Vinyl Me, Please record club has released some important, seminal classic sets before, such as The National’s Boxer 10th anniversary reissue and the first ever vinyl release of Fiona Apple’s Tidal but it’s high time hip-hop got its due. VMP apparently agrees, announcing Vinyl Me, Please Rap and Hip Hop, a hip-hop subscription add-on for regular VMP members, and the September record of the month is Notorious B.I.G.’s 1994 classic Ready to Die.
The late, great Biggie Smalls, born Christopher Wallace, has been gone for 20 years, but his influence on hip-hop in indelible, undeniable, and unforgettable. He was many fans’ first entry into ran fandom, and many artists who knew him keep his memory alive in their musical output to this day.
He’s been honored on the US Congress House Floor, and at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn with an NBA season “Biggie Night,” so it’s only right that VMP wanted to do his debut album justice.
The album will be remastered for vinyl, and will feature the original artwork for the first time in over a decade. The package will include: Two LPs, one in red with white and black splatter, and one in white with red and black splatter vinyl, a deluxe wide-spine single pocket jacket, with the original, exclusive “baby” cover with red metallic foil and embossed text, and a 12×12 art print by Bráulio Amado. See below for pictures of the stylish new sleeve and colorful vinyl plates.
While the Vinyl Me, Please Rap and Hip Hop subscription will initially be available to add onto any VMP subscription for $23, the subscription will open up to non-members sometime this fall. The first record offered to Rap And Hip-Hop subscribers will be Noname’s Telefone, followed by Common’s Electric Circus. Get more info at the official site.
