NEW YORK (PIX11) — In May, New Yorkers celebrated what would have been Brooklyn-born rapper The Notorious B.I.G.’s 50th birthday. Now, there’s something new to applaud: A new Rolling Stone list deeming Biggie Smalls’ “Ready to Die” as its best rap album of all time.
Biggie, born Christopher Wallace, beat out other superstars — including Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and Missy Elliott — for the title. According to Rolling Stone, the rapper’s 1994 debut album “marked the precise moment when hip-hop’s golden age transitioned into its modern age, the height of New York hip-hop, and the sound of the greatest rapper of all time at the absolute top of his powers.”
“Biggie leavened his raw fatalism with a smooth, subtle sense of humor, perfecting a hard-soft dichotomy that would become a template for decades of artists,” the article continues.
Fellow Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z and the Long Island group Public Enemy also cracked the Top 5 on Rolling Stone’s list:
- The Notorious B.I.G., “Ready to Die”
- Outkast, “Stankonia”
- Jay-Z, “The Blueprint”
- Public Enemy, “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”
- Kendrick Lamar, “To Pimp a Butterfly”
The Lincoln Center will host an orchestral tribute to The Notorious B.I.G on Friday. The event will feature a concert symphony performance of Biggie’s well-known songs, according to a press release. Ticket information for the tribute is on Lincoln Center’s website.
