Ready to Die

Biggie Smalls most influential and last album was Ready to Die, September 3rd, 1994. This album with 17 tracks changed the game when it came to East Coast Gangster Rap and future rap. In the song “Ready to Die” Biggie uses real hard-hitting lyrics to convey the struggles of “thug life”. Biggie raps in a simple melodic manner where he emphasizes the words and sticks to a flow based on the 2-4 backbeat. The beginning of the song is set up with the melody being introduced made most likely by a synthesizer, then record scratching can be heard as Biggie Smalls sets up the 2-4 backbeat with the pulsation of his voice. When the lyrical part of the song starts the percussion is introduced as the melody and rapping continues. The lyrics of the song are more vulnerable than most gangster rap lyrics. Biggie raps about the inevitability of death as part of street life and how he is ready for it and doesn’t want to bring those he loves down with him. 

 

 

(Biggie Smalls “Ready To Die” clean version)

 

The album has gone on to be wildly successful. The synthesizer sounds, backbeat and un-autotuned rap style can still be heard with many rappers today. In an interview published by Rolling Stone in early 2015, Pusha T says that he believes Biggie Smalls to be the “greatest rapper who’s ever lived”(Vozick-Levinson 2015). Rolling Stone showed their agreement with this claim when making their 2020 list of 500 greatest albums, on which Ready to Die placed 22nd. It was also the fifth highest ranked rap album on that list, an impressive accomplishment considering how young he was when he was killed. Pusha T goes on to describe his memories of high school when the album dropped, and how his friends all agreed that the lyrics were more meaningful than other rappers’ at the time. He then talks about the ways his own songs have been influenced by Biggie Smalls and Ready to Die, naming specific songs he tried to mimic his flow. The sounds from this album can also be heard on more modern rap songs, too. On Kanye’s “Everything I Am”, the piece is opened up with the famous scratching sound less than 30 seconds in, similar to how the scratching in “Gimme the Loot” and “Ready to Die” occurs before the lyrics start.

 

 

(Kanye West “Everything I am” official music video)