Newark88
Superstar
Big L was always an underground street rapper. Nothing more, nothing less. Did he have potential to blow and become bigger? Absolutely. But unfortunately, it never happened while he was alive. If you were into underground Hip Hop at the time, then yes you were aware of Big L. You knew he was a protege of Lord Finesse and an affiliate of the DITC crew. His first single, "Devil's Son" was a lil underground hit and had shock value that caused heads to listen. But in 93, L was kinda in the same vein as someone like a Kurious George who had a minor underground hit as well with the song "Walk Like A Duck". If you wanna keep it a buck, Showbiz and AG and Diamond D were more popular then L when he was alive. Show and Ag's Party Groove and Soul Clap were killing the mixshows, clubs, and skating ranks, while Diamond D's videos were getting MTV play. L's debut album was cool but nothing to write home about. The original version of MVP with the Debarge sample was making a lil noise but once BIG dropped the One More Chance remix with the same sample, it put a complete stop to that. Children Of The Corn with Mase, Cam, Mcgruff, and Bloodshed was an underground mixtape thing as far as notoriety is concerned. Big L would be a mainstay on Stretch and Bobbito's show. You would here L and his music the most on their show. And when the Big L and Jay Z freestyle happen, it didn't mean sh*t in real time. It was just another freestyle out of a thousand ones that use to happen on Stretch and Bob. By 97, his name started to bubble again on the underground/mixtape scene. And by 98, Ebonics dropped but it was strictly and underground/mixtape thing. L died a year later, and it only sent shocked waves to those who were in the know and aware of him as an artist. But if you were a casual or even regular fan at the time who listen to Hip Hop via radio or TV, the name didn't ring a bell. I would say Primo shouting out L's name on the intro to Full Clip initially started the reinterest in L's music then a year later when the Big Picture dropped. Then when the Big L and Jay freestyle going viral online definitely sparked the interest in the next generation to check out L's sh*t. So personally, I've always admired L back then (when he was alive) as a real dope spitter. And I even remember copping his debut album on cassette (actually it was on bootleg lol) when it dropped. But aside from a few songs, the album never held my attention. I did feel by 97/98, he had a lot of potential to blow up. And him being on the verge to sign with Roc A Fella made a lot of since. If he didnt get gunned down, I could definitely see him at the very least be a Gold selling artist. But I guess it was never meant to be.
