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The Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Ready to Die’ at 30: All 17 Songs Ranked
The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut opus Ready to Die turns 30 this year. To celebrate, we take a look at the album and rank all 17 songs.
Despite its three-and-a-half-minute length, it is an essential listen when interpreting this album, as it colorfully unpacks the phrase “another day, another struggle.” The intro takes us inside the evolution of its narrator, from delivery room to wall-piercing childhood trauma to stick-up-kid woes to walking out of a jail cell. He’s clear that holding hands is not his style, but unashamed to use a daring Richard Pryor joke to profess just how much he’s attracted to his pistol-toting main squeeze — a ride-or-die who isn’t afraid to lob his Timbs out the window or use his toothbrush to clean the toilet to send a message. Whether it’s Meth’s expert flip of Dickensian prose or Big turning a hiccup into a launchpad for the following display of lyrical ascent — “Excuse me, flows just run through me/ Like trees to branches, cliffs to avalanches” — you’re left feeling grateful this record even exists.
Or read this on Billboard