‘Ready to Die’ at 30

Brooklyn is home to some of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time: JAY-Z, Jeru the Damaja, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Lil Kim, Fabulous, Your Old Droog, Papoose, Joey Bada$$, and Pop Smoke. But, before all of them, there was one kid out of Bedford Stuyvesant with a deep voice and a lot of talent. His name was Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G.

Part I: The Story

Wallace was under the radar for a few years, until he gained some clout after a crazy freestyle on a random street corner in Brooklyn. Then, after that, he made Unsigned Hype in the Source magazine. This was a huge deal back in the 90s, as labels who wanted hip-hop artists could look in the Unsigned Hype section and maybe strike gold. And one of those people was Sean Combs of Columbia records. Combs wanted to start his own label named Bad Boy, but he needed a star. So, he immediately hit it up with the young Wallace and they made a record for the soundtrack of the movie Who’s the Man?. The single was named “Party & Bulls**t”, and it went crazy throughout the streets of New York! So crazy, in fact, that they shot a video for it. With all this buzz, Combs, now known as Puff Daddy, immediately got to work on contacting the best producers he knew for an album. And that album became one of the greatest of all time.

Ready to Die is pretty much a summary of Biggie’s life up to the point where he released it. The first track, “Things Done Changed” is a reflection on Bed-Stuy, how most kids don’t get a variety of opportunities (“either you’re slingin’ crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot”), and how the neighborhood stopped hosting get-togethers and events due to the increase in crime (“what happened to the summertime cookouts? Everytime I turn around a n***a getting took out). And, the thing is, if this song was your introduction to Biggie, you would think he is a conscious rapper, along with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest and Common Sense. But, in the words of Oscar-winning songwriter Randy Newman: “That first cut says ‘Oh, back in the old days everybody was shooting each other’…and ‘Let’s stop killing each other’ and then the rest of the record is about people killing each other.” But, that’s just the versatility of Biggie Smalls

This album has it all: love songs (“Me and My B**ch”, “One More Chance [Remix]”), peak storytelling (“Warning”, “Respect”), hit singles (“Big Poppa”), amazing collaborations (“The What”) classic street cuts (“Unbelievable”, “Who Shot Ya” , “Machine Gun Funk”), and three of the greatest songs of all time (we’ll get to that later). In my opinion, that is what a debut album should be (unless it’s a concept album), as it can showcase what you are good and subpar at so you could learn for your sophomore album. But, in Biggie’s case, subpar wasn’t in his vocabulary.

If there was one standout element of Biggie’s rapping ability, it was most definitely his flow. It is the one thing he has over every rapper in the G.O.A.T. debate. The way he flows multi-syllable and internal rhymes into a whole verse seamlessly is absolutely insane! Look at how many different rhymes he has in the first verse of “Unbelievable” or his verse on “The What”,  but the fact that he makes all of those rhymes work within 16 bars is even crazier. I can’t put into words how creative and funny the last verse on “Machine Gun Funk”, or the entirety of “Warning” is. 

Also, I don’t want to gloss over the production, which is mostly handled by Easy Mo Bee and Puff Daddy. Puff handled the commercial tracks and Mo Bee did more of the hardcore installments. And, both of those styles fit Biggie’s deep voice perfectly. But, it’s sad that we don’t recognize Mo Bee as a legendary producer like we do with Puff, even though Puff sampled the biggest songs from Billboard Hot 100 hit albums (“Between the Sheets” – “Big Poppa” for example) and Mo Bee sampled deep-cut soul records, but that’s just the way it is. 

Besides Puff and Mo Bee, DJ Premier makes an appearance on “Unbelievable”, which only happened because B.I.G. ran into Primo and asked him to make a B-Side for the lead single on the album. And, according to Preem, B.I.G. said, “I don’t care if you have to sample ‘Impeach the President’, just give me something”. So, Primo sampled “Impeach the President”, gave the beat to B.I.G., and he liked it so much he recorded his verses and put it on the album.

You might realize that I left a few songs out when I was on my whole ramble about why this album has it all, and there’s a reason for that.

Part II: Three of The Greatest Songs of all Time

I feel like when we talk about Ready to Die, we mostly talk about the big hits, Biggie’s lyricism and flow, how cohesive the story is, and the production. But, we really don’t mention how this album sports three top 50 songs of all time (in my humble opinion).

