Ready to Die

Ready to Die
Studio album by The Notorious B.I.G.
Released	September 13, 1994
Recorded	1993–1994 The Hit Factory, D&D Studios (New York City)
Genre	Hip hop
Length	68:58
Label	Bad Boy 73000
Producer	Sean "Puffy" Combs (exec.), Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, Pete Rock, Poke, Bluez Brothers, DJ Premier, Lord Finesse, Darnell Scott
The Notorious B.I.G. chronology
Ready to Die (1994) Life After Death (1997)
Singles from Ready to Die
"Juicy" Released: August 8, 1994 "Big Poppa" Released: February 20, 1995 "One More Chance" Released: June 9, 1995

Ready to Die is the debut album of American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released September 13, 1994 on Sean "Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy Records. It serves as the first release on the record label. Recording sessions for the album took place from 1993 to 1994 at The Hit Factory and D&D Studios in New York City. The partly autobiographical album tells the story of The Notorious B.I.G.'s experiences as a young criminal, referring to himself as "the black Frank White". Ready to Die is his only studio album released during his lifetime; B.I.G. was murdered days prior to the release of his second album Life After Death (1997).

Ready to Die gained strong reviews on release and became a commercial success, reaching quadruple platinum sales. It was significant for revitalizing the East Coast hip hop scene, amid West Coast hip hop's commercial dominance.^[1] The album's second single, "Big Poppa", was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards. Ready to Die has been regarded by several music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 133 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, making it the third highest hip hop album on the list. In 2006, Time included it on its list of the 100 greatest albums of all time.^[2]

Conception

Recording

The album was recorded in New York City (mainly in The Hit Factory recording studio) in two stages between 1993 and 1994. In 1994, Biggie was only 21–22 years old when he recorded the album. Biggie was signed to the Uptown Records label by A&R Sean "Puffy" Combs in 1993. The following year Biggie started recording his debut album in New York, after having made numerous guest appearances on label mates' singles the previous year. The first tracks recorded include the album's darker, less radio-friendly content (including "Ready To Die," "Gimme The Loot" and "Things Done Changed"). In these sessions, XXL magazine describe an "inexperienced, higher-pitched" Biggie sounding "hungry and paranoid".^[3]

When executive producer Sean "Puffy" Combs was fired from Uptown, Biggie's career hung in limbo, as the album was only partially completed. After a brief period dealing drugs in North Carolina, Biggie returned to the studio the following year on Combs' new Bad Boy Records label possessing "a smoother, more confident vocal tone" and completed the album. In this stage, the more commercial-sounding tracks of the album were recorded, including the album's singles. Between the two stages, XXL writes that Biggie moved from writing his lyrics in notebooks to freestyling them from memory.^[3]

Cover art

The album was released with a cover depicting an infant resembling the artist, though sporting an afro, which pertains to the album's concept of the artist's life from birth to his death. It has been listed as among the best album covers in hip hop.^[4] Rappers Raekwon and Ghostface Killah however, would imply disdainfully on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (Loud, 1995) that this cover concept was first used by Nas on his debut album Illmatic.^[5] The cover concept was similarly followed for the cover of Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III. ^[6]

Music

Lyrics

The Notorious B.I.G.'s lyrics on the album were generally praised by critics. Many critics applauded his story-telling ability such as Allmusic writer, Steve Huey, who stated "His raps are easy to understand, but his skills are hardly lacking — he has a loose, easy flow and a talent for piling multiple rhymes on top of one another in quick succession". He also went on to mention that his lyrics are "firmly rooted in reality, but play like [a] scene from a movie".^[7] Touré, writing for The New York Times, referred to The Notorious B.I.G., proclaiming that he stood out from other rappers because "his lyrics mix autobiographical details about crime and violence with emotional honesty, telling how he felt while making a living as a drug dealer".^[8] The album is also noted for its dark tone and sinister sense of depression.^[7] In the original Rolling Stone review, Cheo H Coker declared that he "maintains a consistent level of tension by juxtaposing emotional highs and lows".^[9] "Things Done Changed" was also one of the few hip hop songs in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature ^[10]

The lyrics on Ready to Die tend to deal with violence, drug dealing, women, alcohol and marijuana use, and other elements of Notorious B.I.G.'s environment. He rapped about these topics in "clear, sparse terms, allowing the lyrics to hit the first time you hear them".^[9] The album contains a loose concept starting out with an intro that details his birth, his early childhood, his adolescence and his life at the point of the album's release.^[8] Songs on the album range from homicide narratives ("Warning") to braggadocios battle raps ("The What," "Unbelievable"). The final song was "Suicidal Thoughts", a song where The Notorious B.I.G. contemplates and finally commits suicide.

