Life After Death – The Source May 1997 issue featuring The Notorious B.I.G.

Unfortunately, Scarface had to settle for the ‘inside’ cover at the last minute due to Biggie’s death.

I vividly remember these crazy times back in ’97.  A friend of mine called me at approximately 6 am and told me to turn on the radio (Power 99).  Colby Colb was frantically playing Biggie songs and taking calls from crying fans.  I didn’t even believe it at first.  I woke up my little sister to tell her and she didn’t believe me until I let her hear it on the radio.  A couple of weeks later, the album was sold out everywhere the day it dropped and I had to drive to Sound of Upper Darby on 69^th Street where the salesperson was selling the CD’s at the door for $25.00 each to a massive crowd.  The sales guy complained that they had only ordered 300 copies and wished that they had ordered more.  I bought one of the last 3 copies while everyone blasted the album from their cars and talked about it.  It was surreal.

Side note – Record labels were making crazy money from like ’97 to ’99 by charging consumers these ridiculous prices for CD’s. Their greed and technology ultimately took them under.  No wonder they’re pissed today.

Does anybody agree with that 5 mic rating for Life After Death?  Was it well deserved or did the album receive 5 mics solely because of his death?