Song 1: Gimme the Loot

I already talked about the moment of clarity that happens after “Things Done Changed” ends, but I didn’t mention that this song kicks it off. The song is all about Biggie and someone else going to rob a bank after B.I.G. ‘s right-hand man turned himself in. We (as in the hip-hop community) don’t know who this second person is in terms of the story. Some say that it’s his conscience, others say that it is his younger self, but, for the sake of consistency, I’ll just say it’s one of his homeboys. But, it doesn’t really matter, because it’s not that much about the story, but the execution. Because, Biggie manipulates his voice to mimic the other character. But, he does it so well that most people (including my dad when he first listened to it) thought that it was a hidden feature. I love the funny one liners like “I’m slammin’ n****s like Shaquille”, “Give me the baby rings and the number-one mom pendant”, and “I’ve been robbin’ n****s since the slave ships”. And, then the last verse about the shootout after the robbery is so creative. Also, there was supposed to be a remix with Nas, but it never materialized. We do have a cool fan-made edit. And, if you are tired of “strangled and “pregnant” being censored, here is the fully explicit version.

Song 2: “Juicy”

This was the lead single to the album, and I couldn’t have chosen a better one myself. The song is a recap of Biggie’s come up. From letting his cassette tapes rock until they pop with pictures on his wall to sipping champagne when he’s thirsty. The song also has a basic sample: Mtume’s “Juicy Fruit”, with the hook being interpolated by Total. The beat was actually made by Pete Rock, but Puffy stole the beat after Pete shared the idea with him. You can hear the Pete’s version on this Bad Boy 20 Years album . But, anyways, the song itself is amazing. With three distinct verses. The first about Biggie’s poor lifestyle when he was growing up, but he had aspirations of a rapper. The second is about when he was blowing up, but he hadn’t made it yet. Then the third is about Biggie living his luxury lifestyle. But, it feels earned. And the reason on why it feels earned is because Biggie wrote this song BEFORE he got rich and famous, and it just played out exactly how he wrote it.

All three verses are capped off with the line “And if you don’t know, now you know”. I have barely any idea about what it means, but the song wouldn’t be the same without it. I would also like to give props to the excellently shot music video, which perfectly describes the lyrics without trying too hard. Biggie’s account recently upscaled it to 4k, which makes it an amazing watch. 

This song is beyond words. It gets me inspired to do anything that comes my way, and is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. But yet, there is still a song better than this.

Song 3: “Suicidal Thoughts”

Wow, just wow! I know that there have been other rap songs about this topic before and after, but this song handles it best. What I figured out a couple weeks ago is that I really love emotional songs, because in order for you to write about a specific emotion and do it well, you must have home through that exact thing. Compare this to Logic’s “1800…”, which was named by Diamond Axe Studios and a bunch of other music YouTubers and critics as the worst hit song of 2017. And the reason why is because Logic never personally experienced these emotions. You can tell. I can guarantee you that no one that has ever actually thought of suicide would never make a song that shouts “I don’t want to be alive”. Meanwhile, you can immediately tell that Biggie experienced this before, from the self doubt, the confessions, and more. I can’t talk about this for any longer, because I think I’ve said everything I can. So, do me a favor and listen to this song. It is a work of art and you won’t regret it. It might take a few listens to understand, but it will be worth it. But, if it is too depressing for you, listen to the mashup that DJ White Lotus did with Kanye West’s “Runaway”.

Part III: Outro

I feel a little bad when I said that Brooklyn didn’t have any legendary MC’s before B.I.G., because I would be terribly wrong. They in fact, had just as many legendary MC’s as Queens before ‘94: Big Daddy Kane, Das EFX, Guru from Gang Star, GZA, Ol’Dirty Bastard, Busta Rhymes, Milk Dee, Buckshot, MC Lyte, and Masta Ace. But, B.I.G. inspired the future generation. Every single one of the rappers I mentioned in the intro have shown respect to Biggie, shouted him out in a song, or said that he was one of the reasons why they started rapping. And, that’s why Christopher Wallace is one of the greatest of all time. Not because he had the best flow or the best songs (which he did), but because with two records (three if you count Life After Death as two albums), he re-defined the entirety of Brooklyn hip-hop, and perhaps, music. 

B.I.G. has gotten a lot of love in the city he called home, after that unfortunate day in 1997. He has gotten a plethora of murals, a park named after him, his music being featured in multiple movies that take place in Brooklyn, and his jersey retired as well as an official city jersey from the Brooklyn Nets. This is by far the most amount of respect that a city has shown an artist (even 2Pac doesn’t get this much love in LA). So, I want to leave you with this question: Does the greatest mean the best, or the one whose legacy and music will be remembered for ages to come?

Thank you for reading this. I tried to get it out on the exact day of the anniversary, which meant I spent my free periods at school writing this, so your reading this means that all this work was well worth it. This is also the 3rd installment in my “Top 7 Rap Albums” series.