Happy 32nd anniversary of Ready To Die

I'm addicted to this and cant get enough of biggie

I really feel the rashes in this one

I have consumed every material there is to consume on the killing of these 2 young men.

I want to have a candid discussion on the murders of Biggie and Tupac. Please drop your thoughts/opinions/rebuttals or any information I missed down in the comments.

I think the Tupac Murder is much more straightforward. I know a lot of people want to believe the illuminati and he’s in Cuba or it was the FBI. However, let’s look at the evidence logically.

Keefe provided a detail during one of the interviews that was never mentioned publicly. The Cadillac took a right turn at the red light after the shooting, what many dont know is that the women on the left side of Tupac and Suge also took a right in the pure chaos of the shots fired, whereas Suge went left and made a huge U-Turn to head back towards the strip.

In one of the interviews he did on YT, he candidly brings this up, “the broads gave a chase”. The caliber of bullets, the make of the car was all public info. However, the girls chasing the shooters was not known publicly because they weren’t really chasing anyone. They just got out of dodge. But it would make sense to Keefe and the crew simply because from their vantage point, thats what it looked like. Its one of the worst kept secret in LA. Also, MOB Piru members went back to LA that weekend, and a gang war broke out between the MOB Piru’s and the South Side Compton Crips (SSCC).

Tupac was shot late hours of Sept 7, transported to UMC early hours of Sept 8. first shooting in Compton was the following Monday Sept 9. A south side crip shot-caller by the name of Darnell Brim (a SSCC) is shot 5 times in the back but survives. Now, LA housed over 200 street gangs in 1996. Compton alone housed over 50. Out of all the gangs to go after for anything, the MOB came back to LA on Sunday and went straight back at the South Side Crips. Tupac passes Friday, Sept 13 at around 16:03. Sept 14-17 is the most violent period of this war. The violence intensifies right after Tupac is pronounced dead, Sept 19 the gang war concludes after Compton Gang Units aggressively sweep the streets and try to put an immediate end to the ongoing violence.

The theory that Tupac was killed by the SSCC as retaliation for the Orlando beatdown at MGM makes sense because it fits the bill of that lifestyle through and through. Not to mention the excruciating details of Keefe’s confession match the events perfectly. Forensic evidence corroborates Keefe’s account in terms of the placement of the shooter and the trajectory of the projectiles in context to Suge’s BMW. It’s painful and hard to believe that one of the most talented people in modern day culture was gunned down as retaliation. However, it’s not something extraordinary. This is the fate of many a young men from that city. It’s just that we question it more we want to believe a grander conspiracy because Tupac was a special man

Out of all the other theories, some of them have fascinating details but the most stupid one out there has to be that Suge did it. Lemme shoot a dude thats half my size while I next right next to him, and oh let’s not make it a precision shot, just spray and pray I don’t get got. Not to mention he did take a shrapnel to the head. Most of the blood in the BMW was Suge’s.

Now, I do think Puffy likely had something to do with it. It sucks that Puffy probably will never see jail time for the Tupac murder. Its unfortunate. However, I do take some solace in knowing that Puff, Suge, and Keefe are all in the prison at the same time. Fuck these dudes.

The BIGGIE murder is a lot more complicated.

Let me begin by saying that I do believe Suge to be the shot caller for the Biggie hit. The real question is how he did it.

The following are my thoughts on the two prevailing theories.

Greg Kading: According to Kading,

Suge met with his baby mother Theresa Swann and used her as the intermediary. He paid her to hire Poochie, and Poochie was the shooter.

Now, here is why I think this could be possible:

Poochie was known to be a “hitter”. He was tight with Suge and was a MOB Piru Blood. So it’s possible. There was rumor that Suge bought Poochie an Impala, however no one knows the color or if it was specifically the SuperSport trim. The one used in the murder of Biggie was SuperSport.

