7ftSicilians

We’ve garnered interest from fans who’d like to submit content to the Sicilians. We’re elated that our love of music and creative writing has inspired others to sling hot articles like Nonna does every Sunday.

Our guest spot this week is none other than Steve’s brother James, who currently resides in the illustrious streets of Southie back in Mass. Similar to Steve, he has his parents and upbringing in the northeast for his expansive taste in music, but today’s focus is on a tragically forgotten artist.

Big L is a crazy brother, and I’m a lady lover
A smooth kid that’ll run up in your baby mother

Put It On – Big L

A lot of new school hip hop heads will worship the likes of Pac and Biggie but don’t explore the punch line genius of Lamont Coleman. Coming on the scene from Harlem, in my opinion, put the legend Jay-Z on in their 7 Minute Freestyle…

Lamonte is seldom talked about amongst the greats, but his delivery and aggressive lyrical poetry are unmatched by the gangsta rap era. My brother and I were introduced to gangsta rap after our father decided to buy us arguably the greatest rap album of all time, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’.” There are plenty of similarities between Fifty’s diss verses that are influenced by Big L’s style.

That album punched a picture to life we would never experience, but at the same time, we would nod our heads to it. Down the road, I’d listen to more and more New York Rappers, and hearing Eminem’s verse in “Patiently Waiting” say, “sprinkle a little Big L on top, what the fuck do you got” had me curious about who this artist really was.

Lamonte jumped on the scene with his creative lyrical wordplay and dropped his debut album, “Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous,” which would go on to sell over 200k copies in the late 90s early 2000s.

Sadly, while recording “The Big Picture” album, Big L was slain over a conflict that involved his older brother, Big Lee. There are a lot of folks that believe Biggie or Pac would not have achieved the legendary posthumous status they currently hold if they had not died by the sword. However, as a hip-hop community, I feel that we were robbed of one of the greatest lyrical artists of the golden hip-hop/rap era.

Its’ me.
Peace