- Audio CD (3 Oct 2005)
- Number of Discs: 2
- Format: CD+DVD, Original recording remastered
- Label: ATLANTIC
- ASIN: B0002GTWYW
- Other Editions: Audio CD
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 17,445 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
Product details |
Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Intro | |||
| 2. Things Done Changed | |||
| 3. Gimme The Loot | |||
| 4. Machine Gun Funk | |||
| 5. Warning | |||
| 6. Ready To Die | |||
| 7. One More Chance | |||
| 8. #!*@ Me (Interlude) | |||
| 9. The What | |||
| 10. Juicy | |||
See all 19 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Juicy | |||
| 2. Big Poppa (Video) | |||
| 3. Warning (Video) | |||
| 4. One More Chance (Video) | |||
| 5. Unbelievable [Live From Atlanta] | |||
Product Description
Re-issue of the sensational 1994 debut album with bonus 5 tracks & a bonus DVD! Feat. "Juicy"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The legend of Tupac Shakur has only grown since his death, not least due to how suprisingly prolific he is from beyond the grave. With the West Coast practically ruling gangsta rap in the early nineties, it says something for Biggie Smalls a.k.a. Notorious BIG that he almost single-handedly shifted attention back onto the East Coast in 1994, and that with only two proper albums his legacy measures up to Tupac's. Indeed, many still consider him to be the greatest to ever pick up the mic, and this album is the majority of the reasoning behind that stance.
Ready To Die, rather than a conventional gangsta album, is a conceptual album about the rise and fall of a hustler and gangsta, played, of course, by Notorious BIG himself. It's gritty, it's dark, it's defiantly hardcore and most definitely not for everybody. Infused with an almost casual misogyny and violence and a blackhearted sense of humour, Biggie doesn't meet the audience halfway and it results in an album that few have equalled and even fewer have bettered.
The album is split between two camps - the poppier side, helmed but mercifully not smothered by Puff Daddy (who's corrupting touch would detract from the follow up album), is covered by the likes of 'Big Poppa' or big single 'Juicy.' They are all fine songs, 'Juicy' in particular a sweaty anthem but one depicting a bleak childhood where 'birthdays were the worst days' and 'Christmas missed us.' As a rags-to-riches tale, it's far more compelling than say, Jay-Z's.
The other, even better side of the album is the gangsta drama side. With only one guest MC on the album - Method Man, making an amusing, oddly adorable turn on 'The What' - it's down to Biggie himself to cover all the players in his rap opera, and he does so with gusto. 'Me And My B***h' tells the tale of a woman caught in the crossfire of his hustling career; opener 'Things Done Changed' is a blackly comic account of how being young and black the only way out of the slums is 'slinging crack rock' or having 'a wicked jump shot.' Best of all is the remarkable 'Gimme The Loot,' in which Biggie plays two different characters, one fresh out of jail as they start a new crime spree. It's wicked, it's funny and it's Biggie at his best.
The follow up album, Life After Death, portentous title and all, was a grander statement, overblown and almost as good. But his real masterpiece remains Ready To Die. don't remember him for mediocre posthumous duets with Nelly and Ja Rule and Ashanti. Remember him this way.
(P.S. The DVD, featuring a rubbish live video and all the album's promos, is a take-or-leave situation with little bearing on the purchase. The bonus tracks, however, are well worth having.)
Ready To Die, rather than a conventional gangsta album, is a conceptual album about the rise and fall of a hustler and gangsta, played, of course, by Notorious BIG himself. It's gritty, it's dark, it's defiantly hardcore and most definitely not for everybody. Infused with an almost casual misogyny and violence and a blackhearted sense of humour, Biggie doesn't meet the audience halfway and it results in an album that few have equalled and even fewer have bettered.
The album is split between two camps - the poppier side, helmed but mercifully not smothered by Puff Daddy (who's corrupting touch would detract from the follow up album), is covered by the likes of 'Big Poppa' or big single 'Juicy.' They are all fine songs, 'Juicy' in particular a sweaty anthem but one depicting a bleak childhood where 'birthdays were the worst days' and 'Christmas missed us.' As a rags-to-riches tale, it's far more compelling than say, Jay-Z's.
The other, even better side of the album is the gangsta drama side. With only one guest MC on the album - Method Man, making an amusing, oddly adorable turn on 'The What' - it's down to Biggie himself to cover all the players in his rap opera, and he does so with gusto. 'Me And My B***h' tells the tale of a woman caught in the crossfire of his hustling career; opener 'Things Done Changed' is a blackly comic account of how being young and black the only way out of the slums is 'slinging crack rock' or having 'a wicked jump shot.' Best of all is the remarkable 'Gimme The Loot,' in which Biggie plays two different characters, one fresh out of jail as they start a new crime spree. It's wicked, it's funny and it's Biggie at his best.
The follow up album, Life After Death, portentous title and all, was a grander statement, overblown and almost as good. But his real masterpiece remains Ready To Die. don't remember him for mediocre posthumous duets with Nelly and Ja Rule and Ashanti. Remember him this way.
(P.S. The DVD, featuring a rubbish live video and all the album's promos, is a take-or-leave situation with little bearing on the purchase. The bonus tracks, however, are well worth having.)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is one of the best rap albums ever made, brilliant production from puff, very funky beats and biggies wicked flow over it. Every song is a classic and also great humour in some of them but at the same time seroius songs like suicidal thoughts. If u dont own this get it, your lifeis not complete without it. it will take your breath away
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Ok i'm not going to do too much of a review of the album itself if you've heard it before you know its dynamite if you haven't well then quite simply you haven't heard the greatest rapper of all time. For those shouting about 2pac, Eminem and even Jigga or Nas i'm not saying Biggie's lyrics are the best, though they are certainly up there, but as a pure rapper theres no one worth a mention in the same breath.
Ok on to the album well generally the remasters are at least the equal of the original with notable improvments to tracks like Big Poppa and Everday Struggle, however the one big (no pun intended) let down is Juicy don't ask me why but the bass has been made to sound far more tinny than on the original for most fame tracks this would be a shame but to to this to a track like Juicy must be considered a crime against rap itself.
Finally the dvd bonus disc is nice to have (and for only £1 more than the non-dvd version definatly worth it) however be warned that the dvd tracks are the edited versions perhaps not the end of the world but an edited version of One More Chance just seems wrong.
Still all in all its fantastic and without serious rival for the greatest rap debut of all time, ok well there is illmatic but......
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
In the beginning there was Biggie
Give respect where respect's due . . . Puffy hasn't done much to impress in his time on the earth but he gave us the Juggernaut that is the B.I.G! Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2006 by Mr. A. C. Dickie
how ya living biggie smalls !!!!!!!
Some people say this is one of the best hip hop albums ever they are wrong this is one of the best albums period. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2006 by ricardo
Big up to Biggie
I only wish he was alive today as I would not miss the chance to see him live. I love Biggie's work, and 'Ready to Die' is his best stuff by far...and also my favourite album. Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2005 by "sexypussykat"
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