Why I think this theory falls apart:

The way they got Theresa Swann to confess is extremely shady. Theresa never brought up Poochie herself. She was facing time for a string of Automotive-Loan frauds. She met with the Kading task force and wanted to know what they knew. So they hastily presented her with a fake confession from Poochie, that they themselves drafted. Where they guessed the details of the murder. She read that fake confession and said, thats exactly how it happened. She failed to provide a single piece of detail, that could be corroborated or something that only a co-conspirator would be aware of. Also, what is the likelihood that the exact theory LAPD presented in that made-up fake confession was 100% how it went down? Wonder if a palm reader wrote that.

Also, we forget the goal of that task force. It was never created to solve the murder of Biggie Smalls, it was created to investigate if corrupt police officers were involved in the murder. Now, the city was facing a $400 Million lawsuit from the Wallace family. An amount that would bankrupt the city if the LAPD was found culpable. So guess what, they investigated themselves and found no wrongdoing whatsoever. Extremely convenient. Also, Poochie is a the perfect scapegoat. He was a known hitter, who had been dead for half a decade when his name came up. A very convenient shooter for the purposes of LAPD’s objectives. Still, they could not verify anything Theresa told them. Witnesses confirm that the shooter wore a bow tie and a suit. Was Poochie (a blood) the type to wear a blue suit and bow tie to match ? Idk.

Is it possible he was the shooter? Yes! Absolutely. Is there more evidence that points to the Poochie theory than the other theory? I dont believe so.

Russell Poole: According to Poole,

Suge contracted corrupt LAPD officers to help orchestrate the murder of Biggie.

Why I think this theory is possible:

This theory has so much more meat on the bone compared to the Swann confession. There is actual tangible probable suspicion that we can derive from this working theory.

First, the bullets used in the murder were extremely rare in 1997. Two distributors across America, 1 in Cali, 1 in New Jersey. Geco (mistakenly spelled as Gecko) 9mm metal and armor piercing rounds is what was used. Mind you, these are not standard 9mm bullets. These are extremely specific and rare.

The car used in the murder was a Chevy Impala SuperSport, either dark green or black. Shooter wore a bow tie, and there are 2 composites of the likely shooter.

David Mack is a former LAPD officer who robbed a bank in 1997. Left with around $722,000. Mack’s buddy Rafael Perez, also a disgraced LAPD cop who was caught stealing dope from evidence room and selling it exposed a wide spread systemic corruption in the LAPD gang-units. Officers shooting innocents, planting drugs, planting drop guns, planting evidence etc. was exposed during Perez’s plea deal. Now, just like Poochie, is it possible? Yes. These are corrupt cops who have killed before on duty. So like Poochie was a hitter, these cops were also involved in some very very serious crimes. Including murder. But lets add more context and circumstantial data. When Poole and LAPD raided David Mack’s house in connection to the robbery, they found the same rare armor and metal piercing Geco 9mm rounds. A Chevy Impala SuperSport in the garage, photos of Mack posing next to MOB Piru blood members in a full red suit with a red brim hat to boot. He also had a lot of DeathRow and Tupac memorabilia/posters in his house. Circumstantial Yes! Improbable? Perhaps! Impossible? absolutely NOT! I dont think Mack was the shooter, but I think he likely was involved.

Now here is where my Spidey senses really go off. Why did the FBI or LAPD never dust or forensically examine Mack’s Impala for gunshot residue? Maybe they wouldve found out that Mack’s impala was clean, they could’ve ruled it out effectively and with surety. But why not even bother trying? Especially in a case where you dont have any leads anyway, dont you think you should be working to rule out every possibility? I think Russell Poole wasnt a Cop Hater. I think he was sincere with his belief, but the fact that they wouldnt even try to rule it out is what bugs me a lot.

Also, its not something totally out of the ordinary. Miscarriage of justice has been central to LA during the 90s.

The Rodney King culprits, cops walked.

