24.98 Product Overview Collectibles/Merchandise. And despite being the face on top of 4 million copies, Yearwood made just $150 for two hours of work. Notorious B.I.G - Baby Fragments T-Shirt (XXL) MODEL BIGGMT001-2XL Apparel size. His mom-who had a plethora of baby pictures to confirm Yearwood was, in fact, the baby on the cover-even told the publication that the famous head of hair feature on the cover made it hard for him to book other modeling gigs. The record company couldn’t even confirm the baby’s identity, unable to find records that far back.įinally, in 2011, the New York Daily News confirmed that he was booked traditionally though a modeling agency in an interview with the kid on the cover-then-18-year-old high school senior and Bronx native Keithroy Yearwood. Some thought it was just some random kid of someone close to the album-everyone from a hairstylist’s kid to a friend of a friend. Others thought perhaps it was Biggie’s daughter T’yanna, born a year before the album’s release, or one of Diddy’s kids. Perhaps the most logical-especially given the Nas rip-off accusations-was that the picture was of Christopher Wallace himself. But for 17 years, the mystery remained: Who is the baby on the cover? Listeners contended nearly every possible answer to this question. Though all the controversy, praise and fame, Ready To Die was one of the most talked-about album covers. Ghostface and Nas even took digs at Biggie on Raekwon’s “Shark Niggas (Biters)” and “Last Real Nigga Alive:” “ Bad Boy biting Nas album cover.” And whether by direct reference, influence or coincidence, the list of monumental albums with little ones on the front after 1994 is massive everyone from Drake to Nirvana to Lil Wayne to the Cranberries. Released 6 months after Nas’ Illmatic, which features a baby Nas on the front, Biggie’s cover even spurred controversy claiming the cover was a Nas rip-off. Ready To Die wasn’t the first cover to take advantage of impactful infant imagery, and it certainly wasn’t the last. Once you slide the record out of its sleeve and put it on, the first thing you’re confronted with is an autobiographical timeline reduced to 3 minutes and 24 seconds, naturally starting birth. On one hand, he was facing the possibility, reality and inevitability of death and chronicling it into an album, and on the other he had a baby girl at home to feed. 'Big Poppa' Director: Hype Williams & Sean 'Puffy' CombsJoin The Christopher Wallace Estate. recorded the introspective bangers on Ready To Die, it was the version he was facing. Official Music Video remastered in HD for The Notorious B.I.G. The design alludes to the most condensed version of the lifecycle possible, the guaranteed bookends. Since then-both for the cover’s visual power alone and the overall impact of the album-it’s become one of the most recognizable album covers of all time. "Now, of course, it's a big deal to me." He added that it was a n honor to be on the album.Until now, this cover hasn’t been featured on an official vinyl edition of Ready To Die since the album’s release in 1994.
Yearwood also told the News that it wasn’t a huge concern to him until he was eight-years old. Bad Boy Records, Diddy’s label that released the album, couldn’t verify whether it is really Yearwood on the album cover it did say that the baby came courtesy of a modeling agency. This week would have marked the 49th birthday of rap icon Notorious B.I.G, whose March 9. Those associated with album-including the graphic designer–wasn’t sure who the kid was. 2 Pac - Baby Dont Cry (Novruzeli Huseynov Remix) By. In the "Ready to Die" cover photo, the baby is wearing a diaper and sporting a large afro.
Yearwood’s mom found agency papers to corrobarate’s the teen’s assertion. She is a successful fashion designer and entrepreneur with her clothing-line. Tyanna Wallace is Notorious BIGs daughter. The baby photo is a universal link to the past that all of humanity can confide in. "The truth is finally coming out."Īpparently, Yearwood earned $150 from the photo shoot through a child modeling agency, Chicky’s Kids, that has since gone defunct. A baby photo acts as a permanent time mark, a base template of who we are and what we can become. "I just want people to know that's me," Yearwood, 18, said. The high school senior from the Bronx told the Daily News that he is the baby on the cover of late rapper Notorious B.I.G.’s 1994 multimillion-selling album “Ready to Die.” New York teenager Keithroy Yearwood could be linked to a landmark hip-hop album.