Ready To Die....overrated

[buckshotstheone]

yeah I said it. with the drop of the original versions of Ready to Die that circulated on the net recently I found myself going back and bumping that album for a few days before I got into the original tracks. what I found was that after all these years I couldn't quite understand why people call this album such a classic

ok so biggie was a dope MC, that's not something i'm trying to argue, but the album itself, ain't all that hot. at least half of it is bitch tracks, it's a little lengthy and could have easily dropped like 4 tracks off to make it more swift and hard hitting.

now in listening to In My Lifetime i also found the same situation where the bitch tracks seem to outnumber the raw shit and in all honesty my bias towards jay makes it easier to stomach but still, as classic as Ready to Die is, something about it just makes it hard for me to sit all the way through without getting bored.

not expecting much agreement but hoping a decent discussion rolls out

[rainbow]

i Agree.

[rainbow]

Half the beats were mediocre to bad, about half the tracks are at least 'good'.

There are maybe 2 or 3 really good tracks.

[Ritter]

/Agree

Biggie is overrated as fuck in overall, not just this album.

2Pac too.

R.I.P.

[TSA]

Ready To die is one of the most remarkable pieces of art in music history

for the first time in hip hop, a deep, unappologetic dive into the mind of a conflicted person is presented panoramically with nothing false or sugar coated.

Biggie, unlike anyrapper before him dives into his deepest thoughts, insecurites, fears, ambitions, self hatred, and like any humanbegin is riddled with self contridiction and a complex interior that makes Ready To Die one of the most honest outings in history.

On the exterior he was able to turn his insecurities into strengths, but still reveals how they're eating him on the inside honestly and truthfully.


It also follows a loose storyline of his life from birth to predicted death by suicide because those insecurities finally get the best of him.

It's also one of the most well versed, quoted, cited and recited hip hop albums in history and was the pivotal moment when New York takes the crown from California sparking the next 10 or so years of hip hop politics (ending only when Nas and Jay-s resolve their beef)


for the first time the mix of polished RnB and rawness is woven flawlessly together as a mirror or the internal conflicts that are so well documented in the album and in a hip hop world full of 1 dimensional characters.

no album had gone this far into a persons mind prior to it and was only matched 5 or 6 years later with the Marshal Mathers LP.


it's a brilliant piece of work and it's too much to swallow for white people that listen to rap just to hear lo fi beats.

[TSA]

Biggie is also dope in the fact that in his life time he reversed the tide of hip hop forever. To think, when your death sparks a dynamic fight for a 'throne' for the next 10 years, you were something...something that your contemporaries weren't.


Hip hop is like this.


every rapper has 16 points.

and 2 slots to put them in

Rawness Commericialness

ppl on here like when Rawness far out wieghs Commericalness

like 12/4

Biggie, and Jay-z are 8/8 and that's why ppl have a hard time liking them as much cause they're raw but not that raw, and commerical but not that commerical.

[Prolifical ENG]

Ready To die is one of the most remarkable pieces of art in music history

for the first time in hip hop, a deep, unappologetic dive into the mind of a conflicted person is presented panoramically with nothing false or sugar coated.

Biggie, unlike anyrapper before him dives into his deepest thoughts, insecurites, fears, ambitions, self hatred, and like any humanbegin is riddled with self contridiction and a complex interior that makes Ready To Die one of the most honest outings in history.

On the exterior he was able to turn his insecurities into strengths, but still reveals how they're eating him on the inside honestly and truthfully.


It also follows a loose storyline of his life from birth to predicted death by suicide because those insecurities finally get the best of him.

It's also one of the most well versed, quoted, cited and recited hip hop albums in history and was the pivotal moment when New York takes the crown from California sparking the next 10 or so years of hip hop politics (ending only when Nas and Jay-s resolve their beef)


for the first time the mix of polished RnB and rawness is woven flawlessly together as a mirror or the internal conflicts that are so well documented in the album and in a hip hop world full of 1 dimensional characters.

no album had gone this far into a persons mind prior to it and was only matched 5 or 6 years later with the Marshal Mathers LP.


it's a brilliant piece of work and it's too much to swallow for white people that listen to rap just to hear lo fi beats.

