BIG L LIFE BIOGRAPHY:

 
  Lamont Coleman the rapper who was known as Big L was born on May 30 1974. He is a deadly rapper who deals sick flows and punchlines that are just incredible. He is most remembered for his freestyles which were of a very high class and never failed to impress. One of his popular freestyles was the 7 minute freestyle on the Stretch & Bobbito Radio Show in NYC feauturing Jay-z who was not known as how he is now. Big L achieved recognition as a creator of rap lyrics by expressing himself in the African-American variation of the American-English language known as Ebonics, for his primary method of communication. In shorter terms he used alot of street slang to express himself in his music. He refers to himself as "flamboyant" which means rich and wealthy.

  Starting off his career he used to rap in the group "Children of the corn" with fellow harlem residents Ma$e known then as Murda Ma$e, Cam'ron who was known as "Killa cam" and Cam'ron's cousin "Bloodshed". They together recorded enough songs for a full length album but Bloodshed was tragically killed in a accident in 1997, while Ma$e and Cam'ron pursued their "hoop dreams" in both high school and college. He made his solo debut in 1995 under columbia records on the album "Lifestyles of the poor and dangerous" which included a series of underground hits such as "No endz no skinz" "Da graveyard" and "Street struck". But, he left the label after his 7 minute freestyle was poorly promoted by them and failed to reach sales expectations. The most popular single released by Big L, "Ebonics" followed on his own Flamboyant label in the summer of 1998. Approximately around this same time, he joined Fat Joe's crew DITC (Diggin in the crates) and was considered as the protégé of Lord Finesse. Big L was feautured on the single "Dignified soldiers". But his rap career was not destined to go any further for he was shot nine times (multiple times in the head and chest) and killed on the night of Feburary 15, 1999 a few blocks away from his home in the city of harlem. He was only at the tender age of 24 when this tragical incident occured. His last album was put together by his manager from songs that were recorded and unused acapellas, and by calling in guest performers who L was known to have respected and worked with. It has been claimed that the murderer was originally seeking revenge on Big Lee, the brother of Big L. However, because Big Lee was in jail at the time, the killer decided to kill Big L instead. It is stated that when Lee coleman (L's brother) was released from jail, shortly after he was killed on the same street as his brother.

  Hip hop rumours state that he was signed to Jay-z's Roc-a-fella label but it was not confirmed whether this rumour was true. Rumors also say that DJ Premier is producing the next Big L album, due out during 2006-07. DITC's Lord Finesse has also mentioned in several interviews that he is working on beats to match unused verses. Although Big L's record sales were not very high, Big L is remembered for his superb technicals skills on the mic. His ultimate legacy was to join the deceased ranks of Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, and Big Pun as a short lived star of rap music. New age rapper papoose is known to have a similar style to Big L.