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Lamont Coleman (May 30, 1974 – February 15, 1999), known professionally as Big L, was an American rapper and record executive.[1]

Big L
Big L in 1998
Background information
Birth name	Lamont Coleman
Also known as	L Corleone
Born	(1974-05-30)May 30, 1974 New York City, U.S.
Died	February 15, 1999(1999-02-15) (aged 24) New York City, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper songwriter record executive
Years active	1992–1999
Labels	Columbia Sony Rawkus Priority Flamboyant

Emerging from Harlem in New York City in 1992, Coleman became known among underground hip-hop fans for his freestyling ability. He was eventually signed to Columbia Records, where, in 1995, he released his debut album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous. On February 15, 1999, Coleman was shot nine times in his East Harlem neighborhood and later died from his injuries.

Noted for his use of wordplay, writers at AllMusic, HipHopDX and The Source have praised Coleman for his lyrical ability,[2][3] He has also been described as "one of the most auspicious storytellers in hip-hop history and known by many as the greatest punchline rapper of all time."[4] Regarding Coleman's legacy in an interview with Funkmaster Flex, Nas claimed "[Coleman] scared me to death. When I heard [his performance at the Apollo Theater] on tape, I was scared to death. I said, 'Yo, it's no way I can compete if this is what I gotta compete with.'"[5]

Early life

Lamont Coleman was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, on May 30, 1974,[6] the third and youngest child of Gilda Terry (d. 2008[7]) and Charles Davis.[8] Davis left the family while Coleman was a child.[9] His two older siblings, Donald Coleman and Leroy Phinazee (d. 2002[7]), were the children of Gilda and a man named Mr. Phinazee.[8] Coleman received the nicknames "Little L" and "'mont 'mont" as a child.[10][11] Donald Phinazee^[who?] took Coleman to a Run-DMC concert at the Beacon Theatre when Coleman was about 7 years old. According to Phinazee, Coleman was awed by the performance and sparked an interest in him for rapping. By the age of 12, Coleman became a big hip hop fan and started freestyling with other people in his neighborhood.[8][11]

He founded a group known as Three the Hard Way in 1990, but it was quickly broken up due to a lack of enthusiasm among the members.[12] It consisted of Coleman, Doc Reem, and Rodney.[13] No projects were released, and after Rodney left, the group was renamed Two Hard Motherfuckers.[13] Around this time, people started to refer to Coleman as "Big L".[8] In the summer of 1990, Coleman met Lord Finesse at an autograph session in a record shop on 125th Street.[14][15] After he did a freestyle, Finesse and Coleman exchanged numbers.[15]

Coleman attended Julia Richman High School.[8] While in high school, Coleman freestyle battled regularly; in his last interview, he stated, "in the beginning, all I ever saw me doing was battling everybody on the street corners, rhyming in the hallways, beating on the wall, rhyming to my friends. Every now and then, a house party, grab the mic, a block party, grab the mic."[16] He graduated in 1992.[8] Coleman began writing rhymes in 1990.[17]

Career

1992–1995: First recordings and record deal

In 1992, Coleman recorded various demos, some of which were featured on his debut album Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, he also founded the Harlem rap group Children of the Corn (COC) with Killa Cam (Cam'ron), Murda Mase (Ma$e), Bloodshed and McGruff in 1993.[12][18] On February 11, Coleman appeared on Yo! MTV Raps with Lord Finesse to help promote Finesse's studio album Return of the Funky Man.[19] Coleman's first professional appearance came on "Yes You May (Remix)", the B-side of "Party Over Here" (1992) by Lord Finesse,[18] and his first album appearance was on "Represent" off of Showbiz & A.G.'s Runaway Slave (1992).[14]

In that same year, he won an amateur freestyle battle, which consisted of about 2,000 contestants and held by Nubian Productions.[20] In 1992, Coleman signed to Columbia Records.[12] Around this time, L joined Lord Finesse's Bronx-based hip hop collective Diggin' in the Crates Crew (DITC) which consisted of Lord Finesse, Diamond D, O.C., Fat Joe, Buckwild, Showbiz and A.G.

