Written By DJ Absurd
Being that today is the 19th anniversary of “Ready To Die”, I figured I would share a little something that I wrote a couple of years back, and has just been sitting on my computer, for a section on hiphopgame.com, which I dont believe ever got posted. I didnt post this to start a debate and I know many will disagree, but it’s just my opinion and I’m just stating what this album meant to me growing up. Enjoy, share your thoughts if you like:
Album: Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die (September 13th, 1994)
It is extremely hard to pick out just one album that influenced me growing up because there are a couple of classic albums that changed hip hop forever. Albums such as Nas’s Illmatic, Dr Dre’s The Chronic, Wu-Tang’s Enter The 36 Chambers and a couple of others, are albums I can talk about all day. But i’m gonna have to go with Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die. Some could even argue that Life After Death was better, being that’s when he proved he was the greatest, but I choose Ready To Die for a couple of reasons. Everything about that album from the lyrics to the production, the cover and the way the album was put together was pure genius. The album opened up with him being born, ended with him dying, and every track in between was his life playing out. That was something I never heard before. The album touched on everything from his struggles, relationships, insecurities, partying, and why he was the best MC. I remember the first song I heard off that album was “The What” featuring Method Man. I didn’t know who biggie was at the time and I didn’t really pay to much attention to Biggie, I was just checking out Method Man’s part. Then I heard it again and really listened to Biggie, and I was blown away. Listening to the album for the 1st time gave me goose bumps with his lyrical ability, commanding voice and listening to a song such as “Suicidal thoughts” was creepy but genius. Production on the album was crazy as well. You had Easy Mo Bee who produced most of the album and in my opinion is an extremely underrated producer up to this day. You also had Premo, Lord Finesse, and the Hitmen production team who are all legendary producers. It is also alleged that Pete Rock was the real Producer of “Juicy” but didn’t get credit for it. Of course you had Puffy as well, who some may criticize, but I think he added the commercial appeal to that album without making it corny. That’s another thing about that album: even the commercial tracks and hit songs were dope records. If you listen to songs like “Juicy” and “Big Poppa”, Biggie didn’t dumb down his lyrics at all. He was still very lyrical and descriptive on those songs but they still were hit records. The album cover was really dope as well, having a baby on the cover and calling the album ready to die. Some say that he bit off Nas’s Illmatic cover, but I think it stands on its own and is one of the greatest album covers of all time. 
Ready to die was an album that really brought the east coast back as well. At the time, the west coast was making all the noise with Dre and Snoop, and then Ready To Die came out and not only was it a classic album, but it blew up on the charts and people started to pay attention to the east coast again. We also gotta remember that Biggie was only like 21 when he made this album which is pretty crazy. Biggie was the total package, and while there were many dope MC’s before him, I don’t think anybody else was as skilled in every aspect of being an MC. Everything from his lyrics, story telling ability, wittiness and having such a commanding voice made him stand out on his own. As a producer, this album really taught me that you don’t have to choose between making hardcore records or commercial records. It taught me that you can make both. Ready to Die is timeless, an album that I will always enjoy and one that always reminds me of hip hop’s golden era.