Choice Is Yours Vol. 60: Ready to Die vs. All Eyez on Me
The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die (1994)
Vs.
2Pac - All Eyez on Me (1996)
The Game is simple… if only one could exist which would it be? What’s more important… personal relevance, cultural significance, or simply being the better album all other things aside? Choice is yours…
- My Pal the Crook
January 5th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Ready To Die
first CD I ever bought, alongside 36 Chambers.
also: The What. nuff said.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
All Eyez on Me.
Picture Me Rollin’
Only God Can Judge Me
California Love
BIG’s skills are indisputable, but Tupac’s brand of brutally syncopated rhyming just can’t be topped for me. The ‘When I Get Free’ suite on RU Still Down is a song-couplet that to this day completely blows my mind. It’s like spirit-rap.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Ready to Die!
I think it’s more simple than All Eyez on Me but the songs are so hard, and not to mention catchy. The album is straight to the point.
Suicidal Thoughts
Gimme Loot
The What
January 5th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Definitely Ready to Die. I’m from San Francisco, so I’ve got some biases, but regardless, “ready to die” takes it. “juicy” and “big poppa” are maybe the two most cliché songs to put on at a house party. seriously, who doesn’t know the lyrics to those songs? Tupac doesn’t really have shit on biggie in that realm. additionally, every song on “ready to die” is a 100%, “grade a” jam.
Ready to Die all the way.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
I live for the funk, I’ll die for the funk.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Ready To Die.
Always… Biggie’s flow along with his storytelling abilities crush Pac….
Give Me the Loot
Ready To Die
Unbelivable
and an ending like Suicidal Thoughts…
January 5th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Ready to die . Suicidal Thoughts is WHOA!!
January 5th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
2pac fo sho!
January 5th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
All Eyez On Me
January 5th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
thats pretty tough, cant pick one or the other, so i’ll just say my favorite songs first
Ready To Die:
Who Shot Ya, Gimme the Loot, Juicy, Big Poppa, Suicidal Thoughts
All Eyez On Me:
2 of Americaz Most Wanted, Life Goes On, I Aint Mad At Cha, All Bout U
im from cali and still cant decide, TIE
January 5th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
BIGGIEBIGGIEBIGGIE
Ready To Die
January 5th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Ready to Die. Fuck Tha World. Don’t Ask Me For Shit.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
All Eyez on Me is amazing but Ready To Die is better.
On a side note, has anyone heard the collab that Pac did with ICP?
January 5th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
2Pac is overrated. Sorry.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
This is one of those rare instances well Jones and I respectfully disagree
I gotta go with all eyes on me
January 5th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Ready to Die.
Watched a documentary on Tupac (Thug Angel) over the weekend and couldn’t stop laughing at how much of a constant contradiction he was. Not a poet, not a prophet… just a over-hyped thug.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Used to be a tupac over biggie fan… but not anymore. “Ready To Die” all the way.
January 5th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Ready To Die!!!
January 5th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
All Eyez On Me is just too much gangsta for Ready To Die to compete with.
January 5th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Now you’ve done did it. All Eyez On Me…I could debate this with you all day…ask Mike Jones. Ready to Die is amazing but it’s a debut, and not perfect. Raekwon and Ghostface talk about it on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx saying the cover concept was copied from Nas Illmatic…but that’s not important…the important thing is I love All eyez on me the most, and we can battle if you want.
January 5th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Hahaha, not even close. Biggie all the way. Clearly a better lyricist, and those beats!? From some of NYC’s finest at the time.
Also, the reason Tupac is such an over the top “thug” is because he was ACTING. He started out as a backup dancer for Digital Underground. I mean come on, I’ll do the humpty dance like a motherfucker…but I’m not a thug ma dood!
You don’t have to live your lyrics to have some hard songs—I understand the difference between telling a story for entertainment and reporting the facts—but did Tupac? He’s was on some Marylin Manson, “the character is taking over” shit. Just can’t take that seriously.
January 5th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
I’m not that into either but Biggie over Tupac pretty much every time I’d say.
January 5th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I am the biggest big fan so my shit is biased.
I think Ready to Die actually touches a lot of the social themes that Tupac gets hyped for.
Name a rapper who has talked about suicide on as big a stage as Christopher.
All Eyez On Me is my favorite 2pac record but I truly believe art historians will remember biggie over 2pac.
January 5th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
biggie is better… for a rapper
January 5th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Fuck the world, fuck my moms and my girl,
My life is played out like a jheri curl, I’m ready to die!!
January 6th, 2010 at 12:18 am
Ready To Die..Juicy..Everyday Struggle, Gimmie The Loot….fuck that…the whole cd….
January 6th, 2010 at 2:38 am
This was no contest. Ready to Die.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:40 am
No-fuckin’-brainer! Ready To Die.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:14 am
This C.I.Y really should have been “Ready to Die” vs Pac’s “Me Against the World”
January 6th, 2010 at 4:29 am
B I G,momma bear
January 6th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Ready to Die.
Only ‘true’ lyricist here is big and forever will be one of the greatest!.
January 6th, 2010 at 10:24 am
I can’t believe anyone here is knocking Pac’s lyrical ability. Have you guys not really listened to his lyrics? Not only was he clever and witty fuck, he was totally nonchalant in his delivery going from gritty to comedic.
And who cares if Pac was a “real thug” or not. He was a drama kid with a self-destructive streak, that makes him less of a talent? Last I checked there were just as many doubts about the validity of most of Biggie’s pre-Ready to Die exploits.
Ready to Die is though the better album, but Pac is the better entertainer.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
C’mon im from Brooklyn and you already know Biggie cd on blast in a hot NY summer hands down, But All eyes on me also great but this one goes to B.I.G
January 6th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
All Eyez On Me
B.I.G had only one good album PAC had a few nuff said!
January 6th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
2 pack iz ghey.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
On the real though, for me, it’s Pac. I thought Life After Death was a much more entertaining record than Ready To Die. Ready To Die is dope, but it’s just not as diverse musically.
Pac brought Project Blowed to the rest of the world before Blowed did.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Geez, I’m listening to All Eyez for the first time in what’s probably been 10 years. The beats are sooo good. All Eyez just resonates more with me.
“The blind stares of a million pairs of eyes lookin’ hard, but they’ll never realize that they’ll never see…the P.”
January 6th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I just re-listened to All Eyez on Me for the first time in a while and was surprised how nicely Johnny J’s production has aged.
January 6th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Lest Check The Stats
# of discs
RTD: 1
AEOM:
#1 Songs on Billboard Hot 100
RTD: 0
AEOM: 2
Guest Appearances:
RTD: 1
AEOM: 25 (by my count)
Songs with Method Man
RTD: 1
AEOM: 1
Tracks with samples from the rival record company
RTD: 2
AEOM: 0
Initial Rolling Stone Review
RTD: 4/5 stars
AEOM: 3/5 stars
Artist who sleeped with Faith Evans
RTD: 1
AEOM: 1
Appearances by Puffy
RTD: 4
AEOM: 0
Mention of Marion ‘Suge’ Knight
RTD: 0
AEOM: 2
January 6th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
I agree Crook. It has definetly aged very well. A recent relisten led me to the same conclusion
January 7th, 2010 at 1:15 am
ready to die. fuck a tupac. east coast fo lyfe