![]() #El da sensei relax relate release rar seriesOne of the original series of mix tapes to represent hip-hop culture and fashion, curated by Echo Unlimited and Lyricist Lounge's Danny Castro and Anthony Marshall. ![]() The album moves from the aggressively high-energy rants of "I'm Bad," "Get Down," and "Aah, Let's Get Ill," to the cartoon fantasies of "My Rhyme Ain't Done," to the ultra-sexy ways of "Kanday" and "Bristol Hotel." Stylistically, he moves from the relentlessly hard rap of "The Breakthrough," to the New Edition-styled "I Need Love," to the Moonglows-inspired "Do Wop," to "Go, Cut Creator, Go" - in which Chuck Berry meets The Who on Farmers Boulevard in Queens." (Original Press Kit, 1987). His bio continues, "As his own producer on Bigger And Deffer, LL has broadened his palette. Produced by Rubin, Radio immediately won high critical praise." In 1987, LL returned with Bigger And Deffer. A year later, shortly after the label was signed to CBS Records for worldwide distribution, LL's Radio was the first Def Jam album released. In November '84, "I Need A Beat" by then 16-year old LL was the first twelve-inch single released by Def Jam. "People used to tell me I speak like a poet." Before any of his music business competitors caught on, Rick Rubin, then a 22-year old New York University student and co-owner (with Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, recognized the poet in LL. "I've always had a way with words," he says. At eleven he was leading local rap crews, and at thirteen he was making demo tapes at home in his basement and sending them around to the record labels releasing rap records. Albans, Queens (the New York City neighborhood that borders Run-DMC's Hollis), LL was rapping by the time he was nine years old. R.I.P., Big L! The art above is by Chris B. Listen to the playlist of tracks below to celebrate Big L he would have turned 46 today. He was the most underrated artist in the industry." (Rawkus Bio, 2000). The music he'd recorded before his passing would become The Big Picture on Rawkus in 2000. His close friend, Alexis "Pucci" George said, "His time was cut short. Big L was gunned down while visiting the Delano Village projects on West 139th street in Harlem. Songs like "Now or Never," the now-classic "Ebonics," a whirling dervish of words lines and phrases that translated current slang into proper English. It was then that he found his future in Flamboyant Entertainment. For several months Big L vanished beneath Harlem's surface, taking time to contemplate his next move in the wake of Lifestylez's performance. Soon after he was released from Columbia Records. Released three years after it was recorded in the midst of the Bad Boy revolution the album did poorly. Three years later he released his solo debut, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous. As part of the crew, L contributed guest verses to songs like Lord Finesse's "Yes You May" remix before signing with Columbia Records in 1992. crew alongside hip hop veterans Diamond D, Show, and A.G. Seizing the moment Finesse enlisted L as one of the youngest members of the D.I.T.C. Coleman responded with the most monumental rhyme of his youth. Finesse had heard L's name in the mouths of many and decided to put him to the test. But his rep was set in stone after meeting with rapper/producer Lord Finesse at Rockin Will, a record store on 125th Street. At 16, he regularly contributed rhymes to street corner ciphers and house party sound systems. Having rhymed since the age of 9, Coleman had already made a name for himself in the streets of Uptown. But even in death there is always new life. And when he passed away in February of 1999 at the hands of an assassin's bullet, his legacy seemed destined to have run aground forever. From his days at Julia Richmond High School to his nights rockin' stages from New York to the Netherlands, Big L was a classic cut short long before his time. But to hear "Big L" rhyme was to listen to a living legend. ![]() In Harlem, to know Lamont Coleman was to love him. ![]()
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