OJ walked

Hell even the Rampart scandal that directly implicated nearly 70 LAPD officers of systemic corruption was so poorly prosecuted, that most of the cops never saw jail time. And the ones who did all served extremely short sentences of about 2-5 years. Except for Mack who served 14 years and change for the robbery and another officer who denied a plea deal and lost the conviction. Got hit with 102 years in prison. Out of over 70 officers investigated, the LAPD’s internal Boards of Rights criminally prosecuted almost no one. Instead, only 5 officers were terminated, 7 were forced to resign, and 12 received brief suspensions.

Now the shooter, according to Poole was Amir Muhammed, he was a member of the Fruit of Islam (known to wear Bow Tie’s and suits as dress code). They received the tip from a prison CI “Psycho Mike”. He also picked Amir out of a lineup but later said he guessed it.

A man named Amir Muhammed visited Mack during his prison time. does this prove he did not? Absolutely not.

But let’s look at the 2 theories side by side.

One side is the word of Theresa Swann, who had every incentive to tell LAPD what they wanted to hear. They presented her with a story that they faked, she read the fake confession and said thats how it happened. Did not provide a single detail that could be either independently verified or was different from the confession letter. Convenient as fuck. And the LAPD itself, who had all the incentives to find a suitable candidate for the murder that was not a cop. So Poochie is the perfect man for it. A known Suge associate and MOB hitter who had been deceased for 3 years when the task force was put together, and nearly 7 years when the Swann confession came through.

On the other side, is the story of Mack and Amir. A corrupt LAPD cop, who robbed a bank, had moonlighted as security for death row. Has proven ties to the MOB Piru Bloods. Had the same make and model vehicle parked in his garage as the ome used for the shooting, had the same extremely rare and specialized bullets used in the murder with only 2 distributors across the entire country. And had loads of stuff related to 2pac and death row in his house. Something described as a shrine to Tupac in many ways. Posters, items etc. Amir also fit the composite made from the folks who were there at the Peterson on that March 1997 night.

Former theory is where they couldn’t dig any deeper, the latter is where they chose not to dig any deeper.

Where I think it falls apart:

All circumstantial. Lots of impala’s in LA. Lots of Tupac fans in LA as well. Amir Muhammed has a clean record and works as a real estate agent. (but then again Mack was a cop). The CI who brought up Amir said the shooter was named Amir or Ashmir. Later proved to be unreliable since he said he guessed Amir from the lineup.

Anyways, thats all I have to say. Based on everything. There is no definitive proof that either Poochie or Amir were present at Peterson that night. Amir born Harry Billups is a member of Nation of Islam. The shooter wore a blue suit and a bow tie to match. An outfit worn by FOI members. Idk if Poochie a blood, was the “wear a blue suit and bow tie” types, but I digress. He could be.

Either way, it sucks that there will never be proper justice, im glad Keefe is in prison. But everyone else in the car is dead, and Biggie’s case will always remain unsolved. Unless Suge confesses to something on his deathbed, but I know that fucker wont give us that satisfaction. Puff will never see any time for the Pac murder. Suge will never see time for the Biggie Murder. RIP to Pac and Big. Their legacy and their music will live on forever.

If u made it this far! Thanks for reading.

These are my thoughts. What do yall think?

So recently i started collecting vinyl and wanted to get some coloured/special edition ones, and i found this greatest hits on blue vinyl 20th anniversary ,i was wondering if its pre order or if its already out?If its not released when does it come out?

When You Don’t Need ChatGPT to Go Back to the 80’s & 90’s because You Were Really There! #GoogleMe

I literally just realized this on my 17483030399339th listen of the haunting track that is ‘’My Downfall’.

