Ready to Die

Some good tracks, did not need the sex skits. When these old hip hop albums come up I don't pay too much attention to the lyrics and judge on vibes only, otherwise a lot of shit would get 1/5. 2* (would be 3 but the sex).
Enjoyed: big poppa
Worst tracks: fuck me, respect

Alright, we got the debut album from the Notorious B.I.G., shortly before his demise. I will say after listening to Ready to Die, I do appreciate Biggie's flows and charisma, as they carry a lot of songs alongside the beats from the various producers. Songs like "Juicy", "Everyday Struggle" and "Big Poppa" carry this ethereal coolness even with the touches of dark lyricism drawn from Biggie's rough upbringing.

That said, one of the problems I found throughout this album was the egregious amount of sampling used here. Almost every track has various sound effects going off that interrupt the immersion for me. I get if they were trying to add context like with the guns going off on "Machine Gun Funk" or ringtones when a pager is brought up in a verse, but those kinds of sounds could've been left to the listener's imagination.

Similarly, some of the skits have not aged well. Again, it was probably meant for the context of this album, like the intro track sequencing Biggie's life from birth to gang violence or the contemplations made on "Suicidal Thoughts". But that said, I could've done without hearing Biggie getting sucked off at the end of "Respect", cause I otherwise liked that song up to that moment.

Production issues aside, I get why this is an influential hip-hop record from someone in their prime gone way too soon. It is worth a listen if you're curious.

Scarily, almost inevitably prophetic. What comes across here is his colossal talent married with boyish vulnerability and self-deprecating humour. And sloppy sex noises. Was not expecting those.

The greatest to ever do it

As far as rap albums go, this wasn’t the worst. I could have done without the skits and adlibs, felt that didn’t add anything to it.

This album was disappointing. Outside of the "hit" tracks (Give Me the Loot, Juicy, Big Poppa) which are o.k., the tracks were uninteresting or awkward. The interludes were egregious, and the sequencing of the album was missing. The moments that painted this as a concept album were overblown (Intro and Suicidal Thoughts). Not a great listen. 2/5.

This one was a little difficult because, reputationally, this is one of the best rap albums ever made by one of the greatest rappers that ever lived. My reality, however, is that I never connected to it, or Biggie, when it came out. I have, of course, heard the radio hits hundreds of times, but I was legitimately curious to see how I would respond listening to the full album now, with fresh ears.

Verdict: mediocre. I still just don't connect with it. Look, it's fine. It's very OK! There are some good songs, even one great song, but mostly it's just fine. As a hilarious bonus, while listening to the song Who Shot Ya?, which was/is a Tupac diss track, my mind kept going, "Who Shot Ya but you punks didn't finish, you 'bout to feel the wrath of a menace," which are the lyrics to Hit 'em up, Tupac's rebuttal, and the greatest diss track of all time.

Checkmate, Tupac. Three stars.

This album has both similar and completely different problems from 2Pac's Me Against the World, which only makes sense. Despite the media pitting these two against each other, there's a reason the same general group now adore them, and while that may be some amount of nostalgia, they still hit similar beats of gang life in their area, and take time to both bring down and rise up women, as well as various other day-to-day activities for them. However, I think what this album lacks lyrically compared to 2Pac's introspection is its flows and beats, which are great. Biggie seems to never stop talking, and that is all the more impressive by its runtime being over an hour. Sure, some topics are touched on a couple of times, but it is always a pleasure to just listen to, and the beats, while minimalistic to a degree, are notorious for a reason. There are some deeper topics covered, such as the final track's heavy, destructive closing statements that just make you sit there and wonder if the whole rest of the album was a cover, but what makes it fall apart for me is that the rest of the album doesn't seem to reflect this idea. Rather, you get guns, sex, and drugs, and man is there A LOT of each. Really don't need to hear this man get sloppy toppy nor rigorous, greasy sex, I could live without hearing that, and while the songs discussing these topics sound good, often times tuning in lyrically leads to a few eyebrow raises. Nothing crazy, but it took me out of the flow more than once, and was aggravating even. It's an album with a ton of potential, but I feel like that's lost in its coat of 90s sleaze. I understand the bravado was admirable at the time, but now it just feels goofy, and can really hurt this album for a listener ill prepared. Tons to enjoy, and for this to be someone's only album while alive is impressive to say the least, but you will not be finding something new to enjoy if you didn't like gangsta rap before this album.