Oh shit, good argument presentation there....lol @ the jab at the end.

[TSA]

The story of hip hop is increadible, and the catalysis is Biggie's raise and death.

love or hate him he had an imperial existance over hip hop to the point that his saying
"your played out like kwame, and his fuckin polka dots" made Kwame's lable drop him and he could go to clubs that year out of laughter (according to Kwame himself).
LOL.

Biggie's dominance was historical, as was what he left behind, because he was alive at a time that all the considered G.O.A.Ts were active and without question was the supreme figure in the game.

Like Buckshot, your a huge Jay-Z fan, but consider that Jay-z, one of the greatest rappers of all time, argueably THEE best rapper of all time was a dullah to Biggie when he was at his lyrical prime.

on top of that, Biggie came to Jay-z one day and said "i dont write rhymes anymore" and taught him the technique he's been using for the rest of his career, so some monk kung fu shit.

and on top of THAT, Jay-z's entire career has been dedicated to attaining the throne Biggie left cause he was one of the most obvious successors.


when a rapper needs a successor...you're gonna have to just accept what he is and was.....

his imperalial reign is best embodied on this song.

[buckshotstheone]

nice dig at white people even though some of my favorite tracks in hip hop are polished and/or commercial and/or bitch tracks. (lo fi is nice and all but shit we need some class up in here too)

with jay-z it's easier to accept the 8/8 ratio cause dude got so much more material. with biggie you got ready to die and life after death, and that's where it ends

yeah i understand the impact biggie had with the kwame line, the incredible storytelling from start to finish in the album, but as far as attaining the throne, sorry but Rakim is still holding on to the number 1 spot, Kane second, Jay third

[rainbow]

Ready To die is one of the most remarkable pieces of art in music history

In your humble and ever gracious opinion.

Or... prove it?

[rainbow]

Some people need to separate music and the things behinds the music.

If music sounds bad, it is bad.

If an mc has bad lyrics and delivery , they are bad.

Their intentions are irrelevant.

Some people don't think it's enough to talk about music, hence they introduce various irrelevant pieces of misinformation.

[TSA]

see, now your being naive.

Rakim doesn't hold the throne..he's influential, but he never claimed it and/or fought for it.

he just did his own thing, which is cool, but in the context of the bigger picture, there were actual wars in hip hop just to be biggie.

the first against him and tupac, or east and west
the second Jay-z v. Nas

the 2 most epic moments in all rap history, just to be someone who established unyielding dominance for 1 album.

also, it doesn't end at Life After Death, No Way out is the real end, that was supposed to be his 3rd album, beats concepts and all. He died and puffy injected it with his puffhood.

starting the shiny suit era. Just imagine that, giving the wrong guy biggies throne (cause everyone saw him as the most credible heir) started and era in hip hop reflecting the throne takers style.

MEANING the actual and living crown biggie had has the power to mold all of hip hop by whoever wears it like biggie was doing while he was alive.

Biggie did everything every rapper wanted to do, and you can't just use personal preferance as your measuring stick, look at real things.

Biggie outsold Rakim (in life), popularity is huge in hip hop whether you wanna deny it just cause the current most popular rappers aren't your pick. Biggie had small traces of what rakim had, and huge doses of what rakim didn't.

again, 8/8.

[rainbow]

Biggie is also dope in the fact that in his life time he reversed the tide of hip hop forever. To think, when your death sparks a dynamic fight for a 'throne' for the next 10 years, you were something...something that your contemporaries weren't.


Hip hop is like this.


every rapper has 16 points.

and 2 slots to put them in

Rawness Commericialness

ppl on here like when Rawness far out wieghs Commericalness

like 12/4

Biggie, and Jay-z are 8/8 and that's why ppl have a hard time liking them as much cause they're raw but not that raw, and commerical but not that commerical.

What the fuck are you talking about?

I mean, all the time.

What the fuck are you talking about ever.

12/4 Rawness to Commercialness?

Why should there be any commercialness?

Make music fuckwits.

[rainbow]

ah fuck it, everyone can talk about irrelevent bullshit of no importance for all i care.

Ready To Die = Overrated

Biggie = Overrated.

In my opinion.

[Ritter]

TSA insists too much on sales figures and about the life of rappers.