csberry

Ready to Die gets praise for me with its autobiographical “concept”. I understand that the recording was done in two sessions and that Biggie tweaked his style a little between the two sessions. That may be part of the reason why I don't have a consistent opinion on his rapping. I like his occasional dense rhyming but there are times he gets aggressive and he loses his calm “coolness” to me and seems kinda lame.

The sampling is interesting. It seems more transitional from the gangster rap template put together by Dr Dre to the larger pop sampling Puffy was evolving towards. There are times the samples reiterate a documentary feel. The standard of having a female singer as an angel juxtaposed with the rapper as a devil just doing the best he can in the hell he's in is used a good bit here.

Songs I Knew I Liked: None

Songs I Now Like: None

Songs I Don't Want to Ever Hear Again: None