In 1993, Coleman released his first promotional single, "Devil's Son", and later said it was one of the first horrorcore singles, influencing others. He said he wrote the song because "I've always been a fan of horror flicks. Plus the things I see in Harlem are very scary. So I just put it all together in a rhyme." However, he said he preferred other styles over horrorcore.[14] On February 18, 1993, Coleman performed live at the Uptown Lord Finesse Birthday Bash at the 2,000 Club, which included other performances from Fat Joe, Nas, and Diamond D.[8]

In 1994, he released his second promotional single "Clinic". On July 11, 1994, Coleman released the radio edit of "Put It On", and three months later the video was released.[8] In 1995, the video for the single "No Endz, No Skinz" debuted, which was directed by Brian Luvar.[21]

His debut studio album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, was released in March 1995. The album debuted at number 149 on the Billboard 200[22] and number 22 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[23] Lifestylez would go on to sell over 200,000 copies as of 2000.[24] Three singles were released from the album; the first two, "Put It On" and "M.V.P.", reached the top 25 of Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks and the third "No Endz, No Skinz" did not chart.[25][26]

1996–1999: independent release

In 1996, Coleman was dropped from Columbia mainly because of the dispute between Coleman's rapping style and the production from Columbia.[27] He stated, "I was there with a bunch of strangers that didn't really know my music."[28]

In 1997, he started working on his second studio album, The Big Picture.[29] COC folded when Bloodshed died in a car accident on March 2, 1997.[30] DITC appeared in a July issue On The Go Magazine.[8] Coleman appeared on O.C.'s single "Dangerous" for O.C.'s second album Jewelz.[31] In November, he was the opening act for O.C.'s European Jewlez Tour.[8]

Sometime in 1998, Coleman formed his own independent label, Flamboyant Entertainment.[32] According to The Village Voice, it was "planned to distribute the kind of hip-hop that sold without top 40 samples or R & B hooks."[33] He released the single "Ebonics" in 1998.[34] The song was based on "Ebonics", and The Source called it one of the top five independent singles of the year.[15] DITC released their first single, "Dignified Soldiers", that year.[6]

Coleman caught the eye of Damon Dash, the CEO of Roc-A-Fella Records, after the release of "Ebonics". Dash wanted to sign Lamont to Roc-A-Fella, but Coleman wanted his crew to sign[35][36] On February 8, 1999, Coleman, Herb McGruff, C-Town, and Jay-Z started the process to sign with Roc-A-Fella as a group called "The Wolfpack".[8][37]

Death

At around 8:30 PM on February 15, 1999, Big L was killed at 45 West 139th Street in his native Harlem after being shot nine times in the face and chest in a drive-by shooting.[38][39] Gerard Woodley, one of Big L's childhood friends, was arrested three months later for the crime.[40]

"It's a good possibility it was retaliation for something Big L's brother did, or Woodley believed he had done," said a spokesperson for the New York City Police Department.[41] Woodley was later released due to lack of evidence, and the murder case remains officially unsolved.[42]

In a November 2010 interview with Planet Ill, Donald Phinazee, Big L's oldest brother, states Big L was sent to "do something" he was not supposed to by their brother, Leroy "Big Lee" Phinazee. Donald Phinazee attributes Big L being seen committing the act as the cause for his murder.[43]

On June 24, 2016, Woodley was shot in the head and later died at Harlem Hospital.[44][45] Woodley's family maintains his innocence in Coleman's killing.[46] Cam'ron, who was a close friend of Big L and Woodley, attended Woodley's funeral. Later, Cam'ron posted a video to Instagram claiming Big L had attempted to murder Woodley a week before his death.[47][48]

