
The subtle messages have been speculated on by listeners and confirmed by artists on several occasions, including XXL magazine's April 2003 edition, "The Making of: Life After Death". The track "Kick in the Door" is directed at Nas, Jeru the Damaja, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah and even the track's producer DJ Premier.

Numerous songs contain references to B.I.G.'s rivals, some subtle and some obvious. was shot four times in a drive-by shooting and was later pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.Ĭonflict with other rappers is a major theme throughout the album. Production for the album was handled by DJ Premier, Easy Mo Bee, The RZA, as well as Bad Boy in-house producer Stevie J & the Hitmen.īiggie traveled to the West Coast in February 1997 to promote the album, and shoot the video for the lead single, "Hypnotize." Two weeks before its release, on March 9, the Notorious B.I.G. A record with Bay Area rapper E-40 was not included on the final track listing. In addition to Bad Boy Records labelmates Mase, The LOX, 112, and label owner Puff Daddy, guests include Jay-Z, Angela Winbush, Too Short, Lil Kim, & Bone Thugs N Harmony. It was pushed back to 1997.Īs he explained on BET's Rap City, Biggie aimed to reach a wider audience with Life After Death, collaborating with a wider variety of artists than his debut. The album was supposed to be released on Halloween in 1996, but Biggie was involved in a car accident in September 1996 which delayed the finalizing of the album. Two and a half years before the album's release, the Notorious B.I.G., who had married Faith Evans, became East Coast's icon in the East Coast–West Coast rivalry and made guest appearances on albums by Jay-Z and Luther Campbell amongst others.

A sense of doom pervades his most involved stories: fierce bandits ("Gimme the Loot"), a hustler's beloved girlfriend ("Me & My Bitch"), and robbers out for Biggie's newfound riches ("Warning") all die in hails of gunfire. Yet, no matter how much he heightens things for effect, it's always easy to see elements of Biggie in his narrators and of his own experience in the details everything is firmly rooted in reality, but plays like scenes from a movie. He's blessed with a flair for the dramatic, and slips in and out of different contradictory characters with ease. His raps are easy to understand, but his skills are hardly lacking - he has a loose, easy flow and a talent for piling multiple rhymes on top of one another in quick succession.

Today it's recognized as one of the greatest hardcore rap albums ever recorded, and that's mostly due to Biggie's skill as a storyteller. a star, and vaulted Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy label into the spotlight as well. The album that reinvented East Coast rap for the gangsta age, Ready to Die made the Notorious B.I.G.
