So the lore says Diddy was nuts about making Ready to Die a “movie on wax.” Lotsa rap albums are cinematic, &c. But could you read the record as a concept album? Shit literally goes from dude’s birth, to his petty crime, to his high-class phase, to his death.

spoilers? x-post

the cut ending where biggie turns out to be bruce willis is on slsk somewhere

I’ve also heard Diddy say they wanted it to be a concept album “like ‘The Chronic’.” So that’s Diddy’s concept of a concept album.

bookend skits with thematic continuity /= ‘concept album’

Press Play = Diddy’s Tarkus

ready to die = diddy’s yankee foxtrot hotel

bookend skits with thematic continuity /= ‘concept album’

why not? what else do you need?

Explicatory liner notes in the form of a fairy tale courtesy of Jon Anderson.

bookend skits with thematic continuity /= ‘concept album’
— Al (hoteloper...), December 18th, 2006.

But it’s not just the skits that have thematic continuity. The songs themselves trek the rise and paranoid end in the first person.