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|  | |  | | | Ready to Die: The Remaster
(Audio CD)
by Notorious Big | | | | | SKU:
11876700 | | In Stock | | Availability:
Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | A remixed, remastered version of what could arguably be called the greatest rap album of all time, this CD/DVD is Biggie Smalls at his best. Complex lyrics, infectious beats, and an emotional range of such depth and breadth that it leaves the listener full of questions and eager for more. The mood swings from the nostalgic 'Things Done Changed' to the dark and darkly humorous 'Gimme The Loot,' from the bouyant celebration of life outside the ghetto to a cynical revelry in violence. This record shows the multifaceted personality and the brilliant skills of the Notorious B.I.G. including the live outdoor performance of 'Unbelievable' and previously unreleased tracks, this edition showcases the talent and tragedy of a voice that changed the face of rap music. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Audio CD Release Date: | November 14, 2006 | | Studio: | Bad Boy | | Number Of Discs: | 2 | | Format: | Explicit Lyrics, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 360 reviews |
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| | Track Listing | | 1. | Intro | | 2. | Things Done Changed | | 3. | Gimme the Loot | | 4. | Machine Gun Funk | | 5. | Warning | | 6. | Ready to Die | | 7. | One More Chance | | 8. | #! *@ Me (Interlude) | | 9. | The What | | 10. | Juicy | | 11. | Everyday Struggle | | 12. | Me & My B*tch | | 13. | Big Poppa | | 14. | Respect | | 15. | Friend of Mine | | 16. | Unbelievable | | 17. | Suicidal Thoughts | | 18. | Who Shot Ya | | 19. | Just Playing (Dreams) | |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 360 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 51 found the following review helpful:
 How can I put this? Jul 23, 2001
By Rex Marksmanson
"HEYO!"
Hmm it's a good album...wait no a great album...forget that it's the BEST album. When biggie dropped this album it hit like an atomic bomb, totally re-arranging the rap world and driving the fledging east-coast back to the top. Normally I would tell you my favorite tracks but I'll just break it down with the whole damn CD is amazing. From the intro to the ending "Suicidal Thoughts" The Notorious BIG put down everything thats essential for an instant classic, and believe it or not Puff Daddy...oh excuse me "P. Diddy" laced this whole album up with amazing beats. If I could give this CD 10 stars I would, and like several reviewers on here mentioned, how could you give it anything less? And finally this last part is for all angry Tupac Shakur fans coming down on this CD with 1 star reviews and cursing, Tupac and Biggie were equally great we all know it, but some of us would rather stay angry. But isn't that anger the same kind that made us lose the two greatest MC's Tupac and Biggie? Think about it, and grab this CD. Peace.
16 of 17 found the following review helpful:
An Essential Album for the Thinking Rap Fan Aug 17, 1999
"Ready to Die" is an essential album for true rap fans. Yes, Biggie explores the usual gangsta trappings (clothes, bank rolls and ho's, etc.). What separates this work from most the rest of the cookie-cutter rappers out there is that Biggie writes with intelligence, style and wit. His lyrics are what separate this album from the rest of the heap - he expresses himself with the clarity and cleverness more typically found in a classic songwriter. The samples and beats behind the lyrics compliment most of the material perfectly and are a refreshing break from the played-out R&B/Funk West Coast sound. B.I.G. uses humor, intelligence and vivid imagery subtely and lets the listener fill in the gaps. Like Nas' debut album "Illmatic"(also highly recommended!), "Ready to Die" is a refreshing departure from the Top 40-driven rap/hip hop scene predominant today. It's rap that you won't feel embarassed to listen to.
17 of 19 found the following review helpful:
My Favorite Album Mar 25, 2005
By Drew
In 1994, The Notorious B.I.G. came out with what I think is the greatest rap album ever created. Biggie had an amazing rhyme style which he unleashed in every single song. He could change his style from song to song and still managed to keep in character. He made songs that showed what he knew about when he was growing up hustling. His raps are easy to understand but he manages to still make them outstanding. Biggie's loose and easy flow made his songs great. When he begins to pile multiple rhymes on top of one another you know you're hearing a classic. My favorite aspect of The Notorious B.I.G. is his dramatic storytelling and how easily he slips in and out of different characters.
1. Intro - Nice intro to introduce The Notorious B.I.G. into the game.
2. Things Done Changed - Very deep song. Great to start off this album. Really defines himself with this song about changes. "Back in the days, our parents used to take care of us. Look at em now, they even f***ing scared of us!" 10/10
3. Gimmie The Loot - Classic track. Biggie flawlessly portrays two different characters. This song is funny and has some classic lines. "I wouldn't give f*** if you're pregnant. Give me the baby rings and a #1 MOM pendant!" 10/10
4. Machine Gun Funk - Great lyrics, great beat and sample. "Relentless approach, to know if I'm broke or not, Just cause I joke and smoke a lot, Don't mean I don't tote the glock." 10/10
5. Warning - A great song. One of his best actually. This song shows Big's storytelling ability and manages to inject some humor and his lyrics are perfect. "There's gonna be a lot of slow singin, and flower bringin if my burgular alarm starts ringing." 10/10
6. Ready To Die - Classic song. Biggie tears up the 1st verse and when you hear him finish off the verse, you know it's a classic. 10/10
7. One More Chance - Good song with a good beat. Not a standout track in my opinion but it's still great. The phone messages in the beginning are annoying though. 8/10
8. #!*@ Me - Strange skit. Go ahead and skip it. Definately not worth a second listen.
