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

[Awesome Wells]

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.

 

[I love Latina women]

Big L was dope enough to carry his albums with his lyrics tho. Album was lacking production wise but Big L lyrics were dope as fukk on there.

No question, I agree

I just think L’s album had production that sounded a bit dated when it dropped, it almost sounded and it was just average at best

Good album but nothing mind blowing on the production side of things


But lyrically, L brought his a game. Bruh was nice in the mic

 

[Awesome Wells]

No question, I agree

I just think L’s album had production that sounded a bit dated when it dropped, it almost sounded and it was just average at best

Good album but nothing mind blowing on the production side of things


But lyrically, L brought his a game. Bruh was nice in the mic

Truth.

What a lot of people didn't know back then or even now, was that most of the album, with the exception of "Put It On" and "Street Struck" was 3-4 years old. He started recording that album years before it came out, but Columbia didn't want to give him more of a budget to freshen up any of the material.

We were playing "No Endz, No Skinz" around the way in '93, that summer. So all of us were shocked to see it on the album two years later. A lot of that sh*t was mad old.

 

[DredScott]

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)

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

When did Mike boogie turn into Juelz Santana?

 

[Finesse]

When did Mike boogie turn into Juelz Santana?

Two different people, Lz like a 6th to him

 

[Finesse]

Big L was smoking shyt when he was alive.


There was more of a buzz for him than Cam when they was all alive so you never really know how things would of turned out.


Cam went on to become the biggest out of the children of the corn. No1 saw that coming in the 90s.

 

[DredScott]

Two different people, Lz like a 6th to him

Okay that makes sense, horrible use of parenthesis but I get it.

Was about to be like there's no way Mike Boogie from "8 iz enuff" devolved into Juelz lol

 

[NYChase718]

Okay that makes sense horrible, use of parenthesis but I get it.

Was about to be like there's no way Mike Boogie from "8 iz enuff" devolved into Juelz lol

I aint gonna lie that bit of that post had me where i went on youtube to play the track again to see if it sounded like juelz santana voice

 

[Awesome Wells]

When did Mike boogie turn into Juelz Santana?

He didn't.

Juelz was 11 years old when "8 Iz Enuff" was done, lol.

Mike Boogie is probably about 50 right now. He's still doing his thing. Santana didn't meet Cam and them until around '98, when Cam was recording SDE.

 

[Frump]

They aren’t wrong really.. he’s not overrated skill wise but overrated in the sense that he never dropped a great album.

It’s possible he would have blown up eventually if he stayed alive but who knows.

He was talented and also had charisma so the components were there

On his second album while not perfect he showed growth in terms of being more versatile and most importantly he seemed like he was becoming a better songwriter then he was on his first joint.

But there are plenty of dope MC’s who never blew up nor were able to translate their skills to making a great album

That would depend on numerous things for L like timing, beats he would pick, wheter or not he could make a hit etc

Who knows. It’s a huge what if in hiphop history

 

[I love Latina women]

Truth.

What a lot of people didn't know back then or even now, was that most of the album, with the exception of "Put It On" and "Street Struck" was 3-4 years old. He started recording that album years before it came out, but Columbia didn't want to give him more of a budget to freshen up any of the material.

We were playing "No Endz, No Skinz" around the way in '93, that summer. So all of us were shocked to see it on the album two years later. A lot of that sh*t was mad old.

See!

Oh word?!

In real time when my older sister had the tape, I had no idea but I remember that was always her complaint about it and ever since she said it back then I recognized it

And as time went on, and I would revisit the album from time to time, that was always what would throw the vibe of the album for me.

Wasn’t until years later when I read how most of the album was already “old” outside of the songs you named that I knew for sure.


But lyrically, L was so nice.

 

[African Peasant]

Big L > Mase > Cam.

 

[Awesome Wells]

See!

Oh word?!

In real time when my older sister had the tape, I had no idea but I remember that was always her complaint about it and ever since she said it back then I recognized it

And as time went on, and I would revisit the album from time to time, that was always what would throw the vibe of the album for me.

Wasn’t until years later when I read how most of the album was already “old” outside of the songs you named that I knew for sure.


But lyrically, L was so nice.

The wild thing was, Showbiz was promoting "No Skinz, No Endz" on underground radio in '93, because he produced it. L was going around doing a little promo run with that song and "Devil's Son". The label was just holding his album for years.

Buckwild was a much better producer in '95, than he was 2-3 years before. So I always think about how crazier the album would've been, if they let L get back in the studio with Buck and Finesse. Like you said, L was way more advanced years later too. You don’t want your album to finally drop and it's mad old sh*t you did years ago. Columbia did him dirty.

 

[I love Latina women]

The wild thing was, Showbiz was promoting "No Skinz, No Endz" on underground radio in '93, because he produced it. L was going around doing a little promo run with that song and "Devil's Son". The label was just holding his album for years.

Buckwild was a much better producer in '95, than he was 2-3 years before. So I always think about how crazier the album would've been, if they let L get back in the studio with Buck and Finesse. Like you said, L was way more advanced years later too. You don’t want your album to finally drop and it's mad old sh*t you did years ago. Columbia did him dirty.

Damn, see; yeah, it’s like the stars didn’t align properly for that album’s production to be the great album it should’ve been with the production in sync with L’s great quality of songwriting.


I agree; Buckwild stepped up his game by 95’ and it was clear as day too

They did. It’s a shame too

 

[Elim Garak]

I thought it was bullshyt. Mase has one more album than Big L does lol.