In 2017, Lou Black, Gerard Woodley's cousin, published Ethylene: The Rise and Fall of The 139th St. NFL Crew. The book details Black's first hand interactions with the NFL crew and Big L. In the book, Black claims Leroy "Big Lee" Phinazee, Coleman's eldest half-brother and leader of the NFL crew, violated his probation when he was found to be in possession of an illegal weapon and was sentenced to prison. While in prison, Phinazee met and contracted a hitman from Brooklyn to murder three members of the NFL gang including Woodley. Phinazee had tasked Big L to identify the targets to the hitman. On the day when the murder was planned, Woodley noticed the hitman following him and successfully scared him off. As Big L had been seen multiple times with the hitman days prior, Woodley assumed Big L had taken part in the assassination attempt. Approximately a week after the assassination attempt of Woodley, Big L was killed. Black did not specify if Woodley was the one to personally kill Big L.[49]

Big L is buried at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey.[50]

Posthumous releases

The tracks "Get Yours", "Way of Life", and "Shyheim's Manchild" b/w "Furious Anger" were released as singles in 1999 for DITC's self-titled album (2000) on Tommy Boy Records.[8][51] The album peaked at number 31 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 141 on the Billboard 200.[52] Coleman's first posthumous single was "Flamboyant" b/w "On the Mic", which was released on May 30, 2000.[53] The single peaked at number 39 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[54] and topped the Hot Rap Tracks,[26] making it Coleman's first and only number-one single.

Coleman's second and final studio album, The Big Picture, was released on August 1, 2000, and featured Fat Joe, Tupac Shakur, Guru of Gang Starr, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane among others. The Big Picture was put together by his manager and partner in Flamboyant Entertainment, Rich King. It contains songs that he had recorded and a cappella recordings that were never used, completed by producers and guest emcees that Coleman respected or had worked with previously.[8]

The Big Picture debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200, number two on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and sold 72,549 copies.[24] The album was certified gold a month later for shipments of 500,000 copies by the RIAA.[55] The Big Picture was the only music by Big L to appear on a music chart outside of the United States, peaking at number 122 on the UK Albums Chart.[56]

A compilation album containing COC songs entitled Children of the Corn: The Collector's Edition was released in 2003. The next posthumous album released was 139 & Lenox, which was released on August 31, 2010.[57] It contained previously unreleased and rare tracks.[57] It was released by Rich King on Flamboyant Entertainment.[58] The next album to follow was Return of the Devil's Son (2010), which peaked at number 73 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[59] Coleman's next release was The Danger Zone (2011),[60] and an album called L Corleone was released on February 14, 2012.[61]

Legacy and influence

Henry Adaso, a music journalist for About.com, called him the twenty-third best MC of 1987 to 2007, claiming "[he was] one of the most auspicious storytellers in hip hop history."[4] HipHopDX called Coleman "the most underrated lyricist ever".[12] Many tributes have been given to Coleman. The first was by Lord Finesse and the other members of DITC on March 6, 1999, at the Tramps.[8] The Source has done multiple tributes to him: first in July 2000,[62] followed by March 2002.[63]

XXL did a tribute to Lamont in March 2003.[64] On February 16, 2005, at SOB's restaurant and nightclub in Manhattan, held a commemoration for him.[65] It included special guests such as DITC, Herb McGruff, and Kid Capri.[65] All the money earned went to his estate.[65]

In 2004, Eminem made a tribute to him in his music video for his single "Like Toy Soldiers". Jay Z stated in an interview with MTV, "We were about to sign him right before he passed away. We were about to sign him to Roc-a-Fella. It was a done deal…I think he was very talented…I think he had the ability to write big, and big choruses."[5] Rapper Nas also said on MTV, "He scared me to death. When I heard that on tape, I was scared to death. I said, 'Yo, it's no way I can compete if this is what I gotta compete with.'"[5]

In 2017, Royce da 5'9" said he believed Coleman would have been a "top 3" rapper all time if he had not been killed so prematurely.[66] In 2019, Funkmaster Flex said "People can get mad at me for saying this, but he was the best lyricist at the time. He was a better lyricist than Biggie and Jay-Z. He just didn't have the marketing and promotion. Let me go on the record and say that. It's the truth."[67]

