Steve Huey from AllMusic gave it five stars, stating 'The album that reinvented East Coast rap for the gangsta age, Ready to Die made the Notorious B.I.G. In presenting the downside of that life, Ready to Die offers perhaps the most balanced and honest portrait of the dealer's life of any in hip-hop'. His raps acknowledge both the excitement of drug dealing and the stress caused by the threat from other dealers, robbers, the police and parents, sometimes one's own. The New York Times wrote 'Though drug dealing carries tremendous heroic value with some young urban dwellers, he sacrifices the figure's romantic potential.
When he considers suicide, I not only take him at his word, I actively hope he finds another way'. Robert Christgau from The Village Voice commented 'His sex raps are erotic, his jokes are funny, and his music makes the thug life sound scary rather than luxuriously laid back. It's difficult to get him out of your head once you sample what he has to offer'. From the breathtakingly visual moments of his birth to his Cobainesque end in 'Suicidal Thoughts,' B.I.G. Coker stated ' Ready to Die is the strongest solo rap debut since Ice Cube's Amerikkka's Most Wanted. Ready to Die received critical acclaim from music critics. Rock explained this in an interview with Wax Poetics: Notorious Big Ready To Die Zippyshare It document the star's transition from Brooklyn knucklehead to magazine cover story.' Producer Pete Rock, who was commissioned to remix the track, alleged that Puffy stole the idea for the original song's beat after hearing it from him during a visit. Andrew Kameka, of, stated that the song was one of his 'greatest and most-revealing songs' and went on to say it was a 'Part-autobiography, part-declaration-of-success. AllMusic's Steve Huey stated that, along with the other singles, it was an 'upbeat, commercial moment', calling it a 'rags-to-riches chronicle'. Produced by Combs, it features a prominent sample of 'Juicy Fruit' as performed by James Mtume. It shipped 500,000 copies in the United States and the RIAA certified it Gold on November 16, 1994. It peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 14 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and reached number 3 on the Hot Rap Singles. 'Juicy' was released as the lead single on August 8, 1994. 'Things Done Changed' was also one of the few hip hop songs in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. In the original Rolling Stone review, Cheo H Coker declared that he 'maintains a consistent level of tension by juxtaposing emotional highs and lows'. The album is also noted for its dark tone and sinister sense of depression.
Touré, writing for The New York Times, referred to The Notorious B.I.G., proclaiming that he stood out from other rappers because 'his lyrics mix autobiographical details about crime and violence with emotional honesty, telling how he felt while making a living as a drug dealer'. He also went on to mention that his lyrics are 'firmly rooted in reality, but play like scene from a movie'. Many critics applauded his story-telling ability such as AllMusic writer Steve Huey, who stated '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'. The Notorious B.I.G.'s lyrics on the album were generally praised by critics.
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