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Duets: The Final Chapter (sometimes referred as The Biggie Duets) is the final posthumous remix/studio album featuring hip hop icon The Notorious B.I.G.. The album was released by Bad Boy Records on December 20, 2005 and charted at #3 selling 438,000 copies, beaten by the extremely high sales of Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable and Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough. In the UK it climbed as high as #13 after the release of the album's first single "Nasty Girl". It is his third posthumous album that went Double-platinum and is said to be his last album of mainly new material.

The album featured orchestrated duets between Biggie and a number of popular rappers and singers, much like the previous LP Born Again (1999). Biggie's lyrics come from studio pieces of some of the songs he created during his life (his verse from "Notorious Thugs" in "Spit Your Game"), along with some less common lyrics (a freestyle from a promotional tape on "Hustler's Story"), & unreleased material (Biggie's verse in "Living in Pain" comes from an unreleased song from Ready to Die called "House of Pain") all remixed into duets. The package also included a DVD featuring previously unreleased performance footage and several of Biggie's music videos.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllHipHop
Allmusic
Entertainment Weekly	B+
IGN	(7/10)
Jam!
PopMatters
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Stylus Magazine	B−
Virgin Media

The album has received mixed to negative reviews by critics; Peter Relic of Rolling Stone gave the album only 2 stars out of 5 and commented that the title was wrong because of the major presence of other artists, not The Notorious B.I.G. Relic also pointed out the appearances by artists who he believed not to contribute much substance. Andy Kellman of Allmusic rated the album 2.5 out of 5. Soren Baker of Los Angeles Times gave it two stars out of four. However, Steve Jones of USA Today gave it all four stars. Method Man in particular was a huge critic of the album, who stated "They got niggas on that album Big would have never rocked with, for real. " He also brought up the fact that he was the only other rapper that Biggie chose to have on his debut album Ready to Die. Eminem, Obie Trice, Ashanti, Faith Evans, Snoop Dogg, Akon, R. Kelly, Fat Joe, Nas, Mary J. Blige, P. Diddy, Nelly, Toni Braxton, Jagged Edge, Destiny's Child, Erykah Badu, Charlie Wilson, 3LW, Cheri Dennis, Brandy, Solange Knowles, Bobby Valentino, Big Pun, Lil Wayne, Jim Jones, Lil' Kim, MC Lyte, Juelz Santana, Bob Marley, Scarface, Jay-Z, Clipse, Korn, Krayzie Bone, Ludacris, The Game, Mobb Deep, Slim Thug, T.I., Big Gee, 2Pac and Missy Elliott appear on the album and the interludes is spoken by Biggie's children by Christopher "CJ" Wallace and T-Yana Wallace. The last track of the album is the outro spoken by Biggie's mom, Voletta Wallace.

Singles

The album's first single was "Nasty Girl", featuring P Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge, Avery Storm, Jazze Pha and Fat Joe. It took Biggie's vocal samples from his song "Nasty Boy". The single climbed to #1 in the UK in its second week of release, where it stayed for 2 weeks and became his first and only #1 single there. The single also helped the album climb to #13 and therefore, Duets: The Final Chapter became his highest charting album to date there, out peaking the #23 position of Life After Death. In the US, "Nasty Girl" made #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the single also made the top 20 in Australia.

The second single from the album is "Spit Your Game", featuring Twista and Krayzie Bone, a double A-side single with "Hold Ya Head", a duet with Bob Marley, which was originally the b-side to "Nasty Girl" in the UK and Australia. "Spit Your Game" is a remake of the Biggie song "Notorious Thugs". "Hold Ya Head" was produced by Clinton Sparks, and features a sample from the Marley song "Johnny Was". It features Biggie's vocal samples from "Suicidal Thoughts".

Track listing

Notes/Vocal sample sources

• Biggie's vocals from "It Has Been Said" come from "Victory"
• Biggie's vocals from "Spit Your Game" come from "Notorious Thugs"
• Biggie's vocals from "Whatchu Want" come from an unreleased song called "Whatchu Want"
• Biggie's vocals from "Get Your Grind On" come from "My Downfall"
• Biggie's vocals from "Living the Life" come from "Let Me Get Down"
• Biggie's vocals from "1970 Somethin'" come from "Respect"
• Biggie's vocals from "Nasty Girl" come from "Nasty Boy"
• Biggie's and 2Pac's vocals from "Living in Pain" come from an unreleased song called "House of Pain"
• Biggie's vocals from "I'm With Whateva" come from "Ready to Die"
• Biggie's vocals from "Beef" come from "What's Beef?"
• Biggie's vocals from "Hustler's Story" come from an unreleased song called "You'll See"
• Biggie's vocals from "Breakin' Old Habits" come from "Young G's"
• Biggie's vocals from "Ultimate Rush" come from "Why You Tryin' to Play Me?" and "Drugs"
• Biggie's vocals from "Mi Casa" come from "Friend of Mine"
• Biggie's vocals from "Hold Ya Head" come from "Suicidal Thoughts"
• Biggie's vocals from "Just a Memory" come from "You're Nobody ('Til Somebody Kills You)" and "Come On"
• Biggie's vocals from "Wake Up" come from "If I Should Die Before I Wake" and "Kick in the Door"
• Biggie's vocals from "Want that Old Thing Back" come from "One More Chance"
• Biggie's vocals from "Running Your Mouth" come from an unreleased song called "Whatchu Want"

Credited samples

"It Has Been Said"

• "Victory" by Puff Daddy featuring The Notorious B.I.G

"Spit Your Game"

• "My Ship Is Coming In" by Walter Jackson

"Living the Life"

• "Take Time To Tell Her" by Jerry Butler

"Living in Pain"

• "Blue Sky Silver Bird" by Lamont Dozier

"I'm With Whateva"

• "Halloween" by John Carpenter

"Ultimate Rush"

• "Drugs" by Lil' Kim

"Beef"

• "My Other Love" by Bunny Sigler

"Hold Ya Head"

• "Johnny Was" by Bob Marley

Songs that did not make the final cut

• "The Grind" (featuring 50 Cent) — Later released on 50 Cent's 2006 mixtape "The Empires Strikes Back" with Statik Selektah & G-Unit Records.
• "The Funk" (featuring Redman, Busta Rhymes & Nate Dogg) — Later released on Redman's 2010 mixtape "Pancake & Syrup" without Busta Rhymes as a feature.
• "Make It Hot" (featuring Ness & Aasim)
• "Here We Go" (featuring Q-Tip, Babs & Aasim)
• "Bust A Nut" (featuring Too Short & Webbie)
• "Three Bricks" (featuring Ghostface Killah & Raekwon) — Later released as a bonus track on Ghostface Killah's 2006 album "Fishscale".
• "God's Callin' Me" (featuring Canibus & Noreaga)
• "(Unknown track)" featuring Lil Cease
• "It's Not A Game" featuring 2Pac & Big Pun

Charts and certifications

• Pages with empty short description
• The Notorious B.I.G. albums
• 2005 albums
• Albums published posthumously
• Vocal duet albums
• Bad Boy Records albums
• Atlantic Records albums
• Albums produced by Scott Storch
• Albums produced by Swizz Beatz
• Albums produced by Just Blaze
• Albums produced by Danja (record producer)
• Albums produced by Eminem
• Albums produced by Jazze Pha
• Albums produced by Chink Santana
• Albums produced by Havoc (musician)
• Albums produced by Atticus Ross
• Albums produced by DJ Green Lantern
• Albums produced by Scram Jones
• Albums produced by Dre & Vidal
• English-language albums