In 2022 the 140th Street and Lennox Avenue intersection in Harlem was co-named Lamont "Big L" Coleman Way.[68]

Style

Coleman is often credited in helping to create the horrorcore genre of hip hop with his 1992 song "Devil's Son."[14] However, not all his songs fall into this genre. For example, in the song "Street Struck," Coleman discusses the difficulties of growing up in the ghetto and describes the consequences of living a life of crime.^{[citation needed]} Idris Goodwin of The Boston Globe wrote that "[Big L had an] impressive command of the English language", with his song "Ebonics" being the best example of this.[69]

He was notable for using a rap style called "compounding".[70] Coleman also used metaphors in his rhymes.[71] M.F. DiBella of Allmusic stated Coleman was "a master of the lyrical stickup undressing his competition with kinetic metaphors and a brash comedic repertoire".[71] On the review of The Big Picture, she adds "the Harlem MC as a master of the punch line and a vicious storyteller with a razor blade-under-the-tongue flow."[27] Trent Fitzgerald of Allmusic said "a lyrically ferocious MC with raps deadlier than a snakebite and mannerisms cooler than the uptown pimp he claimed to be on records."[72]

Documentary

A documentary Street Struck: The Big L Story was set to be released in 2017. It is directed by a childhood friend and independent film director, Jewlz.[20] Approximately nine hours of footage was brought in, and the film is planned to be 90 to 120 minutes long.[35] The first trailer was released on August 29, 2009.[20] Street Struck contains interviews from his mother Gilda Terry; his brother Donald; childhood friends E-Cash, D.O.C., McGruff, and Stan Spit; artists Mysonne and Doug E. Fresh; producers Showbiz and Premier; and recording DJs Cipha Sounds and Peter Rosenberg.[20] A soundtrack will be made for the documentary, and it will be put together by Lamont's brother Donald.[35]

Discography

Studio album

• Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous (1995)

Posthumous studio albums

• The Big Picture (2000)
• 139 & Lenox (2010)
• Return of the Devil's Son (2010)
• The Danger Zone (2011)

Posthumous compilation albums

• Harlem's Finest – A Freestyle History (2003)
• Live from Amsterdam (2003)
• Big L: The Archives 1996–2000 (2006)

Posthumous collaboration album

• Children of the Corn: Collector’s Edition (with Children of the Corn) (2003)

See also

• List of murdered hip hop musicians
• List of unsolved murders

References

Sources

• Hess, Mickey (2010). Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide: Volume 1: East Coast and West Coast. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-34323-0.
• Jasper, Kenji (July 6, 1999). "Of Mics and Men in Harlem". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on August 10, 2013. Retrieved February 6, 2012.

External links

• Official website (archived)
• Big L at AllMusic

На других языках

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- [en] Big L

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[es] Big L

Lamont Coleman (30 de mayo de 1974 - 15 de febrero de 1999), más conocido por su nombre artístico Big L, fue un rapero estadounidense al que se le consideraba uno de los mejores "freestylers" y "punchliners" de la historia del rap.

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[fr] Big L

Big L, né Lamont Coleman le 30 mai 1974 à Harlem et décédé le 15 février 1999 à Harlem, est un rappeur américain. Il a grandi à l'intersection de Lenox Avenue et de la 139th West, quartier à majorité afro-américaine de Harlem à New York, longtemps appelé « The Danger Zone ». Coleman publie son premier album, Lifestylez ov da Poor and Dangerous, en 1995 et contribue significativement à la scène hip-hop underground. En 1998, il fonde Flamboyant Entertainment, son propre label indépendant, dans lequel il publie l'un de ses célèbres singles, Ebonics en 1998.

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[ru] Big L

Ламонт Коулман (англ. Lamont Coleman); 30 мая 1974, Гарлем — 15 февраля 1999, Нью-Йорк, Нью-Йорк), более известный под сценическим псевдонимом Big L — американский рэпер и автор песен, а также участник рэп-групп Children of the Corn и Diggin' in the Crates Crew.

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