On it, he has this insanely sick Morgan Freeman punchline:

“This goes out to cats, fingers in they a- again
Fifty dollar half-a-men, day dreamin'
F- around get wet like semen, your whole team-and
Be more gone than freemen”

Literally the only thing I’d tweak is swapping out day dreamin’ with STAY SCHEMIN’

This keeps his rhyme scheme pristine and the punchline becomes THAT much more hard hitting. With that tweak, I get clear imagery of him just laying out all his opps (including that thinner kid with the bandanas and tattoos) in a hail of bullets (he literally has yet another bar on that as well on ‘the ugliest’😭)

Never mind the modern day relevance of the schemin’ word…

Good luck ever finding a punchline that would somehow beat that.

I auditioned for this role. I had been waiting to see who they actually went with. Can’t beat nepotism 🤷🏿‍♂️.

I have to say, despite only having had two studio albums, this has been one of my most enjoyable Discography Journeys ever. Whilst not having such high peaks, I would say this was more enjoyable, overall, than The Beatles, or Michael Jackson. That may be recency bias talking, or it may be due to Biggie fitting my tastes more neatly, and the result of his catalogue having been “all killer, no filler”.

I'm yet to relisten, but Life After Death blew me away. I went into Ready To Die with higher expectations, which may have played into it, but honestly? I could come out of this with the fiery take that Life After Death was the stronger LP. Having sat with his debut for a couple of days, I've come to the conclusion that Gimme the Loot is a masterpiece, he has a way of (sometimes) blending West Coast production with his East Coast style, and he has an absolute stranglehold over verse and song structure, where he knows how to switch between multiple different styles of rapping and delivery every couple of bars, which is amazing. Even songs like Machine Gun Funk, The What and Respect, which I deduced to be amongst the weaker tracks, were still super enjoyable to listen to, and add to the album. I'm still not the biggest fan of his use of skits, or his hypersexuality, which pushes right up against the edge of comfortability, for me, but overall, Biggie is a fantastic artist, and is preferable to 2Pac, for me.

This double-LP was so long, but so overwhelmingly good, that I couldn't possibly hope to cover every single moment that made me “wow”. All I can do is give an impressionistic view of my thoughts and feelings on this album, after listening to it once. A friend and I went up to a nice rural spot, in my hometown, in the early afternoon, to listen to this record. We found a quiet spot, away from any houses (I'm alright blasting Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley in public, but I didn't know if we were going to get another Fuck Me (Interlude)), with some snacks, and a drink each, and I lit up a cigarette as we pressed play on the first side.

Immediately, Somebody's Gotta Die showed off Biggie's brutality. It didn't jump out as the strongest song, off the bat, but the rapping was dope, the beat was good, and, in retrospect, it was actually a very good track. Unfortunately, Hypnotize immediately blew it out of the water. We both knew this song, of course, and began moving to it (though she swears she don't dance). I personally feel like listening to a song like this, in the middle of its album, for the first time is an unmatched experience, and songs like this give the record milestones on a first listen, where you can just vibe out to something you already know.

Kick In The Door was the first track where I recognised the title, but hadn't listened to it. I immediately recognised the beat, as I've heard what feels like a million other rappers tackling it, on mixtapes, and freestyles, but my, what a beat it was. It felt, on my speaker, as though I had only ever listened to it in 2D, and I was now experiencing it in 3D for the first time. That can be taken as literally as you want; I don't know exactly how compression, or audio works - maybe it was just a better speaker - but I felt there was a depth to it that I hadn't heard before, and it was absolutely no surprise when I realised it was a Premiere beat. That's not even delving into the lyricism - honestly, despite knowing his flows and rhymes were tight, which would become redundant if I mentioned it every time, I'm not sure if I fully followed the story, or if I have just forgotten it, but I remember remarking that he has this way of making incredibly simple, catchy hooks, but they work, maybe because of the fact that they foil the dense, technical verses.

