Ready To Die - The Notorious B.I.G.

“Ready To Die” is Notorious B.I.G’s landmark debut album that was first released in 1994 and has since been re-mastered. The album only features Method Man as a guest, with Biggie Smalls setting out to tell a rags to riches story with minimum interruption.

“Ready To Die” was certified (four times) Platinum and is widely considered to have reignited the popularity of East Coast rap during a time when West Coast was dominating. It contains many tough concepts, as you would guess from the suggestion of the bleak title, with Brooklyn-born Biggie delving into the dark side of his New York City upbringing with majestically smooth lyrical flow and theatrical storytelling. He illustrates of many of his struggles, from his perceived necessity to deal drugs to his necessity for firearms and several run-ins with the authorities.

The album’s toughness is loosened with first single “Juicy”, in which Biggie Smalls autobiographically celebrates his arrival as a successful rapper, giving analogies between the hard past and present. Signaling the intent of the album, he declares:

“Yeah, this album is dedicated to all the teachers that told me I’d never amount to nothin’, to all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustlin’ in front of that called the police on me when I was just tryin’ to make some money to feed my daughters, and all the n*ggas in the struggle, you know what I’m sayin’.”

“Juicy” celebration on the album is backed up with “Big Poppa’”, which further lightens the general cruelness elsewhere. Biggie issues several self-tributes involving his allure to women, charm and sexual performance, while delivering stories demonstrating the hedonistic luxuries of his life such as his normality with Moet or his mansion, Jacuzzi and Mercedes Benz. “Big Poppa” made it to No.1 on the U.S Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart and, as the second single, increased already mounting popularity for Biggie Smalls.

The album is most typified by details of violent and uncaring acts, skillfully portrayed in Biggie’s more explicit stories, such as the gun carrying antics in “Gimme The Loot”, which elaborates armed robbery; the lethal robbery path continued by “Warning”, as Biggie narrates being victim of a pre-warned robbery that ultimately ends in the theatrical murder of the robbers signaled by two gun shots; and “The What”, with the album’s only tandem, featuring Method Man, as they deliver more threatening and ruthless lyrics.

The re-mastered release features two songs added to the 1994 original album: “Who Shot Ya”, which was included and extended from the posthumous album “Born Again”a and “Just Playing”.

“Ready To Die” is the pivotal album that commercially introduced the oratory skill of Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. Big Poppa) to the world and began the legacy still left behind today. The re-mastered album is available on iTunes (check it out here), released in 2004 and is a must listen for anyone with the pleasure for hip hop.

Rating: 5/5