The Notorious B.I.G.

100 Best Albums

Essential Albums

  • Life After Death (2014 Remaster)
    Life After Death (2014 Remaster)
    Life After Death (2014 Remaster)

    How to top a debut that single-handedly reinvigorated East Coast gangsta rap? Pick up right where it left off, but make everything way bigger. Christopher Wallace’s sprawling second album ramps up the drama and the pop sheen: "Mo Money Mo Problems" turns a sparkling Diana Ross sample into a "triple beam lyrical dream", and the smooth, rolling "Hypnotize" is as spellbinding as its title promises. Still, Big never sacrificed any of the narrative grit—look no further than “Ten Crack Commandments” or his much-imitated, never-duplicated flow.

  • Ready to Die (The Remaster)
    Ready to Die (The Remaster)
    Ready to Die (The Remaster)

    100 Best Albums By the age of 22, Christopher Wallace had already lived quite the life. By naming his debut Ready to Die, the Brooklyn rapper bluntly encapsulated both his fearless, take-no-prisoners lyrical style and his perpetual sixth sense that death could come for him at any time. While hardly the first to rap about the pleasures and pitfalls of drug dealing, The Notorious B.I.G. elevated the form to a divine art of brutal honesty. “I remember when he was doing the title track, I was a little disturbed,” Easy Mo Bee, who produced several of the album’s standouts, tells Apple Music. “‘You’re saying you’re ready to die? What’s up, Big?’ He told me, ‘I’m going through a lot...I’m tired of being up there hustling, my mom is sick, I have a baby on the way.’ He was going through a lot of pressure.” From the autobiographical “Things Done Changed” onwards, Biggie Smalls spoke directly, without distillation, about Brooklyn crime and culture, connecting instantly with those in the know while compelling others less attuned to catch up. The violence and costs of the hustle are laid bare on the stick-up-kid anthem “Gimme the Loot” and the closer “Suicidal Thoughts”, which ends with the sound of him killing himself while on the phone with executive producer/mentor Sean “Diddy” Combs (then known as Puff Daddy), who pleads for him to reconsider. But against the backdrop of violence and death, Big mixes in moments of aspiration and confidence. On the seminal breakthrough single “Juicy”, he professes his love of hip-hop through a deeply personal come-up narrative so exemplary that few, if any, have come close to matching it since. The song, which samples Mtume’s 1983 R&B classic “Juicy Fruit”, is one of the first examples of Diddy turning extremely recognisable past hits into commercial hip-hop gold; the shiny, familiar production helped Big’s gruff voice and tales of a “common thief” find radio and mainstream success in a year when the biggest rap hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 was Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue’s “Whatta Man”. “In the early process [the album] was Biggie at his most purest, rawest form,” Brooklyn DJ Mister Cee, associate executive producer and the man often credited with discovering Big, tells Apple Music. “Diddy stepped in and said, ‘Hey, man, we gotta make some radio records...’ Diddy had to convince Big.” “When he played ‘Juicy’ for Big, it was just like, ‘What the fuck is this?’” Lil’ Cease, Big’s childhood friend and frequent collaborator, tells Apple Music. Obviously, Diddy won over Big, who, says Cease, “perfected” the formula—street-hustler rhymes softened by glossy, radio-ready production—sketching a blueprint that JAY-Z, 50 Cent and rap stars of today still follow.

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About The Notorious B.I.G.

At the height of his success, The Notorious B.I.G. dubbed himself the King of New York after the Christopher Walken-portrayed antihero from the film of the same name. The title was fitting and limiting: his swagger was unmistakably Brooklyn, but his talent and charisma made him a world-renowned superstar. Born Christopher Wallace in 1972, B.I.G. was raised by a Jamaican immigrant mother, writing raps and freestyling on street corners as a preteen. After dropping out of school and serving prison time for drug charges, he recorded a demo tape that eventually landed him at Bad Boy Records, founded by Sean "Diddy" Combs. B.I.G.'s explosive 1994 debut album, Ready to Die, chronicled his survivalism and sexploits with charm, menace and urgency. His vivid stories featured unflinching details ("I wouldn't give a f*ck if you're pregnant / Give me the baby rings and the No. 1 Mom pendant," he demands on "Gimme the Loot"), made digestible by his distinctive flow and recognisable '80s R&B samples courtesy of The Hitmen. The "ashy-to-classy" aspirations of Biggie's hit "Juicy" became a reality: he elevated his Junior M.A.F.I.A. crew, godfathered an empire of hitmakers and became one of the biggest rap stars in the world. Sadly, his meteoric rise came with a media-exacerbated beef with L.A. rapper 2Pac that culminated in both stars' murders six months apart, crippling the culture as it reeled from the luminaries’ absence. The ominously titled Life After Death—released weeks after Biggie's demise in March 1997—showed further refinement of his already elite skills, with mafioso raps and taunts aimed at other regions. Since, Bad Boy has released posthumous projects while new generations of East Coast rappers have worked to live up to his legacy. But try as they might, no one can dethrone the king.

HOMETOWN
Brooklyn, NY, United States of America
BORN
21 May 1972
GENRE
Hip-Hop/Rap

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