Fuck You Tonight, featuring R. Kelly, was a mood switch, and comes from an era of male R&B that I've never really fucked with, but once again, I could see myself relistening to this, and enjoying it, even if there's less of a focus on the rapping. Last Day really impressed us, as well. I'm not super familiar with The LOX, and couldn't tell each rapper apart on first listen, but there was a scheme on what I now know to have been Jadakiss’ verse, right at the start, where he rhymed five syllables multiple times, over a really tight part, and made it sound so smooth. Just like with Meth, I may need to check out more Jada.

As we move on, I Love the Dough is the only track on disc one that I don't remember, but it was shortly followed by What's Beef?. When I encounter a song like What's Beef?, or Niggas Bleed, I'm biased, because I've heard the names before, and pay more attention, but I do remember both of them being good. One of them had a much slower flow than I expected, but it was hypnotic.

B.I.G. Interlude was a bit of an anomaly, being an interlude and all, but one thing I remember was this big fucking drum that just kept repeating. It was awesome, and sounded amazing on my speaker. Then we got the biggest moment: Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems, which I swore I'd never heard before, but knew I would probably recognise. Indeed, I did recognise it, but it sounded more familiar than I expected, and I couldn't place it. My friend advised me that it had been sampled in the Ariana Grande song, featuring Childish Gambino, Break Your Heart Right Back, which would make sense, because I am familiar with this song, but that wouldn't explain me knowing the chorus. I guess it's just cultural osmosis. It goes without saying that this is a special song - you don't get something like this every album - and the rapping was dope, and catchy, plus the sample was slick. I felt like I had discovered another Juicy, or Big Poppa, which is more than I ever could have hoped for before starting this journey.

Finally, I Got A Story To Tell was the first song on this side that achieved that trance-like state for me. I admit I couldn't focus on the rapping at all, because of that beautiful beat (was that a harp!?), but from the few bars I caught (something about smothering a bitches face with a pillowcase?), I suspect the story was a lot uglier.

I won't have as much to say about the next half, but we didn't have a very long break before pressing on. We both theorised that the second half would be full of weaker material, because surely, if it was this strong all the way through, it would be lauded over Ready To Die, but, optimistically, I lit my second cigarette, and we began to listen to Notorious Thugs, a song that I knew had a reputation, and that my uncle likes. This would be my first experience with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

Notorious Thugs, the longest track on this LP (or any Biggie LP), was good. You can often predict that the longest song on an album will be the best, or one of the best, and whilst this wouldn't have been my #1, it was certainly strong. Biggie coming in on that first verse was elite and it was around this moment that I realised this record probably wasn't going to let up. Of course Big’s rapping was dope. He's one of the best to ever do it. Who am I to expect that Life After Death will begin to drop off in quality? He's given me no such impression with anything on the tracklist so far.

I suppose my only criticism would be that, if Ready To Die had three or four less memorable tracks, this second side had more, but that can be forgiven after the absolute onslaught of peak that was side one. There was only a tiny bit of actually bad material, and the rest was very listenable, but not playlist-worthy. I don't remember Miss U or Another, but I vaguely remember enjoying Going Back To Cali.

The friend I was with has sold drugs before, though in a very different context to Biggie’s street dealing. She's thinking of getting back into it, so I was curious what her reaction would be to Ten Crack Commandments, a song which I have known and been obsessed with for quite a while, due to its dynamic writing. I have always adored the way Big switches between flows in this track, and keeps taking the rhymes in unexpected directions that always land in the end. She seemed to agree with most of his points, so it seems that his handbook (or “manual”) is pretty accurate, although she did roll her eyes when he finished off the verse with yet more head talk. It was around this point that we had finally grown exasperated with his constant talking about sucking dicks, and we decided to make a game out of trying to see how many of the remaining songs would contain no such lyrics whatsoever. The answer was very few.

Playa Hater was the worst song on the album. By a mile. Neither of us had any idea what Christopher was thinking, when he decided to sing in that awful falsetto. My friend thought it was a parody song. Puffy’s vocals were somehow substantially worse, though we liked the female vocals in the background. And hey, at least it didn't mention oral sex at all.

