Soul Strut 100: # 62 - Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
RAJ
tenacious local 7,782 Posts
I will slowly be unveiling the Top 100 Soul Strut Related Records as Voted by the Strutters Themselves.
# 62 - Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
The list so far:
# 100 - Jr. and His Soulettes - Psychodelic Sounds
# 99 - Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul
# 98 - Donny Hathaway - S/T (1971)
# 97 - Bernard Wright - ???Nard
# 96 - Tom Scott - Honeysuckle Breeze
# 95 - People Under the Stairs - Question in the Form of an Answer
# 94 - Harlem River Drive
# 93 - Black Moon - Enta Da Stage
# 92 - Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear
# 91 - Muddy Waters - Electric Mud
# 90 - Les McCann - Layers
# 89 - Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
# 88 - Leroy Hutson - Hutson (1975)
# 87 - ESG - S/T (1981)
# 86 - Can - Tago Mago
# 85 - Bohannon - Stop & Go
# 84 - WILLIAM DEVAUGHN - Be Thankful For What You Got
# 83 - Power of Zeus - The Gospel According to Zeus
# 82 - Gang Starr - Hard To Earn
# 81 - The J.B.???s - Doing It to Death
# 80 - Parliament - Osmium
# 79 - McNeal & Niles - Thrust
# 78 - The Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Malik
# 77 - Earth, Wind, and Fire (1971)
# 76 - Dr. Dre - The Chronic
# 75 - Black Sabbath (1970)
# 74 - Trap Door / An International Psychedelic Mystery Mix (2006)
# 73 - Bob James - One
# 72 - Matthew Larkin Cassell - Pieces
# 71 - The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau
# 70 - Big Bear - Doin??? Thangs
# 69 - Steely Dan - Aja
# 68 - Quasimoto - The Unseen
# 67 - Curtis Mayfield - Curtis/Live! (1971)
# 66 - Al Green - Im still in love with you
# 65 - The Beatnuts - Street Level
# 64 - Archie Whitewater - Archie Whitewater (1970)
# 63 - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & the Soul Brother
Please discuss your reactions to this record. The thread will be archived later here.
About
Ready to Die is the debut album of American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released September 13, 1994 on Bad Boy Records. The first release on the label, it features production by record producer and Bad Boy founder Sean "Puffy" Combs, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, and Lord Finesse, among others. Recording sessions for the album took place during 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 hip-hop 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 their list of the 100 greatest albums of all time.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ready_to_Die
Related Threads
Judge Halts Notorious B.I.G. Album Sales
The baby on the cover of ???Ready To Die???...
Your Favorite Hip-Hop Album
# 62 - Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
The list so far:
# 100 - Jr. and His Soulettes - Psychodelic Sounds
# 99 - Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul
# 98 - Donny Hathaway - S/T (1971)
# 97 - Bernard Wright - ???Nard
# 96 - Tom Scott - Honeysuckle Breeze
# 95 - People Under the Stairs - Question in the Form of an Answer
# 94 - Harlem River Drive
# 93 - Black Moon - Enta Da Stage
# 92 - Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear
# 91 - Muddy Waters - Electric Mud
# 90 - Les McCann - Layers
# 89 - Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
# 88 - Leroy Hutson - Hutson (1975)
# 87 - ESG - S/T (1981)
# 86 - Can - Tago Mago
# 85 - Bohannon - Stop & Go
# 84 - WILLIAM DEVAUGHN - Be Thankful For What You Got
# 83 - Power of Zeus - The Gospel According to Zeus
# 82 - Gang Starr - Hard To Earn
# 81 - The J.B.???s - Doing It to Death
# 80 - Parliament - Osmium
# 79 - McNeal & Niles - Thrust
# 78 - The Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Malik
# 77 - Earth, Wind, and Fire (1971)
# 76 - Dr. Dre - The Chronic
# 75 - Black Sabbath (1970)
# 74 - Trap Door / An International Psychedelic Mystery Mix (2006)
# 73 - Bob James - One
# 72 - Matthew Larkin Cassell - Pieces
# 71 - The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau
# 70 - Big Bear - Doin??? Thangs
# 69 - Steely Dan - Aja
# 68 - Quasimoto - The Unseen
# 67 - Curtis Mayfield - Curtis/Live! (1971)
# 66 - Al Green - Im still in love with you
# 65 - The Beatnuts - Street Level
# 64 - Archie Whitewater - Archie Whitewater (1970)
# 63 - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & the Soul Brother
Please discuss your reactions to this record. The thread will be archived later here.