Honestly, I was pretty surprised with Ready To Die, it turned out to be a bit better than i was expecting. The production of most of these songs was handled super well and it made the songs have some rather cool beats. The lyrics were alright too even if they did involve flexing some of the time, but hey that's probably what you are gonna expect in rap music and the flexing here seemed a little more interesting since it also involved his early life. This album is actually pretty decent and is a welcome album for my return to looking at 90s hip hop after a long absence.
Best Song: Respect
Worst Song: Intro

Classic hip hop album. Some of the tracks are not top notch, but it’s all pretty good. I would pay for revised versions of so many hip hop albums that got rid of the skits/intros/interludes. Takes you out of the groove.

Thoroughly enjoyed the Biggie album. But I don’t quite connect with him as much as I do 2Pac, Wu Tang, and some others of the era. Just a little bit too much macho swagger for me. Still undeniably great stuff.
Though the track “fuck me” reveals some refreshing self-awareness about all that. Hilarious!

No more hip hop please. It's just not for me. I've tried with all the records people claim are 'the best' but I just can't stand it. The misogynic lyrics, abject violence, self aggrandizement, terrible tropes of 'look how dangerous I am' and 'look how much money I have'. It's all just laughable. This record is no exception. I wanted to like this album; part of the fun of this project is finding something that you didn't think you would like but end up enjoying. I was sort of hoping this record might make me enjoy hip hop a little more. Alas, no. It was the same thing I've heard over and over from hip hop artists for the last 30 years. Parts of this album were actually gross, which isn’t something you can say about a lot of music. Like who needs to hear him getting a blowjob? Especially one that he forced the girl to give after she repeatedly said no. No thanks, hard pass from me.

Biggie was certainly a generational talent—his flow, his wordplay, his attitude, his storytelling, all just awesome. Anything he set out to do on this album, he succeeded in doing.

What knocks it down from 5 stars to 4 is some of the skits. Not all were bad, but I’ll never forgive Puffy for making me listen to the 30 straight seconds of wetness at the end of “Respect.”

Tracks Started to sound similar but wasn’t able to listen fully.

Biggie's flow and timbre are truly otherworldly. I'm blown away every time I hear "Gimme the Loot". I respect some people's reservations about this one, and it's certainly not my place to determine what is or isn't misogynistic, but in my opinion I don't hear some of the more "questionable" lyrics on as glorifications of said behavior. And regardless of whatever passages haven't aged well, so many other themes of this record still resonate deeply today. I can do without some of the skits and it runs a bit long for me, but I'm pretty good with it overall.

3.5/5

Really good. But depressing and now I know where all the good beats came from.

Not much can be said that hasn’t already been said. One of the greatest albums of all time. Even the uncomfortable skits and diddy’s annoying contributions can’t take away from how damn good Biggie is on this one. Easy 5 stars.

Rap/hip hop is not my thing. This started out bearable, but I got really sick of it. Of course it had to have the usual rap album sounds of sex song... 1/5

Juicy and Big Poppa are absolute classics. Didn't care for the rest of the album as much as I figured I would. Not necessarily an all time great. 3.5/5

I understand the appeal. The rap is kinetic, it feels like another layer of percussion. The lyrics have a little flow and I like the power fantasy, the black empowerment. I could even forgive the violence. What I cannot support is the misogyny. Can we please stop punching down and objectifying?