[The Big Sleep]

http://www.kevinnott...the-late-big-l/

Arasia: And speaking of, can you speak a bit on your memories of Big L? What made him such a special emcee to you?

O.C.: I don’t know man, L was clown man. He was a funny dude. I don’t know. L was just…that’s a real story to talk to Finesse about cause Finesse found L in Rock and Wells. Somebody told Finesse some cat was rhyming in the record store called Rock and Wells and Finesse went in and checked him out. L was getting busy and to cut through the story, he ended up on the “Yes You May” remix of the original for what Finesse did on his album. L was just like put it like this, but my take on L, he was a star. He found his pocket after that first album. If you listen to Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, he found a pocket. It was like how Jay was doing the fast rap but then he slowed it down and he found out how to make people understand. But it was still complex. He was on his way and he was about to sign to Rocafella before he passed away. I remember being on a plane with him when we were promoting Jewlez and he started rapping and he was like aight, that’s it. I was like I don’t want to hear that shit. I was tired but that rhyme turned out to be “Ebonics.” And he was on this Flamboyant Entertainment stuff. He was a fly guy, he was from Harlem so he could get under your skin. It was like aight, whatever man, when you gone put out this album and when you gone start your record company. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but in turn, he was really doing it. He had that record that he was working on. He was on his way. I don’t know if he was going to be in that Jay-Z stratosphere but he was gong to be somewhere near that. I think Jay would’ve been where he is but I think L would’ve had a lane too. People don’t realize that L took Jay took up to Stretch and Bobbito show. That’s the first freestyle that Jay did on radio. And I might be wrong on that but from what I remember that was the first freestyle he did on radio with him and L going back and forth.

Arasia: Oh wow, L took Jay up there? I didn’t know that one.

O.C.: Yeah, this was noted. L pioneered that whole fight club thing too with the battling and stuff like that. The Lox, when they were The Warlocks, used to come down to Harlem. Dame is my neighbor and I think he has footage of the Jay Z/DMX battle if I’m not mistaken but L had a part in it. He pioneered that. All that battle stuff you see going on, L started that. Crews coming to other boroughs and Jay coming to Harlem…it was tense. Jay came from Brooklyn to battle in a pool hall, DMX had his few in there, it was guns in there…it was serious. Guns, tension, the oohs the aaahs and L was there too.

Arasia: So did you ever take part in any of those battles?

O.C.: Nah that wasn’t my thing. People assume that but it wasn’t my thing. Finesse, A, and Big L… that was their thing. I remember Showbiz would be somewhere in the club or outside the club and dudes would be rhyming. I remember one instance he called L, told L to hop in the cab, and he told the dudes he had some dude to come and get in ya’ll ass. Show paid for the cab and he [Big L] came uptown and got up in dude’s ass. The rhyme ended up being on his album but this dude was built for that. That’s what he was built for. AG and Finesse battled DMX too. DMX said he won in his book but that aint true or how the stories goes but yeah, we just some Hip Hop dudes man.

He also talks about Dangerous, audio here:

http://www.kevinnott...he-spittin-o-c/

He'll be on kevinnottingham.com tomorrow at 9 PM EST if anybody has any good L questions for him.

[LorDie]

Nice, thanks for this.

L really pioneered all that battle stuff? And that DMX thing, I didn't knew as much.

[patKa]

Great interview, thanks for posting. It's always good to hear more info on L and battling.

[Shandy]

wow never knew that A.G and Finesse battled DMX crazy man

[The Big Sleep]

http://www.egotripla...rt-1/#more-9967

[Mixtape86]

thanks for the egotrip link. Going to buy that Funky Man : The Prequel, looks ill

[The Big Sleep]

DJ Eclipse NaS tribute show with DJ Premier, Large Pro and Faith Newman.

http://cratesofjr.bl...time-radio.html

There's only a couple quick mentions of L but it's still cool.

