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This is part three and the final installment of our look at 'Ready to Die'.
To me, one of the best non-single tracks on 'Ready to Die' is the Easy Mo Bee produced 'Friend of Mine'. It contains samples from Sly and the Family Stone expatriate Larry Graham's Graham Central Station ('The Jam') and Kool and the Gang ('Spirit of the Boogie'). 'Unbelievable' lives up to its name; the unbelievable beat from DJ Premier stitches together samples from Patrice Rushen's 'Remind Me' and R. Kelly's top 20 single 'Your Body's Callin''. The uneasy album closer 'Suicidal Thoughts' features a sample of Mile Davis' 'Lonely Fire' from 'Big Fun'. The beat itself was produced by the Funky Technician himself Lord Finesse.
A Bonus track on the remastered extended version of 'Ready to Die' is the B-side track 'Just Playing (Dreams)' which, despite never being on an album, has been referenced again and again in other hip-hop tracks. The Rashad Smith produced beat contains a sample of James Brown's 'Blues and Pants' from the 1971 album 'Hot Pants'.
'Ready to Die' is one of hip-hop's masterpieces and would be the only album released by B.I.G. during his lifetime. The Notorious B.I.G.'s second and final album, 'Life After Death', was released only 15 days after his murder in Los Angeles. 'Life After Death' will be covered in depth in a future post on this blog.
The Lowdown:
The Notorious B.I.G. 'Friend of Mine', 'Unbelievable', 'Suicidal Thoughts', and 'Just Playing (Dreams)'
from 'Ready to Die' (1994) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edits: 'Friend of Mine', 'Unbelievable', 'Suicidal Thoughts', and 'Just Playing (Dreams)'
Graham Central Station 'The Jam'
from 'Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It' (1974) (MP3/CD)
Kool and the Gang 'Spirit of the Boogie'
from 'Spirit of the Boogie' (1975) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Patrice Rushen 'Remind Me'
from 'Straight from the Heart'(1981) (MP3/CD)
R. Kelly 'Your Body's Callin''
from '12 Play' (1993) (MP3/CD)
Miles Davis 'Lonely Fire'
from 'Big Fun' (1969) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'Blues and Pants'
from 'Hot Pants' (1971) (MP3/CD not available)
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