Clutch Vault: Notorious B.I.G.'s 'Hypnotize' Hypnotizes In 1996

Posted 11/30/11 11:00 am EST by Brett Smiley in Music, Video

There's a gold mine of classic hip-hop, rock, metal and other awesome videos from yesteryear in the MTV Yearbook and elsewhere on the Web. With all these excellent visuals at our disposal, we've decided to roll out some favorite nostalgia blasts to the face for the Clutch Vault, which is best experienced with a friend.

Towards the end of Notorious B.I.G.'s short life, before we celebrated his posthumous release Life After Death, Bad Boy Records released Biggie's larger-than-life banger "Hypnotize" as a single on Dec. 13, 1996. The track was recorded between November 1995 and September 1996. "Hypnotize" immediately debuted at number two on Billboard's Hot 100 (right behind Diddy's "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"). On March 9, 1997, Notorious died. The track later reached number one, making Wallace the fifth artist in Hot 100 history to have a posthumous chart-topper. Check out the video.