more Jay than Big. Narrative storytelling is out, formless stream of consciousness is in. Beats, rhymes and content are less aggressive than ever. It’s as if Biggie never even existed. This generation digests Big as an icon, not a human. And to do so is to misunderstand him completely.