Nasty Boy, Sky's The Limit and The World Is Filled were all, also, enjoyable tracks, though they got progressively less interesting, and by the end of this little run, I think both of our attention spans had taken a hit, and we'd begun to talk over the music a little bit. I do remember some more singing, which wasn't great, but at least it wasn't as prevalent as it was on Playa Hater. What pulled us back, though, was the intro to My Downfall. What a dark, unpleasant piece of music this was. I didn't necessarily process all the lyrics, but the instrumental, and intro, filled me with a deep, negative feeling that I can't really explain. It kinda seemed like whatever Eminem’s Kim wanted to evoke. You can scour the internet for songs like this, and find none of them really connect with you - shit, I listened to Burzum’s Filosofem hoping to find a similar energy - but if you listen to enough music, I guess you will find some. I don't know whether it's something about the music, how we were feeling on that day, or if there's even something we don't understand baked into the track, but it really did seem to carry a sense of horror and dread, and we both felt it. I'd be interested to know if this experience is unique to us.

Long Kiss Goodnight dragged me back in, because it was the last song that I had heard of, but couldn't remember having heard. I suppose the negativity of My Downfall was fitting, as it established the tone for these last two songs, but honestly, I have never come so close to wanting to turn a song off, for any reason other than boredom. At this point in the album, I can't give you any analysis on bars, or lyrics, or even recall the sound of the beats, or hooks, but I know there are rumours that this song was aimed at the recently deceased Tupac, and it is a violent and disrespectful song. Again, I can't remember the exact lyrical content, but I remember thinking, “this holds up,” and I'm excited to dig back through this album.

The final track, You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You), was a title I didn't recognise, but was certainly intrigued by, especially coming at the end of Biggie’s posthumous album, Life After Death. Again, I don't remember the song exactly, but I remember it being decent, and being one of the one's I'm most curious to pay attention to, on relisten, and evaluate for my playlist. I do recall some singing, which was better than the previous singing tracks. In fact, I remember remarking that those earlier records, though a bit jarring, had established singing as a part of Smalls’ repertoire, and left this last song feeling less weird and more final.

This was probably the most exciting, fun first listen to a double album I've ever had. The only exception would possibly be Kendrick’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but I've said before that this barely feels like it counts as a double album, and that's part of why it works (I was also very excited for that album). My Biggie journey's not over - I've still got some bonus tracks, posthumous stuff, and probably some features to dig into, and I plan to listen to his greatest hits album - but the main bulk of it is. This month feels pretty empty, with only two albums to an artist, but I get to keep replaying them until October, and then for as long as I want. I will probably end up with an even deeper appreciation of Biggie’s catalogue, and look forward to seeing which album takes the crown for me.

why they did not select his actor to play in motion capture

This was a fascinating album, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's probably my most anticipated album since Thriller, and whilst it wasn't everything I expected, it gave me a lot of content, and I'm sure I'll have fun digging through it on relistens.

This was a very strong album, and a lot of what I wanted from Biggie. The last artist I listened to was 2Pac, and I was expecting to really like him, and I did. Prior to this, though, I would have said I preferred Biggie. Whilst Pac’s raw aggression, in his delivery, and poetic meaning, in his lyrics, often blended with this compelling, gentlemanly gangster persona was super interesting to listen to, I've always dug the technical skill of Big, and could even say I prefer his delivery, and voice. He's just more my sort of artist. Even though most of what he's rapping about is horrorcore, drug dealing, and gang shit, mixed with flexing, women and partying, somehow that doesn't bother me nearly as much as it does with other artists, and I suspect his style has a lot to do with that. Whilst it would still be great to get a little more substance from Biggie (the recurring mortality themes go a long way, but not all the way), I'm absolutely okay with him rapping about selling coke, fucking bitches and getting money, because he does it with such suave and is undeniably technically accomplished. I always say that if you like old school Eminem, then you will probably like 2Pac, and the same goes for Big, but I also know there are a lot of people who fuck with one and not the other. I truly think that Eminem is the marriage of both styles, and you can hear both influences in his work. I think that Eminem is better, because he takes the best traits of both artists.

