Ya coming up but going down wit tha ship, broĪnd all tha ladies that be shaking they hips, oh To all the playas popping off at the lip, ohįronting the street game like you a pimp, no We murdered them all, Pac and Biggie there ain't here anymoreīetter do something, sound the trumpet, cuz' I'm goin to war How many more women you find to pimp, and gangstas we gonna cap “I put it up there with some of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.Call me the Moses of rap, taking it back to tha days when this artifact “It’s a timeless piece as far as I’m concerned,” Easy Mo Bee says. Twenty-five years later, the album remains an undisputed hip hop classic. With the instant success of this album, fans got to watch Christopher Wallace live out the rags-to-riches tale he raps about in his song “Juicy,” becoming the Notorious B.I.G. “It really shows that at a young age he was a very complex person.” “He was able to take very dark themes and oftentimes present them in a palatable and even fun way,” says music journalist Sowmya Krishnamurthy. The party anthems are what drew a lot of fans to the album, but some listeners were surprised when they heard tracks that centered around much darker subject matter. Combs was very involved in the production and direction of “Ready to Die,” especially with the hit singles “Juicy” and “Big Poppa.” “Puffy was incredibly smart about branding,” Coker says, “and about how to sell this album to the masses at large.” It was the first full-length album release from Bad Boy Records, a new imprint run by a young Sean “Puffy” Combs. “Ready to Die” is a concept album chronicling the life and myth of the Notorious B.I.G., complete with stories of robbery, drug dealing, sex and even suicide. And hours later he just jumped up and was like, ‘All right, I’m ready.’” Wallace would then step into the vocal booth and perform fully formed songs in only a couple of takes.

One of the album’s producers, Easy Mo Bee, remembers also being impressed by Wallace’s ability to write the lyrics in his head while in the studio. “Already you had this kid from Brooklyn who was immediately, like Athena full-born out of Zeus’ head, a deity.”Īside from his delivery, rhyme patterns, humor and creativity, Wallace is known musically for his ability to craft a narrative in song. “He couldn’t have planned it like that,” Coker says. Christopher Wallace) stood on his stoop with hip hop journalist and future “ Luke Cage” showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker.Īs the two of them talked, they could hear what seemed like every passing car playing a different song from the album. Just two weeks after his debut album “Ready to Die” was released, the Notorious B.I.G.

Notorious big ready to die album art