1. Notorious Big Album Covers Ready To Die
2. Notorious Big Album Covers

The anticipated duet album between Faith Evans and the late Notorious BIG is to be released this spring. The King and I has been described as collection of songs that tell the story of one of the most legendary love stories in hip-hop history.

Featuring newly recorded vocals from the Grammy award-winning Evans, and both familiar and unheard rhymes from the rapper – whose real name is Christopher Wallace – the album also includes cameos from some of the biggest names in rap, such as Lil’ Kim, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Lil’ Cease, Sheek Louch, Styles P and Snoop Dogg. Producers DJ Premier, Just Blaze, Salaam Remi, Stevie J and Chucky Thompson are also on board.

Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death, Disc EX, Case EX, Format: Music CD, Bad Boy Records. Rock music CD release from Notorious B.I.G. With the album Life After Death. Released on the label Bad Boy Records. Hip Hop music CD. This hard to find pre-owned music CD is fully guaranteed. This is a 2 CD set. I'm a 'Big' fan of Little Biggie (A. Notorious B.I.G.’s Unreleased “Life After Death” Cover Surfaces. And even the time Biggie checked Diddy at the album cover photo shoot! [about the Notorious movie] was that Big and I.

Evans and Wallace married nine days after meeting at a photo shoot in 1994. March 2017 will mark 20 years since the rapper was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His murder remains unsolved.

Other familiar names on the tracklist is Voletta Wallace, Biggie’s mother, as well as guest stars 112, Kevin McCall, Chyna Tahjere, and Jamal “Gravy” Woolard, who played the rapper in the 2009 biopic Notorious.

“I remember telling [Voletta] years ago that one day it would be really dope if I could do something similar to Natalie and Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable,” says Evans. “Knowing the love that BIG had for Tyanna and Ceejay, I feel it’s my duty to uphold and extend his legacy, especially his musical contributions. This project is my creative reflection of the love we had and the bond we will always have. I’m elated to share this musical journey with our fans!”

Due for release on 19 May, the album’s first two singles are NYC, “Evans’ love letter to New York” featuring Jadakiss, and When We Party, “a west coast party anthem” featuring Snoop Dogg.

This will not be the rapper’s first posthumous release: Life After Death, recorded before he was killed, was released 16 days after his death, and topped the US album charts. It remains one of the few hip-hop albums to achieve Diamond certification from the RIAA. As well as greatest hits albums, the album Born Again was released in 1999, and Duets: The Final Chapter in 2005, which featured team-ups with Missy Elliott, Eminem, Jay Z and Korn.

Notorious Big Album Covers Ready To Die

The album that reinvented East Coast rap for the gangsta age, Ready to Die made the Notorious B.I.G. a star, and vaulted Sean 'Puffy' Combs' Bad Boy label into the spotlight as well. Today it's recognized as one of the greatest hardcore rap albums ever recorded, and that's mostly due to Biggie's skill as a storyteller. His raps are easy to understand, but his skills are hardly lacking -- he has a loose, easy flow and a talent for piling multiple rhymes on top of one another in quick succession. He's blessed with a flair for the dramatic, and slips in and out of different contradictory characters with ease. Yet, no matter how much he heightens things for effect, it's always easy to see elements of Biggie in his narrators and of his own experience in the details; everything is firmly rooted in reality, but plays like scenes from a movie. A sense of doom pervades his most involved stories: fierce bandits ('Gimme the Loot'), a hustler's beloved girlfriend ('Me & My Bitch'), and robbers out for Biggie's newfound riches ('Warning') all die in hails of gunfire. The album is also sprinkled with reflections on the soul-draining bleakness of the streets -- 'Things Done Changed,' 'Ready to Die,' and 'Everyday Struggle' are powerfully affecting in their confusion and despair. Not everything is so dark, though; Combs' production collaborations result in some upbeat, commercial moments, and typically cop from recognizable hits: the Jackson 5's 'I Want You Back' on the graphic sex rap 'One More Chance,' Mtume's 'Juicy Fruit' on the rags-to-riches chronicle 'Juicy,' and the Isley Brothers' 'Between the Sheets' on the overweight-lover anthem 'Big Poppa.' Producer Easy Mo Bee's deliberate beats do get a little samey, but it hardly matters: this is Biggie's show, and by the time 'Suicidal Thoughts' closes the album on a heartbreaking note, it's clear why he was so revered even prior to his death.

Notorious Big Album Covers