The second release on Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records label (the first being Craig Mack's Project: Funk Da World, an overall exercise in futility, albeit with one or two hits), Biggie would soon become Bad Boy Records, epitomizing the lavish lifestyle of a successful rapper (at least right until he was usurped by his boss ). Ready To Die was the debut album from the upstart Notorious B.I.G. (His songs had more emotion than you could shake a stick at, though.) I haven't seen this level of incompetence in the handling of a legend since Pac died, and I don't think Pac was even a good rapper in the truest sense. It's too bad that a certain somebody feels otherwise, repeatedly raping his corpse by releasing sub-par albums chock-a-block full with collaborations with rappers that Biggie probably would never have worked with otherwise. Gunned down during the heat of the 'east coast/west coast' beef, Biggie was never truly able to create the catalog of music that would define his legacy. Ten years ago to this day, actually, and Christopher Wallace can still safely be considered one of the greats, with little to no argument.

In The Source magazine’s October 1994 issue, Ready to Die was given a rating of 4½ mics out of five.The overrated rapper Canibus once said, 'The greatest rapper of all time died on March 9th'. The record was certified gold by the RIAA two months after its release, and went double platinum in 1995. The album also made Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, landing at #133. “Big Poppa” was nominated for “Best Rap Solo Performance” at the 39th Annual Grammy Awards, losing out to LL Cool J’s “Hey Lover”-but it earned a Billboard Music Award later that year. According to several sources, he recorded the latter half by freestyling from memory. Biggie resumed production the following year under the auspices of the newly-founded Bad Boy Records. After Puffy was fired from Uptown Records in 1993, the project was only half finished. Production of the album took place in two waves.

The project is Biggie’s only album to be released during his lifetime his sophomore project, Life After Death, dropped just days after his murder in March 1997. It was also Bad Boy Records' first release, produced by founder Sean “Puffy” Combs.

Ready to Die, The Notorious B.I.G.’s debut studio album, was released on September 13, 1994.

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