It’s amazing how fast time flies by, especially significant events throughout your life. 20 years ago today, the late, great Notorious Big released his double album Life After Death. On March 9th, his life was taken away as he left an industry party in Los Angeles, he was 24. One of my most vivid memories about this album was the cover of it, especially after passing away a little over two weeks before its release. Life After Death was the follow-up to his classic Ready to Die album as it picks up where Suicidal Thoughts ends. The album hosts a plethora of guests from Jay-Z, Puff Daddy, Mase, The Lox, Lil Kim, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, R.Kelly, Too $hort and a few others. Till this day, Life After Death has sold well over 10 million records.
Hypnotize
This was the first single from the album and the video featured Biggie walking with a cane. He stated that Lil’ Cease had a wreck while he was a passenger in a car. Hypnotize was nominated for 3 Grammy’s as it was well-received because we just wanted new music from Biggie. Honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of the song, but it grew on me and the lyrics were on point, like always. You can check out the video above as it was the last video he actually appeared in live and in-person.
Mo Money Mo Problems
This was the second and final single released for the album as it features Mase and Diddy. The video featured some old footage of the Notorious Big and the song came off great and it was Grammy nominated also. Once again, Biggie always delivers with the flow, lyrics and witty lines. You can check out the video up above and give me some feedback on it in the comments section.
Beef with Rappers
We all know about the much publicized beef with the late, great 2Pac. There were other rappers he went after on Life After Death besides Pac. Kick in the Door was directed at Nas, Jeru the Damaja, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah and the track producer, DJ Premier. It has been rumored or confirmed that he went after Pac on Long Kiss Goodnight, What’s Beef, My Downfall, Last Day and You’re Nobody (Till Somebody Kills You). On the track Notorious Thugs, he threw a jab at Pac, while Bone Thugs went at Three Six Mafia, Crucial Conflict, Twista and Do or Die.
Other Standout Tracks on Disc 1
It depends on the day or how I’m feeling, but there are so many standout tracks on this album. To separate it all, you’d have to do one for each disc of the album. For me, Somebody’s Gotta Die, I Love the Dough, Niggas Bleed and I Got a Story to Tell are great tracks on Disc 1. Disc 1 also consisted of Hypnotize, Mo Money Mo Problems, Kick in the Door, Last Day and What’s Beef that has been mentioned.
Standout Tracks for Disc 2
Like Disc 1, it depends on how I’m feeling during that time, but it doesn’t take away from the greatness of this album. Miss U, Going Back to Cali, Ten Crack Commandments and Sky’s the Limit are some of the tracks I love the most on Disc 2. Other tracks on this disc that have been mentioned are Notorious Thugs, My Downfall, Long Kiss Goodnight and You’re Nobody.
My Conclusion
If you call yourself a true hip hop head, then you should have this in your collection. While it’s not as great as Ready to Die, it’s still an outstanding album and deserves all the accolades it has received. For fans of the Notorious Big, check out my personal Greatest Hits album featuring him I’m sure you will enjoy it.
