Since its release, Life After Death has received retrospective acclaim from critics. Rob Sheffield, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), called it «a filler-free two-disc rush of musical bravado» and commented that the Notorious B.I.G.’s voice and lyrics were «deeper» than before.[13] AllMusic’s Jason Birchmeier wrote, «It may have taken the Notorious B.I.G. a few years to follow up his milestone debut, Ready to Die, with another album, but when he did return with Life After Death, he did so in a huge way. The ambitious album, intended as somewhat of a sequel to Ready to Die, picked up where its predecessor left off.»[6] Birchmeier further said, «Over the course of only two albums, he achieved every success imaginable, perhaps none greater than this unabashedly over-reaching success.»[6] Evan McGarvey of Stylus magazine wrote in his review, «Life After Death is a grand exercise in personal mythology, narrative sweep, and truly diverse, universal pop excellence. As a double album it is the very definition of cinematic; it essentially perfected the concept and standard in hip-hop … Sequenced as an unpacking of sorts, the album’s progression from song to song is an essay itself.»[17] In 2013, VIBE named Life After Death the greatest Hip-Hop/R&B album since 1993