Production

The production on the album was mainly handled by Easy Mo Bee and The Hitmen, and it was generally well-received by critics. Rolling Stone described the beats as "heavy bottomed and slick," enhancing the lyrics but not standing in their own right.^[9] The production is mainly sample-based with the samples varying from the percussion of funk tracks to the vocals of hip hop songs. Steve Huey presented some criticism over the beats, stating that the "deliberate beats do get a little samey, but it hardly matters: this is Biggie's show"^[7] Cheo H. Coker depicted the beats as "heavy bottomed and slick, but B.I.G.'s rhymes are the showstoppers. The tracks only enhance them, whether it's the live bass driving a menacing undercurrent or [the] use of bluesy guitar and wah-wah feedback" and that the production is used to "push the rapper to new heights."^[9]

Singles

Three singles were released from the album: "Juicy", "Big Poppa", "One More Chance" and a promotional track: "Warning". According to XXL the more commercial sound of the singles compared to the rest of the album was a result of encouragement by Combs during the later recording sessions in which they were recorded.^[3]

"Juicy"

"Juicy" was released as the lead single on August 8, 1994. It peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 14 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and reached number 3 on the Hot Rap Singles.^[11] It sold over 500,000 copies and the RIAA certified it Gold on November 8, 1994.^[12] Produced by Combs, it features a prominent sample of "Juicy Fruit" as performed by James Mtume. Allmusic's Steve Huey stated that, along with the other singles, it was an "upbeat, commercial moment", calling it a "rags-to-riches chronicle".^[7] Andrew Kameka, of HipHopDX.com, stated that the song was one of his "greatest and most-revealing songs" and went on to say it was a "Part-autobiography, part-declaration-of-success. It document[s] the star's transition from Brooklyn knucklehead to magazine cover story."^[13]

Producer Pete Rock, who was commissioned to remix the track, alleged that Puffy stole the idea for the original song's beat after hearing it from him during a visit. Rock explained this in an interview with Wax Poetics:^[14]

I did the original version, didn't get credit for it. They came to my house, heard the beat going on the drum machine, it's the same story. You come downstairs at my crib, you hear music. He heard that shit and the next thing you know it comes out. They had me do a remix, but I tell people, and I will fight it to the end, that I did the original version of that. I'm not mad at anybody, I just want the correct credit.

Rock's remix for "Juicy" uses the same sample as the original.

"Big Poppa"

"Big Poppa" was released as the second single on February 20, 1995 and like the previous single, it was a hit on multiple charts. It reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100, number four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and number one on Hot Rap Singles.^[11] It sold over a million units and the RIAA certified it Platinum on May 23, 1995.^[12] Featuring production by Combs and Chucky Thompson of The Hitmen, it samples "Between the Sheets" by The Isley Brothers. The song was nominated at the 1996 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Solo Performance, but lost to Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". Steve Huey named it an "overweight-lover anthem".^[7]

"One More Chance"

"One More Chance" was released as the third single on June 9, 1995. The single was a remix of the album track. It was produced by Combs and featured a sample from DeBarge's "Stay With Me". It peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and Hot Rap Singles.^[11] It sold over a million copies and the RIAA certified it Platinum on July 31, 1995.^[12] Steve Huey labeled it a "graphic sex rap".^[7] Rolling Stone writer Cheo H. Coker had a similar view of the song, noting that it was "one of the bawdiest sex raps since Kool G Rap's classic, "Talk Like Sex" and continued, stating it "proves hilarious simply because of B.I.G.'s Dolemitelike vulgarity."^[9]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[15]
Blender	[16]
Robert Christgau	(A-)[17]
The New York Times	(favorable)[18]
RapReviews	(10.0/10)[19]
Rolling Stone	1994[20]
Rolling Stone	2005[21]
The Source	[22]
Stylus Magazine	(favorable)[23]
Yahoo! Music	(favorable)[24]

Initial reaction

Upon its release, Ready to Die received strong reviews,^[25] and unlike other acclaimed East Coast hip hop albums released at the time (including the Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and Nas' Illmatic), such critical success was matched commercially, with sales driven by strong radio and MTV airplay for the singles "Juicy" and "Big Poppa". Rolling Stone praised Biggie's ability in "painting a sonic picture so vibrant that you're transported right to the scene". Q magazine wrote "...the natural rapping, clever use of sound effects and acted dialogue, and concept element... set this well apart from the average gangsta bragging".^[25] The album peaked at #3 and #13 on Billboard's (North America) Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums and the Billboard 200 album charts and was eventually certified quadruple platinum.^[26]

Retrospective acclaim

In retrospect, the album has been highly acclaimed. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums.^[27] The magazine, which had initially scored the album 4.5 mics (out of five) in its 1994 review^[28] later raised its rating to five. In 2003, the album was ranked number 133 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is the third highest ranked hip hop album on the list (with Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Run-D.M.C.'s Raising Hell ranking above), but the highest ranking 90s hip-hop album and debut hip-hop album nonetheless. The album was ranked #27 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005".^[29]

Track listing

• (*) indicates bonus material featured on later remastered pressings

Personnel

Chart history

Accolades

• The information regarding accolades is adapted from Acclaimedmusic.net,^[34]except for lists that are sourced otherwise.
• (*) signifies unordered lists

References

External links

• Ready to Die at Discogs
• The Making of Ready to Die by XXL
• Next: The Notorious B.I.G. — By Vibe