Before I start a special comment. Stop this stupid beef crap. It would be a heck of a lot easier to simply accept that both Biggie and 2Pac are rap legends and enjoy their music equally, that sounds a heck of a lot better than carrying out a stupid beef that a lot of you probably don't truly know s**t about anyway.
It was albums like this, and Nas's Illmatic that really got the east coast going again. I would say this is easily a top 10 hip hop album of all time, every track Biggie shows off some unbelievable lyricism. He can be straight serious on "Things Done Changed" to sort of wittily serious on "Warning" to amazingly witty on "One More Chance" to even introspective on "Juicy" As a Rapper Biggie is certainly one of a kind, the way he puts words together and ability to create vivid pictures in your mind is truly mind blowing along with his legendary flow which is possibly the best ever. Production wise it was a huge success. It seems quite heavily "G-Funk" influenced, I guess mainly because a lot of the tracks are "laid-back" in theme, mostly, some are east coast sounding, regardless all that was a recipe for a classic. I find nearly every track to be superb especially the amazing Juicy, grimy story telling Gimme the Loot, the phenomenally lyrical Unbelievable, and plenty more.
I'll say that I would definitely get this over Life After Death, but whatever, once you get this you'll love it, trust me.

This is the best album of all time. Every single track on this album is sick, and the single "Juicy", in my opinion, is one of the weaker songs.

Anthems like "Machine Gun Funk" and "Everyday Struggle" juxtapose with confessionals like "Things Done Changed" and "Suicidal Thoughts", making this album versatile in every way.

Things done changed... rap music has waned since the death of Biggie Smalls. However, nobody was more ready for their fate than Biggie. This album stands as a defining monument in rap music history, and Biggies contribution will not be forgotten any time soon.

Will people ever stop comparing Biggie to Tupac and just enjoy them both as individual artists. They both had completely different styles so there's really no comparison. Its like comparing apples to oranges and it really gets on my freakin nerves!!! Didn't both their deaths teach you that its not a contest or a coastal war anymore. R.I.P. to both Biggie and Tupac. Both were lyrical giants and both have made a significant impact on hip hop.

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. With that being said, Ready To Die is a classic. From start to finish its a banger. I'm not even gonna bother breaking down each track individually. Its been done already by other reviewers so you can read their reviews if you want information on each individual track. Besides, Ready To Die is an album you have to hear for yourself to truly appreciate it. My favorite songs may not be yours and vice versa but one thing's for sure: there are no weak tracks on it. When I first bought it in '94 I must have played it well over 100 times. I've since owned the remaster but the sound quality doesn't match the original. However, the remaster does have the videos from the album if you want them plus two extra tracks - "Dreams", which was cut from the original release and "Who Shot Ya?" Both are great songs but can probably be downloaded. In addition to the sound quality being better on the original '94 release, of note is that there are other certain subtle differences between the original and the remaster. The horns in "Machine Gun Funk" are absent in the remaster. This is probably due to sample clearance issues as Ready To Die was pulled from shelves for awhile because of sampling and lawsuit problems. Bad Boy resolved it with the reissue but probably had to leave out the horns on that song. As a result, "Machine Gun Funk", which is one of my favorites on the album has a bare, stripped down sound to it on the remaster. It lacks the extra bite and kick the original had. Good thing I've got two original copies of Ready To Die, he he he. Bottom line, if you can, then get the original '94 release. You may have to spring a few extra bucks but trust me its worth it. Get the remaster if you want the two extra songs and videos as this version is more accessible. Listening to the realness in this album now at the end of 2007 only shows me further how phony and plastic most rappers are now. They're studio clowns. I'm an old school hip hop head, so I guess you can detect some bitterness on my part towards todays rappers. Read my other reviews. I'm sure Big and Pac are turning over in their graves at the state of hip hop now. Anyway, if you are a fan of REAL HIP HOP, then you need to own this album. If you call yourself a Biggie fan and you don't own Ready To Die, well let's not go there!!!

Funny how most of the "This album sucks"/"Biggie sucks, 2pac is way better" are from Kids Reviews. What a joke. You can't get more classic than this album. I did something that made me realize how priceless albums like "Ready To Die" and "Illmatic" are. I stopped listening to them for almost a year, listened to all the current (c)rap that is out now and then listened to these and other classic hip hop albums straight through again and again. All I could say is WOW. The difference in talent is unreal. It makes you TRULY miss artists like Big and Pac to the point where you actually get irritated by how wack so-called artists are now. Nothing but pop-rap and studio gangsters. How unfortunate.

Can anyone forget this album? This album (as well as Nas' "Illmatic" were the front runners of the year 1994. Christopher "Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls)" Wallace debuted with this album with the lead single "Juicy". A rags to riches song that still gets played here in 2006. Biggie's lyrical skills were excellent. I hear a lot of rappers (who I will be here all day naming) saying excellent lines that came from Biggie. I think to myself "Damn, this guy said everything".

The album is excellent too. A lot of these songs are about drugs, robbing, and what not. Big was just rhyming about things that he went through before he had a record deal, trying to survive and eat. Who could blame him? "Give Me The Loot" is one of those songs about his struggles (some words were edited in this song. I'm pretty sure rhyming about robbing a pregnant woman was going to gain some negative attention). "Machine Gun Funk" is self explanitory on how a good song it was. "Warning" was a short song and video about people targeting him for his money. "One More Chance" is a great song about how he gets his females. The song would be remixed and made into a video a year later, but both versions sound great.

Guest appearances are only one. Method Man, back when his rhyme skills were phenomonal, would rhyme on "The What". Classic track if you ask me.

Production was by Mr. Cee, and Puff Daddy. True, Puffy might be the "king of beat jacking" and what not, but he did a damn good job with them. The Isley Brothers "Between The Sheets" would be made into the classic single "Big Poppa" was one of them.

This album was pulled off the shelves earlier of this year, because of unauthorized sampling on this album. But recently I've seeing it back on shelves. I guess it got settled. I bought this back in 2003 when it had the origonal white album cover. If you purchased this in 2004, you get the album with a few extra tracks like the more popular "One More Chance (Remix)". And you get the DVD with all the videos that came from this album. This album had a heavy impact in 1994, is a classic and is a must have for any hip hop collection. Most of these songs are rehashed into choppy verses on his postmothous albums unfortunately. But this is where most of them origonally came from. Biggies legacy helped influenced a laundry list your favorite rappers today, who bite his style. That alone should explain how this impacted hip hop. Word.

Rest In Peace Biggie Smalls

Lyrics: A+
Production: A+
Guest Appearances: A+
Musical Vibes: A
Overall: A+

Favorite Tracks: Give Me The Loot, Machine Gun Funk, Warning, One More Chance, Juicy, Every Day Struggle, Me & My B*tch, Big Poppa, Respect, Friend Of Mine, Suicidal Thoughts

Peace!