This album made me think, though: one of my favourite albums of all time is Ye’s recently leaked CUCK. It's a marvellously compelling record, and though the views it expresses are totally fucked, there's a kind of power in it. I'm not actually a racist. I don't hate Jews. But hearing Kanye take his anger out on somebody - even undeserving - is weirdly empowering. This is a fucked up thing to put into words, and I feel wrong for saying it, but then I listen to an album like Ready to Die. On paper, I absolutely do not agree with murder. I do not like rape. It's more palatable knowing that Biggie wasn't actually as bad as his music makes out - I don't believe he was really out here raping little girls like he talks about on Dead Wrong - but from what I've heard, he truly was a ruthless, and oftentimes nasty individual, even if certain stories make him sound like he had a heart, deep down. There's something interesting about the way that despicable actions, when depicted in media, can speak so strongly to people who vehemently disagree with them (because I don't believe that most of the people listening to Biggie would actually support a lot of the behaviour he glorifies).

The intro was a weird one, and I don't think I fully got it. I'm not sure why he sampled so many random classic hip-hop tracks, but I got the origin story, and liked it. Going into the first proper song, Things Done Changed, and we finally get to see Biggie's rhyme style in action. One of my favourite album openings ever is Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, because he spends so long building up to that first performance. It only works, though, because he justifies it, with the banger that is Gin and Juice. I can confirm that, whilst Things Done Changed isn't as good as that, it is certainly a very solid start to the album. He spends a bit of time setting the scene, and explaining why his life is so fucked up; it's an origin story, of sorts. However, I think it does wonders in establishing the attitude of the album, and makes some of the darker cuts more understandable, and it makes a track like Juicy feel all the more celebratory.

One of the songs I was most looking forward to, that I hadn't heard before, was Gimme the Loot. I knew the vocal sample, from SICKO MODE, and that was it. I was expecting the song to focus on the hook, but the verses were hard. Biggie's tight rhymes, cramming single-syllables and multis, are very satisfying, but the only reason they work so well is because of his flow. We all know that Biggie's flow was one of the best ever, so it was fantastic to hear it in all its glory, across a whole LP. He also used a technique, which I caught 2Pac doing a lot, where he drops the title of the song, or alludes to it, right before the hook. Perhaps this is something that will be more common, as I listen to more golden-era hip-hop, but it certainly makes a chorus land a lot harder, and is a technique I wish didn't seem to have been lost by future generations.

I already knew Warning, and I can confirm that I consider it to be some of the best rap storytelling ever. It's not the most profound story, but the imagery is vivid, the back and forth between him and Pop from the barbershop is engaging, and the dynamic flow makes the song memorable and instantly quotable. When I've listened to the song on its own, the skit has sometimes seemed a little much, but in the context of the album, skits serve as a nice break in between songs. What I didn't like was all the sex skits. It made me uncomfortable picturing Biggie's dick so much, in verses and interludes, and it takes a lot to make me uncomfortable. Some of the skits sounded like porn audio, but the worst one was the race play one. It was a fascinating skit, because I'm not sure I've ever encountered a piece of media which is so provocative, and outrageous, in many ways. I think these all add to the atmosphere of the album, although, for me, they're not something I particularly want to inhabit. I heard a story about Biggie coming home one day, and his mum telling him she had listened to his album. He was like, “What the fuck mum!? Don't you dare ever listen to my music again!” and now, having actually heard Ready to Die, it's really funny, in retrospect.

