Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death (25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) (8LP) - 45RPM

The 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of Life After Death lands like a reminder of just how vast The Notorious B.I.G.’s vision was. It is not just a reissue. It is a time capsule with extra keys to the house. The core album, originally released in 1997 just weeks after Biggie’s passing, has long since entered the canon. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, went on to be certified Diamond by the RIAA, and spun off two Hot 100 chart-toppers in Hypnotize and Mo Money Mo Problems. It also collected high-profile nods, including Grammy nominations for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance for Hypnotize. Those facts hang around the record like street signs, but the music is what keeps you turning up the volume.

This 2022 Super Deluxe edition gives you the full sprawl. The original double album is the spine, and you also get a heavy stack of 12-inch mixes, instrumentals and B-sides that coloured the era. On vinyl it arrives as a big, handsome box, the kind of set that takes over your coffee table and makes you clear a fresh shelf. For anyone eyeing Notorious B.I.G. vinyl, this is the crown jewel. The label assembled the remixes the way DJs would have handled them at the time, so you can actually hear how these cuts worked in clubs and on radio. You flip from the leaner instrumentals to the radio edits and back to the album versions, which is a nerd’s paradise and a practical listening session in one.

The main event still hits with that push-and-pull between menace and luxury. Kick in the Door rattles with DJ Premier’s austere drums, all tension and cool precision, while Biggie deadpans barbs that still sting. What’s Beef remains a masterclass in controlled threat, the rhythm slow and heavy, the storytelling surgical. Then you get that run of chart smashes that proved how easy he made pop feel. Hypnotize bounces on a flip of Herb Alpert’s Rise, and the hook still turns a room into a karaoke booth. Mo Money Mo Problems flips Diana Ross’s I’m Coming Out into a glossy parade and somehow never loses bite. Sky’s the Limit, with 112 on the chorus, rides Bobby Caldwell’s My Flame and shows Biggie’s reflective side. If you have only ever streamed these songs, the Life After Death vinyl has a way of opening the low end and giving the ad-libs and crowd noise a room to breathe.

The features still read like a who’s who. Jay-Z floats through I Love the Dough with veteran ease. Lil’ Kim snarls her way through Another. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony turn Notorious Thugs into a study in flow, their double-time style meeting Biggie’s pocket-precise delivery. Producers across the set, from Premier and RZA to Clark Kent, Stevie J, Ron Lawrence and D-Dot, give the album its cinematic range. You move from grim alleyway stories to mink-coat radio songs without feeling the seams.

The bonus material in the Super Deluxe set is what will make collectors grin. The 12-inch configurations spotlight how malleable these singles were. Instrumentals let you sit with the beats. Clean and dirty versions tell you which parts programmers worried about, and which bits made DJs rewind. It is a map of late 90s hip-hop business and culture tucked inside a celebration of one of its towering records. The booklet is generous with photos and context, which helps, since this album has been mythologised for decades. Seeing the sessions and reading about the roll-out adds texture without sanding off the edges.

Sonically, the box plays loud and full. The kick drums thud, the hi-hats cut through, and the bass lines of tracks like Last Day and Ten Crack Commandments sit right in the pocket. It feels tailored for a living room system, but it also makes sense of why these songs crushed on big rigs in clubs and car stereos. If you collect Notorious B.I.G. albums on vinyl, or you’re about to buy Notorious B.I.G. records online for the first time, this set is a smart place to anchor the shelf. It is also one you’re likely to see behind the counter at a Melbourne record store, sitting next to other 90s staples and daring you to lug it home. For those building a collection of hip hop classics in vinyl records Australia wide, this box is as close as it gets to a definitive edition.

Life After Death has never needed help to prove its importance. What this anniversary edition does is restore the ecosystem around it. You hear the hits, the deep cuts, the club tools and the radio polish in conversation. That conversation is why the album still feels alive, and why this box set earns its space in the stack.