Biggie Ready to Die Quiz

[Kiran187]

MTV got a 20 question quiz on Ready to Die. I scored 16/20

on.mtv.com/1pTK23A

[peanut butter]

15. Never paid close enough attention to the Kim/Big sex skit to know what fuckin song was playing in the background


PEACE

[Escobar305]

arguable da bess album

[Req]

20/20 because i am the best

[Escobar305]

20/20 because i am the best

[Req]

are you upset because i am the best?

[Escobar305]

[Kid That's Lifeless]

Classic album nowhere near best of all time

[seagrams hotsauce]

7. Not ashamed. Haven't listened to it in like a decade and was never that into it.

[Req]

Classic album nowhere near best of all time

but what does that really mean though?

that you can name 10 albums better than it?

25?

50?

Hard pressed to think of 25 hip-hop albums better than Ready to Die. It's a masterpiece.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

da brat for one

[Piff Tannen]

10/20

[peanut butter]

Classic album nowhere near best of all time

but what does that really mean though?

that you can name 10 albums better than it?

25?

50?

Hard pressed to think of 25 hip-hop albums better than Ready to Die. It's a masterpiece.

Between 10-20 for me, prolly.


PEACE

[Req]

well, here's a list of comparable albums...

Nas - Illmatic
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Dr Dre - The Chronic
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions...
Run DMC - Run DMC
De La Soul - 3 Feet High...
Ice Cube - Amerikkkaz Most Wanted
Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt

IMO Ready to Die is a better rap album than most of this list. In terms of influence? Meh, there probably are ten more influential albums.

[drizzle]

It's hard to really call any one of the canonical NY albums from that time more influential than the next. the NY sound was crystallized by a handful of releases that came out in a very short span of time, nearly simultaneously. they influenced more as a collective grouping, if you were listening to one you were very likely listening to the rest as well.

[Req]

It's hard to really call any one of the canonical NY albums from that time more influential than the next. the NY sound was crystallized by a handful of releases that came out in a very short span of time, nearly simultaneously. they influenced more as a collective grouping, if you were listening to one you were very likely listening to the rest as well.

you don't think Ready to Die stood apart from those albums as a gritty NY LP that also went double platinum?

[drizzle]

it definitely stood apart as far as biggie's resulting stature and popularity but I wouldn't give it as much credit as you seem to be giving it in terms of purely artistic influence.

name the notable albums or artists that were specifically more influenced by ready to die more than the other canonical NY albums from the same 3-4 year stretch

[Req]

name the notable albums or artists that were specifically more influenced by ready to die more than the other canonical NY albums from the same 3-4 year stretch

It Was Written
Reasonable Doubt
All Eyez on Me

...for starters. Biggie was the prototype R&B rapper. At least in its post-LL incarnation. So any rapper imitating that style is eating food off his plate, and that style was forged from the singles off this album. They challenged the regionality of hip-hop. Here was a New York rapper rhyming over Chronic-esque synths and pulling it off. here was a dude who could flip from One More Chance to Unbelievable without losing a sniff of credibility.

Maybe the illest thing about Ready to Die for me is that because it was recorded over such a long stretch of time, we actually witness the transformation of Biggie from shouty, aggressive corner hustler to smoothed out KONY. And as Big went, he took others with him. Take the examples I listed above. Listen to each of those artists before and after RTD. Listen to how Jay slowed his flow. Listen to how Nas went from Represent to If I Rule the World. Not even his biggest rival 2Pac was free from the overwhelming influence, even going so far to pretend that Biggie had been copying him. But there's a reason why All Eyez on Me doesn't sound like Me Against the World.

[drizzle]

Fair points all. I'd def give you Jay, although the stature of Reasonable Doubt at the time has been inflated retroactively as he became more prominent. At the time it was nowhere near as hyped as people are claiming today, it was lesser in the context of its contemporaries..

But you can't pin IWW entirely on Biggie, Do Or Die and Cuban Linx figure into that as well. There was a general turn from grit towards a smoother sound and celebration of success and affluence at the time, it was a cumulative effect of NY rap becoming commercially successful and I'd again hesitate to credit that squarely to Ready To Die.

[Larry2times]

Whatever about influence, Me Against The Worlds sound mightve been directly affected by Biggie too since he supposedly literally told Pac to get with certain producers. Source is from the same interview where he calls Spice 1 and E-40 trash and RA a corny white boy the label pushed on him so idk how reliable that is. Mo Bees only got like 3 songs too

[AWAE]

billie smalls is the illest you fuckers

[Huldrich Bullsh!t]

very overhyped uneven album

[ric]

14/20 but really 16/20