Line #2 Music/ReadyToDie


1	[[quoteright:306:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bef99587b62c74aa68d0241ecf3245d2.JPG]]
2	[[caption-width-right:306:''It was all a dream...'']]
3
4	->''Damn, what happened to the summertime cookouts?''\
5	''Every time I turn around, a nigga getting took out''\
6	''Shit, my Momma got cancer in her breast''\
7	''Don't ask me why I'm motherfuckin' stressed''\
8	''Things done changed...''
9	-->--'''"Things Done Changed"'''
10
11	''Ready to Die'' is the first album ([[ShortLivedBigImpact of two]]) by Music/TheNotoriousBIG, released on September 13th, 1994.
12
13	The album is in part a semi-autobiographical (and exaggerated) account of Biggie's younger days as a criminal, and consists of mostly hardcore gangsta rap, with a few light party jams (the most popular being the first single "Juicy", although the second single, "Big Poppa", is no slouch, either).
14
15	It went on to become one of the biggest-selling hip-hop albums of all time, helping revitalize the East Coast hip-hop scene commercially in the face of the West Coast's dominance in the early 90s. Three of its songs -- "Juicy", "Big Poppa", and "Warning" -- went on to become singles, accompanied by music videos.
16
17	Sadly, ''Ready to Die'' was the only album Biggie saw the release of during his lifetime -- he was murdered in Los Angeles just 16 days before the release of his second album, ironically named ''Music/LifeAfterDeath''.
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19	XXL Magazine has an in-depth, track-by-track article about the making of ''Ready to Die'', available [[http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2014/09/the-making-of-ready-to-diefamily-business/ right here.]]
20
21	----
22	!! Tracklist:
23
24	# "Intro" (3:24)
25	# "Things Done Changed" (3:58)
26	# "Gimme the Loot" (4:46)
27	# "Machine Gun Funk" (4:16)
28	# "Warning" (3:40)
29	# "Ready to Die" (4:25)
30	# "One More Chance" (4:43)
31	# "Fuck Me (Interlude)" (1:31)
32	# "The What" (3:57)
33	# "Juicy" (5:03)
34	# "Everyday Struggles" (5:19)
35	# "Me & My Bitch" (4:00)
36	# "Big Poppa" (4:13)
37	# "Respect" (5:21)
38	# "Friend of Mine" (3:28)
39	# "Unbelievable" (3:44)
40	# "Suicidal Thoughts" (2:50)
41	# "Who Shot Ya?" (5:19)*
42	# "Just Playing (Dreams)" (2:43)*
43
44	(The tracks marked with an asterisk were included on [[UpdatedRerelease "The Remaster"]] re-issue of the album.)
45	----
46	!! "I love it when you call me Big Tro-pa! Throw your hands in the air, if you's a true playa..."
47	* AlbumTitleDrop: Shockingly enough, "Ready to Die".
48	* AntiLoveSong: "Me & My Bitch".
49	* BankRobbery: "Gimme the Loot" is about two criminals ([[ActingForTwo both rapped by Biggie]]) sticking up a bank.
50	* BlackComedy: Most of the humor on the album is this. The shining example is probably "Gimme the Loot"; you can't help but laugh at a lot of Biggie's lines just because they're so mean. "I wouldn't give a fuck if you're pregnant / gimme the baby rings, and the #1 Mom pendant!"
51	** Although infamous due to preceding the 9/11 attacks, the line "...blow up like the world trade" from "Juicy", which referred to the 1993 bombings, was still a pretty morbid joke at the time, given that it killed eight people and injured over a thousand.
52	* BolivianArmyEnding: "Gimme the Loot" ends with Biggie and his accomplice getting cornered by the cops and engaging them in a shootout. We don't find out who won; a sample of Music/IceCube saying "Take that, muthafuckas!" is heard, but that could be from either party.
53	* BookEnds: The album starts and ends with life and death: the intro begins with a childbirth scene, and the closing track "Suicidal Thoughts" ends with Biggie committing suicide.
54	* DisappearedDad: Referenced in "The What", where Biggie complains that, "Pop Duke left mom Duke. The faggot [[DoubleEntendre took the back way]]."
55	* DonutMessWithACop: In "Gimme the Loot", after robbing the bank, stealing a getaway car and robbing the couple inside, the younger robber freaks out when he sees the cops nearby, but the older one just says "Be cool, fool / they ain't gonna roll up, all they want is fuckin' donuts." [[BolivianArmyEnding He underestimated them.]]
56	* DownerEnding:
57	** "Me & My Bitch" ends with Biggie getting a distress page from his titular girlfriend. He goes to her, but it's too late - she's been shot dead.
