Just a few days ago, the tracklist from a listening party for Biggie’s album—then titled Life After Death… Til Death Do Us Part—held in January 1997, was made public.
The tracklist contains 28 songs—four more than on the official album. However, one track appears twice, possibly due to a printing error, suggesting the original number of songs may have been 27. Even more notably, the list includes five unreleased tracks, such as “Once Upon a Time” featuring Fat Joe, “Stayin’ Alive”, and three untitled songs produced by RZA, Easy Mo Bee, and the late DJ Clark Kent. In total, nine tracks from the list remain officially unreleased.
The tracklist also includes “Spanish Fly”, a song that didn’t make the final cut, although it is believed to be an early version of a track that later appeared on Black Rob’s 2000 album Life Story. Additionally, some tracks had different working titles. “Comin’ Out” featuring Ma$e eventually became “Mo Money, Mo Problems”, sampling Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out.” “Bones Track” turned into “Notorious Thugs” with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and “Mo Bounce” became “Going Back to Cali”.
Despite the significance of this discovery, the tracklist has not been confirmed by Bad Boy Records.
Fat Joe, who is mentioned in one of the unreleased songs, has previously spoken about working with Biggie before his tragic death in 1997. The Bronx rapper even claimed that he and BIG had plans to release a full collaborative album, which allegedly included diss tracks aimed at 2Pac.
“You know, Tim, I remember everything, and they always say I’m lying or saying too much,” Fat Joe said during a 2021 livestream with Timbaland. “You know I was working on an album with Biggie? We recorded about five songs together. And he told me: ‘You’re the Latin Don, and I’m the Black Don.’”
Fat Joe admitted that some of the tracks were directed at Tupac, but he understands why they were never released, given the tragic passing of both artists.
Following this revelation, hip-hop fans are now wondering whether these lost tracks from Life After Death will ever be found or officially released.