The Notorious B.I.G's career ended suddenly when he was shot dead in 1997 but his career has. "Now, of course, it's a big deal to me." He added that it was a n honor to be on the album. The album cover for Ready To Die is one of the most instantly recognizable landmarks in hip-hop history. 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. The album that reinvented East Coast rap for the gangsta age, Ready to Die made the Notorious B.I.G. Those associated with album-including the graphic designer–wasn’t sure who the kid was. 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. Just two weeks after his debut album Ready to Die was released, the Notorious B.I.G. This is a high quality giclee art print on high quality paper. "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. Ready To Die 2LP (Gatefold, Alternate Cover Art). "I just want people to know that's me," Yearwood, 18, said. The Notorious BIG delivered his debut album, Ready to Die, in September 1994. 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.