Review Summary: The first disk is near perfect, the second is pretty average.
“Life After Death” is a two disked, “B.I.G” sized album which trades the Brooklyn grit of “Ready to Die,” with a much cleaner sound. The beats are created for a more world-wide appeal, partly due to Puffy’s sales push, and the album sounds massive in return. B.I.G’s voice and rap style rely more on swagger and smoothness rather than his debut’s aggression and technicality. Although his lyrical themes remain to be about pussy, crime, stories about crime, money, and more crime, the execution is a lot more varied. (see “Niggas Bleed,” “I Got A Story to Tell,” “Ten Crack Commandments”) The first disk is legendary. Front to back is a quick, exciting listen, well worth all of its 49 minutes. The track ordering seems to do wonders with all of the album’s mixed styles, and even the interlude and skits feel right. Disk two is a more challenging listen, but needless to say it has its great moments. The two make up a flawed, but very entertaining rap classic.
The first disk kicks off where “Ready to Die” leaves off: Biggie’s resurrection. By doing so, B.I.G assures fans that the album will be of equal quality to its predecessor. The first four, full-length songs go in this order: “Somebody’s Gotta Die,” “Hypnotize,” “Kick in the Door,” and “*** You Tonight.” There has never been a better twenty minutes. “Somebody’s Gotta Die” is a movie itself. “Hypnotize” is the chart topper which has one of Biggie’s most memorable flows. “Kick in the Door” is his response to all of his nagging, child-baby MCs in which he claims, “Ain’t no other kings in this rap thing, they siblings, nothing but my children, one shot they disappearin’.” Finally, “*** You Tonight” is the “Big Poppa” of the album, the bed anthem, led by R-Kelly’s pussy-wetting hooketry. The disk peaks with “I Love the Dough,” the best sounding track on the album, which perfectly captures the smooth atmosphere of the album. Towards the end of disk one there is “Mo Money Mo Problems,” one of the catchiest hip hop songs ever made, "Niggas Bleed," which most strongly displays B.I.G's crazy-good storytelling abilities, and the comedic closer, “I Got a Story to Tell.” These last two tracks are growers because they are carried by words and narrative rather than sound. But seriously, the stories these two songs tell are something special. Together they are a great way to cap off the near-perfect first disk.
The second disk isn’t as pretty, but there are a few brilliant stand-outs. The CD opens with the fan-favorite “Notorious Thugs,” in which B.I.G raps a lot quicker alongside the Bone Thugs. Although the change in flow is nice to hear, his double time is inferior to his usual delivery. In the somber “Miss U,” Biggie leaves behind his ego to tell a few tragic hood-tales. Biggie's storytelling combined with 112's vocals work beautifully and the song comes off as the biggest highlight on the second disk. “Ten Crack Commandments” marks the peak of his lyrical originality, in which he raps exactly what the title suggests. And finally, “Sky’s the Limit,” the final single of the album, sounds great but doesn’t carry the same weight as “Hypnotize” and “Mo Money Mo Problems." Along with these stand-outs are some good, (“Going Back to Cali” and “You’re Nobody”) some boring, (“The World is Filled” and “Long Kiss Goodnight”) and some ugly. (“Another” and “Nasty Boy”)
B.I.G sets the bar high for “Life After Death” by continuing where his legendary debut left off. While the album lacks consistency, it succeeds in his growth as an artist. Everybody would have been stoked for another album that sounds like “Ready to Die,” but he wanted something more dynamic, something bigger. “Life After Death” achieves this, and it lives up to its debut. It’s hard to imagine how that third album would have sounded.
