"Mo Money Mo Problems" is a song by American rapper

the Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

, released as the second single from his second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''

Life After Death ''Life After Death'' is the second and final studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on March 25, 1997, by Bad Boy Records and distributed by Arista Records. A double album, it was released sixteen days after his murder. ...

'' (1997) on July 15, 1997, by

Bad Boy Records Bad Boy Entertainment, doing business as Bad Boy Records, is an American independent record label. The label was founded in 1993 by rapper and record producer Sean Combs. During the mid-1990s, the label signed hip-hop and contemporary R&B, R&B a ...

and

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

. It features guest performances from rappers

Mase Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Mase (often stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper. Best known for his work with Sean Combs, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs' Bad Boy Records, he signed with the label in 1996 ...

and

Puff Daddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

; the Notorious B.I.G. and Mase both co-wrote the song, while

Stevie J Steven Aaron Jordan (born November 2, 1973) Note: Live HHS link goes to error page, but copy-pasting the URL works. is an American DJ, record producer, and television personality. As part of the Bad Boy Records production team the Hitmen, Jorda ...

co-produced it with Combs. "Mo Money Mo Problems" contains a sample and an

interpolation In the mathematics, mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one ...

of "

I'm Coming Out "I'm Coming Out" is a song recorded by American singer Diana Ross. It was written and produced by Chic members Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, and released on August 22, 1980 by Motown, as the second single from Ross' self-titled eleventh ...

" by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

, hence

Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bassist and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco with musician Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the 53rd greates ...

and

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

are credited as songwriters; the sampled portions are heard in the production, while the

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

is interpolative and performed by

Kelly Price Kelly Cherelle Price (born April 4, 1973) is an American R&B and gospel singer. Beginning her career in 1992, Price originally performed backing vocals for Mariah Carey on multiple songs, including Carey's ''Billboard'' Hot 100-number one sin ...

in an uncredited appearance. Released posthumously, "Mo Money Mo Problems" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks in 1997, replacing "

I'll Be Missing You "I'll Be Missing You" is a tribute song by American rapper Puff Daddy and singer Faith Evans, featuring the R&B group 112. It honors Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, a fellow artist on Bad Boy Records and Evans's husband, who was mu ...

" at the top of the chart, Puff Daddy's own tribute to the rapper. The song is the Notorious B.I.G.'s second posthumous number-one single, following " Hypnotize", making him the only artist in Hot 100 history to have two number-one singles posthumously. It was the sixth song to hit number one posthumously for a credited artist. It received a nomination for the

Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. The award was discontinue ...

in 1998. Based on airplay and chart success, the song is considered one of the most popular singles in hip hop history. In 2021, Samoan Australian hip hop group

No Money Enterprise No Money Enterprise (often abbreviated as NME) are a Samoan Australian hip hop group formed in 2019 in Logan City, Queensland. Consisting of members Rndy Svge & Tommy OT, their musical style combines elements of drill music and hip hop. They a ...

covered the song on Australian youth broadcaster

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

's ''

Like a Version ''Like a Version'' is a long-running weekly segment on Australian youth radio station Triple J. It involves musicians playing two songs live in the Triple J studio, one of their own songs and then a cover version. The series was created by pres ...

'' segment.

Critical reception

Ralph Tee from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

s ''RM'' rated "Mo Money Mo Problems" five out of five, picking it as Hip Hop Tune of the Week. He wrote, "Biggie's profile could not be greater right now, particularly in the States. (...) It's the one true light moment on an extremely dark album and brilliantly utilises the

sample from '

', cleverly weaved into some serious big beats, scratching and guest appearances by

and

. Biggie delivers his rap in the natural self assured way he always did so well, the chorus being as infectious as they get on the song from the album which always screamed of a hit from day one."

Commercial performance

"Mo Money Mo Problems" was able to top the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks, giving Biggie his second number one hit in the US. The song hit number one after he had died. It was preceded by "

" by

featuring 112 and

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 in pursuit of a recording career. Evans initially performed as ...

(meaning that Puff Daddy spent 13 weeks in a row at the top of the Hot 100) and was succeeded by "

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

" by

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

, which was also co-produced by Puff Daddy. "Mo Money Mo Problems" also reached number six on the UK Singles Chart.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Mo Money Mo Problems", directed by

Hype Williams Harold "Hype" Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video and film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adelphi Univ ...

