Ready to Die

Ready to Die is the debut studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G.; it was released on September 13, 1994, by Bad Boy Records. The label's first release, the album features production by Bad Boy founder Sean "Puffy" Combs, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier and Lord Finesse, among others. Recording for the album took place during 1993 to 1994 at The Hit Factory and D&D Studios in New York City. The partly autobiographical album tells the story of B.I.G.'s experiences as a young criminal. Ready to Die is his only studio album released during his lifetime, as he was murdered just days prior to the release of his second album, Life After Death (1997).

Ready to Die was released to critical acclaim and became a commercial success, achieving gold certification. In 1995, after the release, the album became a certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the album has reached a certified quadruple platinum with sales. It was significant for revitalizing the east coast hip hop scene, amid West Coast hip hop's commercial dominance. The album's second single, "Big Poppa", was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards. Ready to Die has been regarded by many music critics as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. In 2003, it was ranked number 133 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, making it the third highest hip hop album on the list after It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Raising Hell. In 2006, Time included it on their list of the 100 greatest albums of all time.

Ready to Die (The Stooges album)

Ready to Die is the fifth studio album by American rock band Iggy and the Stooges. The album was released on April 30, 2013, by Fat Possum Records. The album debuted at number 96 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Background

On February 25, 2013, Iggy Pop announced that The Stooges fifth album Ready to Die would be released on April 30, 2013. In July 2013, in an interview with Guitar World, Iggy Pop spoke about the song titled "DD’s", saying: "It’s funny that that song gets a lot of attention. If it was as bad as some people say it is, it wouldn’t be getting noticed. But it’s getting noticed as much as its subject gets noticed."

Critical response

Ready to Die was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews and ratings from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 66, based on 35 reviews. On April 28, 2013, in the first major review of the album, authorized Stooges biographer Jeffrey Morgan wrote on his website: "Strangely believe it, this new 40th Anniversary Edition ain’t all that bad. I could continue waxing euphonic about how fantoonie this sonic sizzler is, but your time would be far better spent spinning it instead."Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying "Ready to Die is, against all odds, a terrific Stooges album." Ryan Bray of Consequence of Sound gave the album three and a half stars out of four, saying "Ready to Die is another torrid tour de force from a band built for speed, not comfort"

Ready to Die (disambiguation)

Ready to Die may refer to: