Executive produced by Diddy, Life After Death also provides some of Biggie’s most indelible singles. Quippy exchanges and crime-thriller epics are dope, but they’re also just a couple of parts of Biggie’s overall appeal. Biggie dives into humor again on “I Got a Story to Tell,” a hilarious detour that gives way to a story about cheating with a certain NBA player’s love interest. He’s even got time to make a quip about Maxi Priest because, as Biggie knew, the best dramas still make room to get jokes off. In just a few minutes, he introduces a detailed timeline for a hardened criminal and recaps an old beef before concluding a tale of a drug deal gone wrong.
On tracks like “Niggas Bleed,” he renders a cinematic gangster fantasy with unsparing, writerly details and conversational ease. On Ready to Die, Big made a name for himself through hungry, worker-level street tales, but Life After Death sees him indulge in the mythic mafioso stories of the era.
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There’s even Biggie’s declassified drug dealer survivor guide (“10 Crack Commandments”).ĭrug dealing and street economics are still present on Life After Death, but they’re a lot more fun this time around. There are aspirational anthems (“Sky’s the Limit”) and pained reminiscences (“Miss U”). There are get money celebrations ( “Hypnotize”) and gloomy ruminations on death (“You’re Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)”). On the feature end of things, JAY-Z, 112, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, The Lox, Lil’ Kim and Ma$e popped out for the LP, with Big’s memorable Bone Thugs impression (“Notorious Thugs”) being a standout moment of the collaborations. RZA, DJ Premier, Puff Daddy (now known as Diddy), Easy Mo Bee, Havoc and others supplied Biggie with the very best that the worlds of boom bap and commercial production had to offer. Doubling down on Biggie’s strengths while expanding the scope of his sound, the project distills the Brooklyn rapper in all his ruthless, virtuosic grace, making it one of the rare posthumous albums to add a meaningful chapter to a late artist’s legacy.Ĭhecking in at 25 songs, the double album sees Biggie go any and everywhere sonically and thematically, merging luminous triple beam dreams with technicolor disco funk (“Mo Money Mo Problems”) and murderous overtures with dreary soul (“What’s Beef”). Released just over two weeks after his tragic demise - nearly three years removed from his seminal debut album, Ready to Die - The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death is a historic cocktail of shapeshifting flows, Martin Scorsese-esque storytelling and dynamic hit-making. Twenty-five years ago today, the rap world welcomed one of its greatest exceptions.