About
Ready to Die is the debut album of American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released September 13, 1994 on Bad Boy Records. The first release on the label, it features production by record producer and Bad Boy founder Sean "Puffy" Combs, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, and Lord Finesse, among others. Recording sessions for the album took place during 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 hip-hop 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 their list of the 100 greatest albums of all time.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ready_to_Die
Related Threads
Judge Halts Notorious B.I.G. Album Sales
The baby on the cover of ???Ready To Die???...
Your Favorite Hip-Hop Album
Comments
:goat:
:hard_as_fuck:
cradle to the ''near'' grave intro-outro
personal approach, humor, emotion, raw skills, exquisite production
you felt you knew biggie and what he went through
and puffy doesn't get much props from me but from discovering biggie to releasing this type of a record and all the production decisions were on point
if one album embodies hiphop in it's purest form this is it
Obviously this is straight classique. People that don't be listening to raps still know the words to Juicy and Big Poppa. My favourites to this day are The What (Method Man in his prime!), Unbelievable, and Warning. The remix to One More Chance is dope too.
This album also gets extra credit for the nasty sex interlude.
Your kidding, right?
Added to the soulstrut top 100 spotify playlist:
http://open.spotify.com/user/1121775350/playlist/54CR4Ce88uFkr6shaMHxVX
Such a great song (in fact, it's my go-to song when it's time to play Biggie because "Juicy" and "Big Poppa" are so played out). I only recently found out what the sample is, too--Easy Mo Bee did his thing with that one.
Never got into Life After Death, but this is a stone cold classic.
but how the fuck is it "hidden"? dude was like the biggest (no pun intended) hip hop identity of the late 90s, unavoidable, like the opposite of "hidden".
he was trying to be funny.
Does anyone remember how each format had a different configuration? 11 tracks on the o.g. single album, I think 13 on the tape and maybe 15 or 16 on the CD? For some reason it seemed a little odd at the time, even apart from being a brazen attempt to crowbar as much cash out of the punters as possible. I remember feeling a bit shortchanged when I bought the vinyl, especially after I heard the CD.
;)
Yup.
b/w
The What
Yup.
b/w
The What
thank you
I'm not even the biggest Ready To Die fan in the world. But to my ear BIG, and that record, have gotten better with age, not the reverse. Dudes showing their ass and bloomers... posturing against fans' interpretation of artists' work is strictly little dude.
b/w
as soon as I saw this one poasted I knew it was only a matter of time before the so-called "real heads" came out to say that it wasn't all that, "too polished", he wasn't lyrically lyrical enough, overrated, etc.
Great record.
this records great. much better than the cash ins that followed
One posthumous LP. A couple tribute songs. What I get from you dudes is bascally that people shouldn't like him as much as they do. Seems kind of flimsy
What's ultimately the funniest about this is...that your canned overreaction to what happened back then and how it's been portrayed since is even more predictable and cliche' than the so-called wackness you are attempting to shout down.
To utterly dismiss that there actually was an East-West beef which went right along with pretty much a then-nationwide Crip versus Blood mentality (yes, the press blew it out of proportion, but that doesn't mean that it didn't exist)...
And to also deny that 2Pac and Biggie indeed were/are 2 of the best to have ever rapped, that's bad enough.
But then to shit on a crowd younger than you for of course accepting and embracing a reality that only from your outlying island are you even able to label as myth...well, that just sucks on your part.
Just because you personally don't like the way shit actually went down doesn't give you the right to try to rewrite history, especially in the most stale reactionary way possible.