The Notorious B.I.G.: Ready To Die (2LP, gold vinyl) [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This limited edition 2LP set presses Biggie's debut on gold vinyl. Ready To Die is certified six-times platinum, Rolling Stone ranked it the greatest hip-hop album of all time, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2024.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Gold vinyl
• Limited edition
• Pressed in the Czech Republic

About the album

Christopher Wallace started recording his debut in 1993 for Uptown, and the first songs he cut were the dark ones: "Things Done Changed," "Gimme The Loot" and the title track, the sound of a hungry young rapper from Brooklyn telling it straight. When Sean Combs left Uptown to start Bad Boy, the album went with him and picked up the radio polish that made it a phenomenon.

Producers Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier and Lord Finesse built the beats, with Combs as executive producer. "Juicy" flips Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" into a rags-to-riches anthem, "Big Poppa" rides the Isley Brothers' "Between The Sheets" and earned a Grammy nomination, and "One More Chance" became a third hit. Method Man trades verses with Big on "The What," and "Unbelievable" is DJ Premier at his sharpest. Recording ran across 1993 and 1994, mostly at the Hit Factory in Manhattan.

It was the record that put New York back at the centre of hip hop, and his storytelling set the bar for everybody who followed. Thirty-odd years later, it still sounds like the best-dressed man in the room.

Also at Kops: more The Notorious B.I.G. on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Bad Boy / Rhino (cat# RCV1 724724), a reissue of the 1994 album.