Did Dr Dre inspire Biggie Smalls’ classic album ‘Ready to Die’?
The 1990s saw a sharp rise in the popularity of West Coast hip-hop, especially the music from the Death Row camp. Dr Dre crafted a unique sound by sampling P-funk, and whether it’s Snoop Dogg or 2Pac, the projects produced by the label’s acts were groundbreaking.
That said, Death Row was not the only record label making waves; one of its main competitors was the New York label Bad Boy Entertainment. As the home of Biggie Smalls, Lil’ Kim and Ma$e, Bad Boy released some amazing music.
However, it has been rumoured that Dr Dre’s 1992 debut album, The Chronic, inspired Biggie Smalls’ project Ready To Die, which was released two years later. In fact, The Chronic apparently inspired the up-and-coming Brooklyn emcee to kickstart his entire career.
When Biggie Smalls was still an unknown New York emcee, his demo tape Microphone Murderer was heard by an industry head named Matteo Capoluongo (known as Matty C) — a well-known writer for The Source.
Published in 1992, in issue 30 of The Source, Matty C shone a light on Biggie by featuring him in his ‘Unsigned Hype’ column. Following this the ‘Juicy’ artist was signed to Bad Boy. However, he and Matty C remained good friends after the column.
As such, in his 2022 book, It Was All a Dream: Biggie and the World That Made Him, Capoluongo detailed how Dr Dre was responsible for Biggie beginning work on his now-classic debut album.
Recalling the 1992 night, Capoluongo explained how he asked Biggie to come to his house as he shouted, “Big, come to the crib now! Trust me!” After this, he played The Chronic from beginning to end for the Clinton Hills native. As the last track closed out, Capoluongo remembered Biggie then saying, “N*gga, f*ck that! Yo, Matt. I’m out!”
Matty C then wrote, “That was it. That was when he went to write Ready to Die. The Chronic is when New York changed all the way up.” One can hear the G-funk influence in many of the songs on Biggie’s debut album, most notably tracks such as ‘Big Poppa,’ where you can hear the iconic saw lead used by Dr. Dre on songs such as ‘Nuthin But A G Thang’ and ‘Deeez Nuuuts.’
Recorded at the legendary Death Row Studios in Tarzana, California, The Chronic effectively launched the careers of several West Coast artists’ careers, including Snoop Dogg, Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Nate Dogg, and Warren G. Furthermore, it set the blueprint for other successful West Coast albums such as Doggystyle, All Eyez On Me, and Dogg Food all of which reached number one on the Billboard 200.
It’s ironic that The Chronic led to the creation of Ready To Die as Death Row and Bad Boy’s feud would eventually lead to the murder of two legendary artists. Biggie Smalls and 2Pac.