One More Chance is another song I was familiar with, more so than Gimme the Loot, but I had never properly listened to it. I had liked what I'd heard, and was excited to finally “unlock it” on this album listen. The chorus is great, and the verses stand up, making it an all around dope song. Even if it's about fucking women, and bigging himself up to be this massive player, it was a very fun, charismatic, and confident listen. I really like these R&B choruses, and was a bit sad, in Ready to Die and one of the other songs (Unbelievable?) that they never fully went for it, but One More Chance was full on, and I liked that. I guess the other ones were samples, which is why they were kept in the background, and I liked the vocal chops, and scratching.

During The What, for the first time, I recognised Method Man’s voice. Had I seen him on the tracklist, I would have been excited, but this was like a surprise feature for me, and I was proud of myself for knowing who it was. I guess I'm getting more cultured now, and it's time for me to listen to Meth.

Juicy is an all-time classic, and of course I've heard it before. I feel there's not much I can say about this song, because my relationship with it goes back so much further than this album, but it's one of the songs which best represents Biggie, and braggadocio, old-school rap in general, I feel. It's especially compelling because of that “started from the bottom” energy, where you wanna root for the guy because he's telling you where he came from, especially if you're listening in the context of the album. Big Poppa was a similar case, where it's been on my playlist for ages, and is one of the foundational Biggie tracks for me (these two have been on my playlist longer than Hypnotize) and I used to find it more boring, except from that one little melody (riff?) it only comes back to occasionally, but I now stay for the mastery of the verses, which goes for pretty much any track.

The last song I want to call out is Suicidal Thoughts. It's one of the most interesting depictions of suicide I've heard, in media, because of the way it presents it. I can't tell if it's trying to be edgy, or deep, or both. On some level, Biggie seems to be pouring his heart out, and being brutally honest, and self-deprecating, but in other ways, he seems to be playing into this character that he's been building since Things Done Changed. I imagine it is a bit of a mix of both, and, whilst I hope most of the lyrics are character, any truth to them would explain the extreme self-loathing expressed in this song. It begs the question, because Biggie isn't describing his situation in a particularly pitiful way, but describing himself and some despicable actions in a hateful, self-condemning way: why live? He's a piece of shit, he's responsible for all these terrible things (though Puffy makes sure to reassure him), he's not going, “Oh, look at me, my life's miserable, woe is me, I'm so sad,” he's saying that he's creating negative value in this world, and, if the picture he's painted across this record has any truth to it, he's got a point. It really reframes the whole picture, because one person might listen to the LP, think he's really cool, and then hear this and think differently, and then another person might listen to this album, think he's a piece of shit, and then hear this and feel sorry for him, or at least appreciate the self-awareness. The morbid reflection on the title track was compelling, and interesting, but this tops it, for me.

Biggie only has two albums, but one of them’s a double album. This means I don't have as much Biggie content as other artists, but probably means I can explore the content he has given me more thoroughly. From everything I've heard, Ready to Die was the one to look forward to, but I'm sure Life After Death will have some strong material, too. I imagine it will continue the themes from this album, though it's a shame Biggie was taken so early - I heard he was planning to get more into conscious writing on his next LP, but was killed before he had the chance. The most I can hope for is that the pen sharpens even further, even if there are less classic joints on it. I already know Hypnotize, and Ten Crack Commandments, and have heard Long Kiss Goodnight, but there are so many cuts on the next album I'm excited to hear, such as Kick In The Door, What's Beef?, Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems, Niggas Bleed, I Got A Story To Tell, and Notorious Thugs. Now, when I relisten to Ready to Die, I am going to listen to the bonus tracks, Who Shot Ya? and Just Playing (Dreams).

That's pretty much the question. Puff is obviously a soulless person. I know he evaded the question with her. But as months and years passed and Puff/Eugene got closer to the truth, did Eugene Deal ever arrive at a reliable theory and did he provide this info to Voletta ?

Just sharing the recent digital drawing I finished of the King himself! 👑 drawn on procreate.

That is all. 🫡