Do y'all take this as Cam and Mase disrespecting Big L or being truthful?

[JQ Legend]

There's always been a million rappers in Harlem, but a lot of them just don’t get on. Battle rappers and dope artists. Since we're speaking on Bad Boy in the thread, I would say Black Rob and G-Dep were both better MC's than Santana. Easily. And even within their crew, Alumni, you had a lot of really dope MC's whose music never saw the light of day with the masses. So what the world is seeing and hearing, isn't really true for what Harlem has to offer. But for whatever reason, a lot of dudes just stay local or don’t get the exposure their talent deserves.



This is another dude who was buzzing back when I was a kid, who we all thought would make noise. He was working with Beatnuts and their people at one point, and then his deal fell through. But he's another example of a Harlem dude who we all felt would make it and most people never heard of. There's always been a lot of that. But for us, these guys are like local legends. We went around playing their freestyles and songs like they were hits.

This dude nice

He not
better than Loaded,
The veterans know it /
I said it and quoted
The metric for dopeness
And set it in stone
For the rest of them jokin
Like Betha’s pen potent..

Took less than 2 minutes of brain power. Cam alright…Lux is an alien, it’s not close. Mook too. Believe me, I hear where y’all coming from, Mase and them are rap stars and famous and all that with albums and shyt…I reiterate tho…the discussion was who’s the nicest, nothing else. Anybody telling me in my face Cam is nicer than Loaded Lux might get some sweet chin music

Part of skill is being able to sound hot on an actual track, not spitting a bunch of lines with 30 syllables per bar that would be wild off beat in an actual song.

And even if we talking bars, Lux and Mook ain’t better lyricists than Cam Mase nor Big L

I fukks with Lux and Mook too but nah

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I don't take it as disrespect. They're competitive and he was their dude, and also had a sense of humor. I'm sure if Big L could see this conversation that he wouldn't feel slighted.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Tbh, I think Camron is underrated as a multi-syllabic rhymer or technical rapper.

He proved especially on Purple Haze that he could pull it off just as flawlessly as Big L but his style was much more commercial so it gets overlooked.

I think Big L had a stronger mic presence than both Cam and Mase but Cam is on his level as a rhymer.

Cam definitely did the dumb down the audience to double the dollars thing. Incredibly dope, but definitely went to a more flash and flare rhyme style.

 

[Yehuda]

 

[Cory MBA]

The thing is, for those of us who grew up around all of them and saw them all the time, the whole block always thought L was the best rapper around the way, way before the world even knew who he was. He was better than everyone as far as back as '91-'92.

There used to be a spot right on 139th and Lenox called United Fried Chicken. And we would all go there all the time, and if the right people were in there at a given moment, everyone would be in there rhyming. Straight cyphers for mad long. Even dudes who were nice from around the way, but just never put out music. L was always in there ripping sh*t. You would see Cam, you would see McGruff all the time, Tooka, Ray Dogs, and a lot of other dudes. The thing about Mase, and I don’t say this to be disrespectful, but his name was never really ringing around the way.

To this day, no one can even say which block he's actually from in Harlem. They say he's from Florida and came up to NY in kindergarten and then moved back for junior high school and then came back again for high school. So he doesn't have the history in Harlem to have really been known like that before Puff got him. With the dudes we all knew growing up, when all of them were coming up, his name wasn't one of the ones you would hear about.

A lot of other MC's had the blocks buzzing. But Mase went from being on a couple mixtapes while signed, to being on TV 24/7 in videos. So when L did his album 2-3 years earlier, I wasn't surprised that he wasn't on it because it wasn't like Mase had a name like that where people were looking for him to be.

Small world. I just found out that I knew Tito Poppins, when he lived upstate. Little David. Lol. Cool and funny as a kid. Didn't put it together until he raced Gilly last week. I saw David in dipset photos but didn't know his nickname. He stays lowkey, but Cam always shouts him out and says he was a day-one.

 

[morris]

Yea…bc he died

Nope.

He has was gaining traction and even in '99 people were discovering his '95 album and liking it, which is why he was gonna sign to Rocafella.

