He plays teacher in 'Ten Crack Commandments', a song about how to survive in the drug dealing business. He laments the negative affects of money ('Mo Money Mo Problems'). Sling steal slow, as for remorse, we feel no'īig gives his odes to the ladies on 'Hypnotize', 'Nasty Boy', and 'Going Back to Cali'. Heard through the grapevine, you got ***ed fo' timesĭamn that three to nine, ***ed you up for real doe 'Slugs hit your chest tap your spine, flat line Now you rest eternally, sleepy, you burn when you creep me Or beneath me, your whole life you live sneaky You're bleeding lovely, with your, spirit above me I smoke Backwoods and Dutchies, ya can't touch me Maniacs, put my name in raps, what part the Yet the album's most notorious lines are the ones that are supposedly disses against 2Pac. 'Niggas Bleed' and 'I Got A Story to Tell' are excellent tales of drug dealing and gang violence. In 'Kick in the Door', he spares no sugar for Nas ('This goes out for those who choose to use disrespectful views on the King of NY'), Jeru the Damaja, Raekwon, and even the song's producer, DJ Premier. And he continues his lyrical devastations in probably the most graphic and most explicit ways than ever on this album. On Life After Death, he is the smooth-talking mob boss Frank White. 'Playa Hater' is laughably bad but great to laugh at nonetheless.īiggie on Ready to Die was loud and hungry. Biggie could have made a more hip hop-rock styled song with the legendary DMC yet 'My Downfall' still sounds pretty dope. Yet what makes Life After Death one of the better double albums is that the filler is still pretty listenable. Sex jams like 'Hypnotize' and 'Going Back to Cali' are classics but I could have lived without hearing 'Another' or 'The World is Filled.'.

Like most double albums, Life After Death has a good share of filler material that pale in the presence of the highlights. But Life After Death is, for the most part, a filler-fest. I might be among the minority who believe that Life After Death was a great album but not a classic.Įxcept for the '*** Me' interlude, there was not a single track on Ready to Die that was worth skipping. If you didn't know, the Hip Hop Brain Trust initially placed TWO Biggie albums on that list without considering a 2Pac album (they later corrected this).

1997's Life After Death was another great album yet some people think it is among the Top 10 Greatest Hip Hop Albums (like MTV and its unreliable Hip Hop Brain Trust). Biggie brought back the East Coast hardcore rap while saving space for the ladies. That album officially brought the mainstream attention back to the East after the West Coast dominated for years with gangsta rap and G-Funk. Ready to Die was a pivotal point in hip hop history. Review Summary: A sprawling and at times bloated effort that nonetheless is still impressive.

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