In “Ten Crack Commandments,” Biggie presents himself as the Moses of the drug game, juxtaposing the force of God with the dark forces of capitalism, much like Jay Z’s “D'Evils” As in “D'Evils,” the ruthless street religion is stronger than Christianity.

Many believe B.I.G drew inspiration for this song from the July 1994 issue of The Source magazine. It’s the same copy his mom was reading in the “Juicy” video. Their list read:

1. Never let anyone know how much money you have.
2. Never let anyone know what your next move will be.
3. Trust no one.
4. Never use what you sell.
5. Never give credit.
6. Never sell out of your home.
7. Keep family and business separate.
8. Never park your stash on your person.
9. If you’re not being arrested, never be seen communicating with the police.
10. G.C.G.C. (Great Consignment, Grave Confinement)

This song was originally made as a demo for Angie Martinez’s radio show on Hot 97. Producer DJ Premier told The Combat Jack Show in 2013:

The track was actually a promo that me and Jeru did for Angie Martinez on Hot 97. Back then she did a show called the “Hot 5 at 9″ where she would play the top 5 records at 9 o’clock. If you listen to the scratches, before I added “ten” later on when Biggie got it, I just keep going to five right after the beat drops because it was for the top 5 at 9.

Puffy was guest hosting the show and when he heard the promo he was like “what the hell, who did this?” and Angie told him I did it. So he goes live on the radio like “yo Premier, if you’re out there, call me.” One of my homeboys paged me and told me that Puffy was on the radio telling me to call him. I turn on Hot 97 and right before I was about to turn the dial off, I hear “Premier, Premier, please call me if you hear me on the radio.” He told me he wanted to buy the promo.

I told Jeru and he was like “yo, it’s hip hop. No big deal.” So I sold it to him and Biggie already had a concept, he wanted to call it “Ten Crack Commandments.” I took the “Ten” from a spaceship count down when they go “ten, nine, eight, seven…” And Biggie just rapped over it right there."