Life After Death: The 20th Anniversary

20 years ago, Brooklyn’s very own The Notorious B.I.G. passed away in Los Angeles from a drive by shooting. His passing was definitely a huge loss in hip hop history and then 16 days later, his second album “Life After Death” was released. The album was released on March 25th, 1997. A double disc album that came at the right time after his death. The album touches on topics of enjoying life, success, street crime, and paranoia, with a little bit of Biggie’s comedic touch and funny storytelling while trying to stay positive with hopes of escaping the life he once had while growing up in Brooklyn, trying to survive. It was almost like the Brooklyn MC knew his time was coming. Compared to “Ready to Die”, this album was more of Biggie trying to escape the street life and becoming more of a man whose trying to focus more on the positive things in life while still keeping an eye out for anything lurking, coming his way that made him feel paranoid. To me personally, this album only had a few cuts that I was able to skip past while “Ready to Die” was a masterpiece that was able to be played all the way through without any skips. The album starts off with a skit where Diddy is talking to Biggie and trying to make sure he stays alive. It’s a perfect way to get the album started. Biggie flatlines at the end and then as the album goes on, it seems as though he’s talking to us, telling us stories from another place in life, a life after death. Besides the classic singles released from the album, “Kick In the Door”, “Last Day”, “What’s Beef?”, “I Got a Story to Tell”, “The World Is Filled…” and “My Downfall” are all standout tracks to me. Everything about those tracks from the production, the storytelling and of course the way Biggie delivers with his voice. This isn’t just plain rapping, this is a storyteller’s life and the things that were going on in his head. After all, a tragedy that took the MC’s life and cut it short turns into a celebration because the love of his fans and family keeps his legacy alive. In the words of The LOX, we’ll always love Big Poppa.