Life After Death [Clean] [Edited]

Performer: The Notorious B.I.G.
Artist: R. Kelly; Lil' Kim; Jay-Z; DMC; Angela Winbush; Too Short; Mase; Bone Thugs-N-Harmony; The Lox; Puff Daddy; 112
Engineer: Manny Marroquin; Lorrenn Argumendes; Lynn Montrose; Rasheed Goodlowe; Steve Jones; Doug Wilson; Diana Pedraza; Camilo Argumedes; "Prince Charles" Alexander; Rich July; Stephen Dent; Ben Garrison; Louis Alfred III; John Meredith; Lane Craven; Michael Patterson; Axel Niehaus
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel includes: The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, The Lox, Too Short, Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone, Bizzy Bone, Lil' Kim, Puff Daddy (rap vocals); Daron Jones (vocals, various instruments); 112, R. Kelly, Carl Thomas, Angela Winbush, Quinnes Parker, Michael Keith, Marvin Scandrick (vocals); Carlos "July Six" Broady, Stevie J., Paragon (various instruments); Deric "D-dot" Angelettie (programming); Faith Evans, Pam Long, Kelly Price, Keanna Henson, Karen Anderson, Deborah "Portia" Neeley Rolle, Michael Keith, Marvin Scandrick (background vocals); Ron Grant & Friends. Producers include: Sean "Puffy" Combs, Stevie J., Easy Mo Bee, Daron Jones, Kay-Gee, RZA, Buck-Wild, DJ Premier, Havoc, Clark Kent. LIFE AFTER DEATH was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. "Hypnotize" was nominated for a 1988 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. "Mo Money Mo Problems" was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. Personnel: The Notorious B.I.G. (vocals, background vocals); Quinnes Parker, Daron Jones, Marvin Scandrick, Michael Keith (vocals, background vocals); Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone, Carl Thomas (vocals); Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie (programming); Faith Evans, Deborah "Portia" Neeley Rolle, Karen Anderson, Keanna Henson, Kelly Price, Pam Long (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Eddie Sancho ; Lane Craven; Michael Patterson ; Paul Logus; Richard Travali; Sean "Puffy" Combs; Tony Maserati. Liner Note Author: The Notorious B.I.G. Recording information: Caribbean Sound Basin, Trinidad; Daddy's House Recording Studios, New York, NY. Editor: Richard "Younglord" Frierson. Photographer: Michael Lavine. Unknown Contributor Role: Ron Grant. The double-CD LIFE AFTER DEATH arrives in stores, ironically and tragically, less than three weeks after the Notorious B.I.G. was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. Biggie Smalls, as he was known, quickly became one of rap's most respected MCs after the 1994 release of his debut album, READY TO DIE. His music sparked the comeback of East Coast hip-hop, while his very being added fire to rap's over-publicized East-West rivalry. For some (see "Playa Hater"), Biggie's success was too much to handle, and he became a primary target in hip-hop's continuing feud. Never feeding into that war on wax, B.I.G. chose to remain silent, until LIFE AFTER DEATH became a reality, and the situation spoke for itself. Although song titles like "You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)" eerily mirror the real-life tragedy, the music on LIFE AFTER DEATH serves to bring the Notorious B.I.G. back to life. As anything that he appeared on, the production (by a superstar conglomerate including Sean "Puffy" Combs and the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA) is top-notch, and his lyrical skills are razor sharp. Biggie was loved for his versatility. On "Notorious Thugs," he switches up his style to rhyme like a member of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Tracks like "Hypnotize" showcase his ability to be hardcore and commercial at the same time. Another talented rapper lost to senseless violence; B.I.G.'s winning album streak will, sadly, have to end here. It may have taken the Notorious B.I.G. a few years to follow up his milestone debut, Ready to Die (1994), with another album, but when he did return with Life After Death in 1997, he did so in a huge way. The ambitious album, intended as somewhat of a sequel to Ready to Die, picking up where its predecessor left off, sprawled across the span of two discs, each filled with music, 24 songs in all. You'd expect any album this sprawling to include some lackluster filler. That's not really the case with Life After Death, however. Like 2Pac's All Eyez on Me from a year before, an obvious influence, Biggie's album made extensive use of various producers -- DJ Premier, Easy Mo Bee, Clark Kent, RZA, and more of New York's finest -- resulting in a diverse, eclectic array of songs. Plus, Biggie similarly brought in various guest rappers (Jay-Z, Lil' Kim, Bone Thugs, Too $hort, L.O.X., Mase), a few vocalists (R. Kelly, Angela Winbush, 112), and, of course, Puff Daddy, who is much more omnipresent here than on Ready to Die, where he mostly remained on the sidelines. It's perhaps Puffy himself to thank for this album's biggest hits -- "Mo Money Mo Problems," "Hypnotize," "Sky's the Limit" -- three songs that definitely owe much to his pop touch. There's still plenty of the gangsta tales on Life After Death that won Biggie so much admiration on the streets, but it's the pop-laced songs that stand out as highlights. In hindsight, Biggie couldn't have ended his career with a more fitting album than Life After Death. Over the course of only two albums, he achieved every success imaginable. Ready to Die is a milestone album, for sure, but it's nowhere near as extravagant or epic as Life After Death. [The "clean" version of Life After Death expurgates nearly half of the album, eliminating ten songs and heavily editing the remaining ones. Thus, this epic double-disc album is only a 14-track single disc in its "clean" version.] ~ Jason Birchmeier

Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.77) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Rolling Stone (5/1/97, pp.49-50) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...a worthy and more mature, if less uniformly spectacular, successor to his 1994 debut....there's considerable pleasure and fun to be had when an artist feels free to stretch out and try anything, and those pleasures are available in abundance on LIFE AFTER DEATH..." Spin (1/98, p.86) - Ranked #7 on Spin's list of the "Top 20 Albums Of The Year." Q (1/98, p.113) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997." Vibe (5/97, p.111) - "...LIFE AFTER DEATH truly rises, though, when Biggie is full control; he tells tales like a true alum of those hard-to-creep Brooklyn streets....LIFE AFTER DEATH is an olive branch to his divided kingdom....Long live the king!" The Source (5/97, p.79) - 5 Mics (out of 5) - "...Big documented the illmatic mean streets of his Bedford Stuyvesant stomping grounds....LIFE AFTER DEATH's finest moments are the instantly catchy, future-radio-favorites....Big's potent verses of violent death became a self-prophecy indeed." Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #13 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.

Of the many skilled lyricists among his early-1990s East Coast contemporaries (Nas, Jeru, Black Moon), Biggie Smalls, AKA the Notorious B.I.G., was the only one who lived up to the predictions of a comeback for the East Coast hardcore sound. With the help of Bad Boy producer Sean "Puffy" Combs and R&B collaborators like Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, and Total, Biggie snatched public attention away from the G-funk sound of the West Coast. By the time his single "One More Chance" debuted at #5 on the Billboard pop charts, his popularity and industry politics contributed to a public feud between Biggie and West Coast counterpart 2Pac. The untimely deaths of both artists sealed their status as legends.

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