58	** The whole album ends with "Suicidal Thoughts", which finds Biggie contemplating and finally committing suicide. It's softened a bit on the Remaster version, which ends the album with the bonus tracks "Who Shot Ya?" and "Just Playing (Dreams)", but "Suicidal Thoughts" is still the true ending.
59	* DrivenToSuicide: "Suicidal Thoughts".
60	* GangstaRap: A mix of Blue Collar, Commercial and Hardcore, with a pinch of Mafioso (the Mafioso influence would become greater on his second album).
61	* ManlyTears: Biggie starts crying when he finds out his girlfriend's been murdered at the end of "Me & My Bitch".
62	* NonAppearingTitle: "Juicy". The title makes sense when you realize that it samples "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume, but the word doesn't appear anywhere in the song.
63	* OneWordTitle: "Warning", "Juicy", "Respect" and "Unbelievable".
64	* RagsToRiches: "Juicy" is all about this.
65	* RecordProducer: Bad Boy labelhead and Biggie's [[HeterosexualLifePartners best bud]] Puffy serves as executive producer. Easy Mo Bee handled the majority of the production, but there are also beats by DJ Premier, Lord Finesse, the Trackmasters, Darnell Scott, Chucky Thompson and the Bluez Brothers (no, not [[Film/TheBluesBrothers these guys]]).
66	* RedOniBlueOni: The two bank robbers in "Gimme the Loot" ([[ActingForTwo both played by Biggie]]). The younger one is the hotheaded, skittish Red, while the older one is the cooler, more confident Blue.
67	* {{Sampling}}: All over the album, of course, but to name just the most notable cases...
68	** The album intro, which is a summary of Biggie's life up until the recording of the album, uses samples to mark the notable time periods of not just his life, but of hip-hop: He's born to Music/CurtisMayfield's "Superfly" in the '70s, gets in trouble as a kid in '79/the early '80s to Music/TheSugarhillGang's "Rapper's Delight" (marking the birth of hip-hop), commits robbery as a teenager in the '80s to Audio Two's "Top Billin'" (marking the Golden Age of hip-hop), and is released from prison in the early '90s to Music/SnoopDogg's "Tha Shiznit" (marking the rise of West Coast hip hop in the early '90s).
69	** "Gimme the Loot", "Machine Gun Funk" and "Ready to Die" became the source of some legal trouble in 2006 over their samples of "Singing in the Morning" by the Ohio Players (both "Gimme the Loot" and "Ready to Die") and "Up for the Down Stroke" by the Horny Horns ("Machine Gun Funk"). The samples were removed on all further pressings. [[note]]Puffy and Bad Boy Records were criticized by some for not using the "fair use" doctrine, but in 2014 when The Impressions member Lee Hutson sued for the alleged illegal sampling of "Can't Say Enough About Mom" in "The What", they ''did'' successfully claim fair use and got to keep the sample.[[/note]]
70	** "Warning" samples "Walk On By" by Music/IsaacHayes.
71	** The hook of "One More Chance" is based on Music/TheJacksonFive's "I Want You Back" ("Oh Biggie, give me one more chance...")
72	** "Juicy" samples (and is named for) "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume.
73	** "Everyday Struggle" samples "Either Way" by Dave Grusin.
74	** "Big Poppa" samples "Between the Sheets" by Music/TheIsleyBrothers.
75	* ShoutOut:
76	** From "Me & My Bitch" - "You look so good, huh, [[Creator/RichardPryor I suck on your daddy's dick]]."
77	* SpecialGuest: [[Music/WuTangClan Method Man]] joins Biggie on "The What".
78	* TakeThat:
79	** "Unbelievable" contains a jab at old-school polka-dot wearing rapper Kwame in the line "Your life is played out like Kwame and them fuckin' polka dots".
80	** Most infamously, however, "Who Shot Ya?" (initially released as a B-side on the "Big Poppa" single) was interpreted by [[Music/TupacShakur 2Pac]] as a diss aimed at him mocking his '94 shooting (as well as proof that Biggie had orchestrated it). That's unlikely (Lil' Cease stated that Biggie recorded the song months before the shooting), and the song doesn't explicitly mention [=2Pac=] (or anyone in particular, for that matter), but Biggie did perform the song live a lot during their beef, which Pac found ''very'' insensitive.
81	* TitleTrack: "Ready to Die".
82	* UpdatedRerelease: In 2004, ''The Remaster'' was released. In addition to being [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a remastered version of the album]], it adds "Who Shot Ya?" and "Just Playing (Dreams)" as bonus tracks and includes a DVD containing the music videos.
83	* VillainProtagonist: Most notably "Gimme the Loot" and "Who Shot Ya?"
84	* WhiteVoidRoom: The album cover.

Context Music / ReadyToDie