Big l

Early life

Born May 30, 1974 in Harlem, Lamont Coleman was the third and youngest child of Gilda Terry (died 2008) and Charles Davis. Coleman's father left the family when he was a child. Lamont has 2 brothers - Donald and Leroy Finazi (died in 2002). Coleman earned the nicknames "Little L" and "'mont' mont" in childhood. At the age of 12, Coleman became a big fan of hip hop and started participating in freestyle battles in his area. In 1990, he founded Three The Hard Way, but the band quickly split up due to a lack of enthusiasm among the other members. Around the same time, people began to call him Big L. In 1991, Coleman found out that in one of the music stores in his area, Lord Finesse arranged an autograph session. He came there and persuaded Finesse to give him the only chance to show his skills. After Finesse heard him, he asked for his number.

Professional career

1990-1994: The Beginning

Coleman began writing lines in 1990. In 1991, he founded the Harlem rap group Children of the Corn with Killa Cam, Murda Mase, and Bloodshed. February 11, Coleman appeared on Yo! MTV Raps to help Lord Finesse promote his album Return of the Funky Man. Coleman's first appearance on the studio album is the song Represent from Runaway Slave from Showbiz & AG (1992). In the same year, he won the freestyle amateur competition, which was attended by 2,000 people. In 1993, Coleman signed with Columbia Records. Around the same time, L joined Lord Finesse's founding group Diggin 'in the Crates (DITC), which included Lord Finesse, Diamond D, OC, Fat Joe, Buckwild, Showbiz and AG. In 1993, Coleman released his first promo single, “ Devil's Son ”and claimed to be the very first horror single in history. He said that he wrote this song because “I have always been a fan of horror films. And what I see in Harlem is very scary. So I put it all together in lines. ”

1995-1999: Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous

His debut studio album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, was released in March 1995. The album debuted at number 149 on the Billboard 200 and at number 22 on the Top R & B / Hip-Hop albums. By 2000, Lifestylez will have sold over 200,000 copies. 3 singles were released; the first two, “Put It On” and “MVP,” made it to the top 25 songs on the Billboard chart of Hot Rap Tracks, and the third single, “No Endz, No Skinz,” did not hit the charts.

In 1996, Columbia terminated the contract with Coleman mainly because of disagreements over his performance style. He claimed: “There I was with a bunch of strangers who did not know my music.” In 1997, he began work on his second studio album, The Big Picture. Children of the Corn broke up when Bloodshed died in a car accident. DITC appeared in the July issue of On The Go. Coleman was a guest performer on the song “Dangerous” from the OC rapper Jewelz album. In November, he performed as an opening act for OC during his European tour in support of Jewelz album. In 1998, Coleman created his own independent label Flamboyant Entertainment. It was planned that “this label will distribute hip-hop, which will not contain popular samples and R&B choruses, but will be sold anyway.” He released the single “Ebonics” in 1998. The song was based on African American slang, and The Source magazine named it one of the top five independent songs of the year. DITC released their first single, “Dignified Soldiers,” in the same year.

Following the release of Ebonics, Coleman got the attention of Damon Dash, Roc-A-Fella CEO, Dash wanted to sign Lamont to Roc-A-Fella, but Coleman wanted his team to be signed. February 8, 1999 Coleman, Herb McGruff , C-Town and Jay-Z started the signing process with Roc-A-Fella as a band called The Wolfpack.

Murder

On February 15, 1999 at 20.30, Laimont Coleman was found dead a few meters from the house, on the same 139 street, which made him what he had become. Nine bullets hit him in the face and chest. The police never found anyone involved in the killing. According to the version proposed by the police, the tragedy occurred after a verbal skirmish, which is by no means rare in the area ... The rapper's close relatives and relatives believe that the killer was a man whom Big L had known since childhood and who may have been at his house more than once. In a few years, one of Laimont's older brothers will be killed there. The mother of the deceased says that he was killed when he tried to find out something about who killed Laimont. She painfully recalls February 14th. Then Big-L came home, and she jokingly cursed that he had never brought his mom candy on Valentine's Day. Then he ran to the store on the corner, brought her a bag of sweets and ran away again. This was the last time she saw her son alive. Just coming home from work the next day, she heard from someone about the death of her son.

After death

In 1999, the tracks “Get Yours” and “Way of Life” were released as singles for the self-titled album of DITC (2000). The album made it to line 31 on the R & B / Hip-Hop album and to line 141 on the Billboard 200. Coleman's first posthumous single was Flamboyant, released May 30, 2000. He made it to line 39 of the Hot R & B / Hip-Hop song chart and topped the Hot Rap Tracks chart, becoming Coleman's first and only # 1 single.

Coleman's second and final studio album, The Big Picture, was released on August 1, 2000, and Fat Joe, Guru, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane, as well, were present as guests. The album had previously recorded songs, as well as acapella recordings that had never been used before, but were later completed by producers and guest rappers that Coleman had previously worked with or respected. The Big Picture debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200, at number two on the Top R & B / Hip-Hop Albums, and sold 72.549 copies in its first week. The album was voted gold a month later. The Big Picture was Big L's only work to appear on music charts outside the United States.

Legacy

Henry Adaso, the music journalist for About.com, named him the 23rd best MC from 1987 to 2007, claiming that "he was one of the most promising storytellers in hip-hop history." Hip-Hop DX called Coleman "the most underrated lyricist."

Style

Coleman is often credited with creating the horrorcore genre because of his 1992 song “Devil's Son”. But, nevertheless, not all of his songs fall into this genre. For example, in the song “Street Struck,” Coleman discusses the challenges of growing up in a ghetto and describes the consequences of living a criminal life. Idris Goodwin from The Boston Globe said that “Big L had an amazing English proficiency,” and the best example was Ebonics

Big L was notable for the fact that he used a rap style called "a mixture of complex words." He also used metaphors and jokes in one sentence. MF Dibella of Allmusic stated that Coleman was “a master of lyrical robbery who stripped his rivals with dynamic metaphors and a daring comic repertoire.” In a review on The Big Picture, she adds: “Harlem MC as a master of jokes and an evil razor-style narrator blade-under-tongue “.”

• 1995: Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous
• 2000: The Big Picture