evidence: Why has The Notorious B.I.G.’s debut Juicy topped BBC Music’s poll of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time? Sowmya Krishnamurthy explains. [...] The 1994 release is a watershed moment in the timeline of hip-hop, marking the official arrival of Biggie Smalls (born Christopher Wallace). Juicy is a modern bildungsroman of a young, black man growing up in Brooklyn. "It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up! Magazine," he recalls about his life. "I made the change from a common thief/To up close and personal with Robin Leach." [...] There’s a universality in Juicy that enables it to stand the test of time, whether you grew up in the belly of Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighbourhood, or you experience your own daily struggle. Twenty-five years later, Biggie’s uplifting message of perseverance, of better days, still resonates. We don’t have him around anymore, but the aspiration he left behind continues to inspire. And it’s all good.