Ready To Die

Now with a considerable underground buzz behind him, The Notorious B.I.G. delivered his debut album, Ready To Die, in September 1994. Its lead single, "Juicy", went gold, and the follow-up smash, "Big Poppa", achieved platinum sales and went Top Ten on the pop and R&B charts. Biggie's third single, "One More Chance", tied Michael Jackson's "Scream" for the highest debut ever on the pop charts; it entered at number five en route to an eventual peak at number two, and went all the way to number one on the R&B side. By the time the dust settled, Ready To Die had sold over four million copies and turned the Notorious B.I.G. into a hip-hop sensation - the first major star the East Coast had produced since the rise of Dr. Dre's West Coast G-funk.

"The album that reinvented East Coast rap for the gangsta age, Ready to Die made the Notorious B.I.G. a star, and vaulted Sean 'Puffy"' Combs' Bad Boy label into the spotlight as well. 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. 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. He's blessed with a flair for the dramatic, and slips in and out of different contradictory characters with ease. 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... this is Biggie's show, and by the time 'Suicidal Thoughts' closes the album on a heartbreaking note, it's clear why he was so revered even prior to his death."

- Steve Huey, allmusic.com