How many rappers have died in the past 10-20 years that are more popular now than before?

Name a few ...

 

[Awesome Wells]

This dude nice

 

[Xtz23]

Man with this shyt

L not shining over ROC production???

Just the thought on what the fans missed out on is crazy. If Beanie Sigel and Bleek wack ass could pop/get a hit, then L was most certainly challenging for the crown

I agree with everything except the beanie part

Beans is a great spitter if only he got better beats on a full album consistently. His first two albums are good but could’ve been way better if the production was consistently better.

And big l is a legend and I don’t think cam or mase are close to his level. Lotpd is amazing…

 

[⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

They both said Trooper J was the third best rapper ever from Harlem behind them.

Mase had Trooper J over Big L. They said he was the nicest nikka from Harlem basically but never got a chance.

The top 5 Mase had was
1) Mase
2) Cam
3) Trooper J
4) Big L
5) Mike Boogie
*Juelz was mentioned and Mase said Juelz has to be in his top 5 somewhere. I have to go back and listen to hear if he re-ranked him

Cam'ron
1) Cam
2) Mase
3) Juelz
4) Big L
5) McGruff

Who?

 

[Xtz23]

Had the best verse in one of the best posse cuts of all time…

X had the best verse

 

[Street Knowledge]

Man with this shyt

L not shining over ROC production???

Just the thought on what the fans missed out on is crazy. If Beanie Sigel and Bleek wack ass could pop/get a hit, then L was most certainly challenging for the crown

Challenging for the crown of what exactly

 

[Clapsteel O'Neal]

Man with this shyt

L not shining over ROC production???

Just the thought on what the fans missed out on is crazy. If Beanie Sigel and Bleek wack ass could pop/get a hit, then L was most certainly challenging for the crown

You niccas are retarded and can't have an objective conversation about anything.

L was setting himself up signing to Rocafella. Do you reeeally think Jay was gonna let anyone take the crown from him? Become the top dog over him? stupid nicca...use your brain. How do you even sign to another nicca, and be top dog? Lmao

Plus, we have no idea if L would've made songs that translated to hits. He obviously had the rhyming talent, but he didn't show it songwise. The 'hits' he left us with were tri-state big, let's be real.

He was a great rapper skillwise, but that's where it stops. He becomes beanie sogel big AT MAX.

 

[Clapsteel O'Neal]

Did he really tho …. he was pretty much underground to a certain degree vs someone like jay z back then ….. he was supposed to sign with rockafella apparently but he got killled ….. had he signed and really blew then he might have became something big …. Big L thew his life and promising career down the drain for his bozo jealous bully big brother and L was to blindly loyal following big brothers orders n got himself killed ..

What? Why do people do L dirty by painting him out to be some weak underdog type nicca.

Have you never heard Lifetstylez...??? He was signed, clearly, because he released a major label album, and he didn't blow off his album because his label didn't believe in his music like that. The nicca literally got signed alongside Nas. He DID have his chance, he just didn't capitalise off of it like he should've. It happens.

 

[NormanConnors]

You niccas are retarded and can't have an objective conversation about anything.

L was setting himself up signing to Rocafella. Do you reeeally think Jay was gonna let anyone take the crown from him? Become the top dog over him? stupid nicca...use your brain. How do you even sign to another nicca, and be top dog? Lmao

Plus, we have no idea if L would've made songs that translated to hits. He obviously had the rhyming talent, but he didn't show it songwise. The 'hits' he left us with were tri-state big, let's be real.

He was a great rapper skillwise, but that's where it stops. He becomes beanie sogel big AT MAX.

Why don't you calm the fukk down

Also there were Plenty times Jay wasn't even the best rapper on his own crew cuts

 

[Bigsuk]

What? Why do people do L dirty by painting him out to be some weak underdog type nicca.

Have you never heard Lifetstylez...??? He was signed, clearly, because he released a major label album, and he didn't blow off his album because his label didn't believe in his music like that. The nicca literally got signed alongside Nas. He DID have his chance, he just didn't capitalise off of it like he should've. It happens.

Maybe he was too street struck rip to L tho gone way to soon along with pac , big etc ..