, featured Mase and Combs in futuristic locations designed by

Ron Norsworthy Ron Norsworthy is an American visual artist and designer. His work employs notions of spaces and decoration of space as narratives about his lived experience as a queer person of color as well as that of his community/communities. His interdisci ...

, including a tunnel lined with

fluorescent lamp A fluorescent lamp, or fluorescent tube, is a low-pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor, to produce ultraviolet and make a phosphor ...

s and a stark white chamber with pressurized air blowing out of the floor, allowing the two to float in midair. This video is also famous for the red shiny jackets that are worn by Combs and Mase. The "air chamber" also had a video screen showing, at first, images of Kelly Price

lip-synching Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements ...

to the sample of Diana Ross' voice and singing the song's chorus. During the final verse, which the Notorious B.I.G. performed, Mase and Puffy looked on as the video screen showed archival footage of B.I.G. performing, it ran at a speed so that the footage seemed to sync with B.I.G.'s vocals; since the rapper had died just prior to the release of ''Life After Death'', and well before the filming of the video, this was the only way to have him appear in the video. The video features appearances from

Sheek Louch Sean Divine Jacobs (born September 30, 1974), better known by his stage name Sheek Louch (or simply Sheek), is an American rapper, best known as a member of East Coast hip hop trio the Lox, which he formed in 1994 with Jadakiss and Styles P. ...

The LOX The Lox (stylized The LOX or The L.O.X.) is an American hip hop trio composed of East Coast rappers Sheek Louch, Styles P and Jadakiss. Each hailing from Yonkers, New York, the group formed in 1994 and signed with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Reco ...

Riddick Bowe Riddick Lamont Bowe (born August 10, 1967) is an American former professional boxer and professional kickboxer who competed between 1989 and 2008 in boxing, and from 2013 to 2016 in kickboxing (Muay Thai). He held the undisputed world heavyweig ...

, and Nashiem Myrick. The video also has a short story, which is about how Combs was competing in a golf tournament and gained help from the spirit of The Notorious B.I.G, who helps him win the tournament. This was a reaction to the newly popular success of

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

. The music video was released in July 1997.

MuchMoreMusic CTV Life Channel is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary. The channel primarily broadcasts factual and reality programming on lifestyle topics such as cooking, home impr ...

ranked "Mo Money Mo Problems" number 31 on '' Listed''s "40 Most Memorable Videos Pt. 1 & 2" for its flashy wardrobe, and use of syncing old footage with the lyrics.

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

ranked the song number 58 as one of the "100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years".

Track listing

* CD single # "Mo Money Mo Problems" Produced by Sean Combs (radio mix) – 4:12 # "Lovin You Tonight" (radio mix) – 5:07 # "Mo Money Mo Problems" (instrumental) – 4:12 # "Mo Money Mo Problems" (Razor-N-Go Club mix, short version) – 4:09 # "Mo Money Mo Problems" (Razor-N-Go Club mix, long version) – 10:33

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

No Money Enterprise version

Samoan Australian hip hop group

covered the song for Australian youth broadcaster

's ''

'' segment on 26 November 2021. The cover was digitally released the following week, on 3 December 2021. According to ''

NME Australia ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

''s Jackson Langford, they "remained sonically faithful to Biggie's original version", with member Tommy OT rapping

's verse, whilet Randy OT $avag.e and OT Stallyon added their own original verses to the song. The performance also included a live drummer and a female backing vocalist. Australian

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

website ''

Junkee Junkee.com is an Australian popular culture and news website run by new media company Junkee Media. It covers various topics including film, university, food, TV, politics, travel, career, health, and Internet culture. Its target demographic is ...

''s David James Young ranked the cover at number 32 out of 38 in his list of the best ''Like a Version'' covers of 2021, stating " heBiggie classic doesn't quite meld with the Enterprise's style."

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1996 songs 1997 singles The Notorious B.I.G. songs Bad Boy Records singles Arista Records singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Funk-rap songs Mase songs Music videos directed by Hype Williams No Money Enterprise songs Sean Combs songs Songs released posthumously Songs written by Mase Songs written by the Notorious B.I.G. Songs written by Sean Combs