Once again the tragic hand of death has landed upon another member of the hip hop community. As everybody should know by now Harlem Native Big L whos real name is Lamont Coleman was shot repeatedly in the head and chest on Monday the 15th February at the tender age of 23 only a few years older than myself. So this week ive decided to do a column on the life of one of Hip Hops more lyrically talented street soldiers.

Big L's tragic shooting occurred on the 15th of February 1999. Big L was shot in the head and chest in a manner that can only be described as a 'gangland style killing', (being shot numerous times in the body so they are basically dead, then shot in the face so they cant have a open coffin funeral). He was shot in Harlem around 45 West 139th St, in a place that wasn't too far from his own home in Harlem, at 140th and Lexington Ave. When the police arrived and found Big L dead at 8:30 PM. So far there is no suspects for the shooting. As for a motive of the killer don't expect the police to find much more about it, cause no one will talk. It will only ever be speculative theories on why he was murdered.

For those who don’t know much about who Big L was I’ll share what I know about this extremely talented artist. Big L was a member of the Harlem crew D.I.T.C (Diggin In the Crates). He was originally found by Lord Finesse after, the 'Grand Imperial Finesse' overheard him rhyming on 125th St to some break beats in 1991. The publics first taste of L came around 1992 when Big L featured on Lord Finesse's remix of 'Yes You May'. His next mainstream appearance was on Showbiz & AG's classic posse cut 'Represent' of the Runaway Slave album of 1993. In mid 1994 L inked a deal with Columbia for a album. In early 1995 L released his critically acclaimed, but much overlooked solo debut 'Lifestyles Uv Da Poor & Dangerous'. The album only went on to sell around 200,000 units, and as a result L was dropped from Columbia records soon after. However if you haven’t got Big L's album I suggest buying it cause your missing out if you don’t have it. On Lifestyles Uv Da Poor & Dangerous L comes with ill animated lyrics, combined with metaphors that stun. From the smooth beginning of 'Put It On' to the crashin' conclusion, 'Let Em Have It L', Lifestyles' is pure nineties B boy theme music coated with rough basslines and innovative horn loops. Only a very few before him, (Prodigy of Mobb Deep, and Sticky Fingers of ONXY) have been able to scare people as much with there lyrical powers. L has the ability to lyrically kill individuals with the power of both Prodigy and Sticky combined while adding the humour of Redman to his rhymes. He was truly a lyrical gangster of the streets.
Just last year he started his own record label after trying to break into one of the major labels once again. He called it Flamboyant Records, and it had a distribution deal with Fat Beats. 1998 saw him drop his first independent single "Ebonics" from the label which was a head nodder for many heads worldwide. He also inked a deal with Tommy Boy Music's Black Label as a member of D.I.T.C. which consists of Buckwild, O.C., Fat Joe, Diamond, Showbiz, A.G, Wally World, D Flow, Party Arty and Lord Finesse. You will be able to catch L on the D.I.T.C. album (hopefully), which should be dedicated to L, coming out on Tommy Boy in May entitled All Luv, many tracks featuring Big L, including the title track which also featured Big Pun, had already been recorded.

However what very few people know about Big L is just how much of a influence he was on the Hip Hop culture. Big L was the original creator of the Horror Core rap style, which was made famous by the Gravediggaz album, '6 Feet Deep' and soundtracks like 'Tales From the Hood'. This is a truth which is very rarely talked about by peeps within the hip hop community. Most people take it for granted that the Gravediggaz created Horror Core rap. In early 1993 Big L released a independent white label off the label he was on called 'The Devils Son'. This track was the first that could be described as horror core. Big L talked about his motivations for horror core rap, and this is what he said 'Ive always been a fan of horror flicks. Plus the things I see every day in Harlem is very scary. So I just put it all together in a rhyme'. For this reason it is even sadder that we lose one of the originators of some hip hop culture.

Big L had always hoped that Harlem would once again gain the 'legacy' set by artists Rob Base, Doug E Fresh and Kool Moe Dee in the mid and late 80's. At least the commercial success of Ma$e did something and brought L his wish that Harlem would once again be looked at as the Mecca for hip hop before he died. Big L himself sums up what I wanna finally say. 'Finally I wanna say rest in peace to all the causalities of the streets'.

RIP - Lamont Coleman - AKA The Big muthafucking L - RIP
You will be missed