9. The What - One of the rawest songs on the album. It features Method Man who completely tears it up. As usual, Biggie holds his own. "Excuse me, flows just grow through me like trees to branches, Cliffs to avalanches. It's the praying mantis." 10/10
10. Juicy - A now classic song about growing up in the hood and finally making it big. 10/10
11. Everyday Stuggles - Great song about growing up in the ghetto. Nice deep song with nice beat and great lyrics. "Packed up my tools for my raw power moves. Glock nineteen for casket and flower moves. For chumps tryin to stop my flow, and what they don't know will show on the autopsy." 10/10
12. Me & My B*tch - Great song about his girl who met a sad fate. Big manages to lay some deep rhymes throughout this depressing story. "She helped me plan out my robberies on my enemies.Didn't hesitate to squeeze, to get my life out of danger. One day, she put 911 on the pager." 10/10
13. Big Poppa - Now a classic song. Not really much to be said about it that hasn't already been said. 10/10
14. Respect - Good song with a Reggae twist. BIG just rapping about his ascent in the world since birth. Tight rhymes as usual. "I made it out, I'm bringin' mad joy. The doctor looked and said, 'He's gonna be a Bad Boy'" 9/10
15. Friend Of Mine - Probably my least favorite song on the album but BIG still manages to lay out some nice rhymes in this song about girls cheating. 7/10
16. Unbelievable - Pretty nice beat but once again, it's Biggie's rhymes that carry this song. "Rappers can't sleep, Need sleepin. Big keep creepin, Bullets heat-seekin, Casualties need treatin, Dumb rappers need teachin." 9/10
17. Suicidal Thoughts - My Favorite song on Ready To Die. BIG's rhymes are flawless and he manages to explain everything he feels he's done wrong that justifies his suicide. Classic and depressing ending to a classic album. 10/10
18 of 21 found the following review helpful:
 Great album; Downloaded version is edited. Dec 16, 2008
By Erek Speed
I saw the review posted here about the albums being edited. A comment gave a new link for an unedited version but that one was edited as well. Guess I'm out some money.
Don't download, buy the real CD. Amazon is lying to you.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Not the Ready to Die We Rocked in '94 Nov 30, 2012
By PrinceNikodeem
I know, I know. How could I give one of the hottest hip hop albums of all time two stars, right? Well I've got a better question for you: How could Bad Boy piss all over Biggie's legacy and mutilate this classic?
Before they spend their money on this fakeness, the fans have the right to know...especially the young folks who weren't even around back in the day...that the album you see before you...this so called "remaster"...is NOT what Biggie fans rocked out to in '94. This is NOT the album that was bangin' in the clubs, in our cars, or at our house parties. Take it from someone who was there, this so-called "remaster" is not just an enhancement of sound quality as the name might imply, it's a totally different album.
Don't get it twisted, the original version, the one with the white cover, wasn't some rough mix that was stolen from Easy Mo Bee's basement and released on the streets as a bootleg or whatever...it was the official studio release. The one you bought at Sam Goody, Coconuts, or, until 2006, right here on amazon. And now it's gone forever in favor of this inferior mess.
And why? Money, mostly. And a touch of political correctness.
1.) Bad Boy's legal department apparently f'd up and some of the samples used on the original weren't cleared properly, so rather than tap into their billions and just pay whatever licensing fees were necessary for the re-release, Diddy and company decided to just CHANGE THE ORIGINALS!!! So now, tracks like "Machine Gun Funk" and "Ready to Die" sound totally different. They are not at all what we heard when we first bumped this album back in '94.
2.) Some of Biggie's original lyrics were apparently too raw for the sensibilities of the new millenium so they were edited out or backmastered. Most notably on "Juicy" where he spits "time to get paid/blow up like the World Trade" referencing the 1993 attack on the towers. On the remaster, the words "World Trade" are edited out, presumably because someone might think he was making a reference to 9/11 seven years before it actually happened. While I understand that 9/11 was a catastrophic and horrible event, and would certainly agree that a rapper using it as a euphemism for accruing wealth would be unbelievably crass, I also don't think that record companies should go back and selectively edit albums that came out seven years before the tragedy even happened because someone might think that Biggie was Nostradamus and predicted the whole thing in his crystal ball, thus compromising his original vision and lyricism.
Now that this "remaster" has come out, the only way to get the original is to run it down in some used record store. Think about what this means. Kids who grew up hearing that Biggie was the best and wanting to hear the album that their elders say prove it will rush to purchase or download this "remaster", because it's the only thing available, not realizing that they are NOT hearing what those of us who copped the original heard back in '94. They're not hearing Biggie as we heard him. They're not hearing his magnum opus. They're hearing a compromised, mutilated version of that album. Again, think about what this says about Bad Boy's respect for their greatest artist, the man whose talent they pretty much rode to wealth and glory. Would anyone dare to dream of doing this to the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's", Bob Marley's "Catch a Fire" or Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"? No? Then what does this say about Bad Boy's respect for Biggie and hip hop as an artform in general?
Because it's Biggie, I can't bring myself to give even this mangled version of his vision one star, but because this musical mutilation is the auditory equivalent of putting boxer shorts on Donatello's David or a bra on the Venus de Milo, I also can't bring myself to give it more than two.
To the young hip hop headz out there, consider yourselves warned. If you want to hear Biggie as 90s headz heard him when this classic disc first dropped back in the day, this isn't the version you're looking for. Pressure Bad Boy to re-release the "classic version" full and intact. Peace.
See all 360 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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