As sad and painfully poetic as it is, Ready to Die (1994) was the only full-length album Notorious B.I.G. released while he was alive. Slain just two weeks before his sophomore record in ’97, B.I.G. earned a career’s worth of acclaim with Ready to Die, widely regarded as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time.
Videos by American Songwriter
[RELATED; Top 10 Songs by The Notorious B.I.G.]
Peaking at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album is currently 6x certified platinum by RIAA, and its two hit songs “Juicy” and “Big Poppa” have achieved platinum status as well. However, while the impact the album has had in the almost 30 years since its release cannot be mistaken, the cover art produced some unanswered questions for most of those years. Finally, though, the year 2011 brought clarity to the situation.
Who’s The Baby?
The infant with a stoic face and big afro on the LP’s cover was long unknown. But in 2011, the New York Daily News got to the bottom of it. Discovering that the person used for the album art was a man named Keithroy Yearwood, the Daily News let the now-30-year-old tell his story.
“I just want people to know that’s me. The truth is finally coming out,” he said. “It’s an honor to be on this album.”
Additionally, Yearwood confirmed the payout for being on the cover, which was a measly $150. Tracked down by Rap Radar a year before Yearwood’s interview (2010), Diddy elaborated on the situation. The boss and founder of Bad Boy Records, the label under which Biggie dropped Ready to Die, said they found Yearwood from a run-of-the-mill casting call.
[RELATED: The 21 Best Notorious B.I.G. Quotes]
“That was a baby we just found… We did a little casting for somebody that looked like Big,” he said.
Also speaking with Yearwood’s mother Delicia Burns, the Daily News confirmed Diddy’s story. Burns stated that she brought Yearwood in after getting word of a casting call, and even shared baby pictures of Yearwood to assure that he was indeed the Ready to Die baby.
Throughout the years following, it turned out that Biggie launched a trend with his toddler theme. Albums from Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake all drew influence from Ready to Die, using baby photos of random babies or themselves as youths for their cover art. In almost every aspect, Ready to Die‘s influence is still felt by the hip-hop community, immortalizing the legendary Notorious B.I.G.
Ready to Die album cover