Faith Newman moved from being the first female A&R at Def Jam to Columbia, to spearhead their No Doubt campaign. During this time (from September '91 'til '97), she signed Big L, NaS, Kurious, Total Pak and Jamalski as well as worked with other Columbia artists such as The Fugees. She mentions how Columbia was trying to get her to drop NaS before Illmatic due to a situation with NaS' brother Jungle and a gun in the car. Premier calls in to say he happened to be at Columbia picking up free promo records the day L and NaS were in the building signing their contracts.

Preem's comments are around the fifty minute mark. Faith's are around an hour and ten (all she does is say Big L a couple times, sounds like she had somethin' to say about him but it wasn't the time).

[Shandy]

The Big Sleep, on 12 July 2012 - 12:08 PM, said:

DJ Eclipse NaS tribute show with DJ Premier, Large Pro and Faith Newman.

http://cratesofjr.bl...time-radio.html

There's only a couple quick mentions of L but it's still cool.

Faith Newman moved from being the first female A&R at Def Jam to Columbia, to spearhead their No Doubt campaign. During this time (from September '91 'til '97), she signed Big L, NaS, Kurious, Total Pak and Jamalski as well as worked with other Columbia artists such as The Fugees. She mentions how Columbia was trying to get her to drop NaS before Illmatic due to a situation with NaS' brother Jungle and a gun in the car. Premier calls in to say he happened to be at Columbia picking up free promo records the day L and NaS were in the building signing their contracts.

Preem's comments are around the fifty minute mark. Faith's are around an hour and ten (all she does is say Big L a couple times, sounds like she had somethin' to say about him but it wasn't the time).

its 3 hours long lol i really cant watch it for 3 hours:P but i guess its still dope

[The Big Sleep]

Which is why I noted when L gets mentioned.

[badboy4life]

http://babylonfallin...g-l-may-30-1974

[patKa]

^That's a great picture and quote from Finesse, thanks for sharing.

[The Big Sleep]

http://massappeal.co...-salutes-12678/

Couple quotes from Preem and Rich King in this article.

[The Big Sleep]

Bobbito mentions Big L, Killa Kam, Murda Ma$e in the beginning. At about thirty six minutes in he talks about the L and Jay freestyle, their battle, Rocafella and the documentary:

[The Big Sleep]

Ron Browz talks about Big L at around the three minute mark:

[LorDie]

Big L wasn't just a funny guy from Harlem with a major deal. Big L put him on. ''I had just Ebonics''.
And still discrediting L production on Ebonics. Never gonna hear ''Thank you for the co-sign''from this dude. To me he is deader than L. He should leave Hip Hop and go R&B, so he can co-sign Beyonce.

[Shandy]

here is a interview of diamond d talking about hes records you have one of lord finesse to
here he shows the autograph of big L just something i saw and wanted to share!

[DaFonetikKFluuZe]

*cough*old*cough*

[The Big Sleep]

Quote

"My most distinct memory is Big L’s phone number written on this wooden part of the wall, next to the booth and shit." ~ M. Will, Marley Marl's son.

Source: http://www.unkut.com...ed-skype-mwill/

and

Quote

"What can you tell me about the late Big L? You worked on his debut album 'Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous', recording and engineering it.

He was fun to work with because he had a great sense of humor. He was young so a lot of times it was sardonic. I remember times when Showbiz, Diamond D and Lord Finesse, in those sessions, wanted to beat the crap out of him. He would not stop. He was relentless, relentless with the wise cracks. He was really gifted with the gab. He would basically just ‘troll’, to use today’s internet terms, everybody with his sarcasm and sardonic behavior. He was a real wise ass. I don’t mean that in a bad way. He was funny.

I really liked the sound of Big L’s voice. He could have said just about anything but he had such a good flow and sound. His delivery was clear. Hip Hop has gone in a direction where people become characters and are not real. Jay-Z has a certain character that he throws out there but you get a sense that it’s still Jay-Z. Big L was like that. His raps and the sound of his voice stretched his personality without making him caricature. It was still him.

Some of the BIG L tracks were pretty hardcore. Did that affect the vibe in the studio?

We spent so much time in the studio and sometimes it was really serious and sometimes it was funny. My memories are all the good ones. There were moments where I thought Showbiz was going to knock him out. (Laughs.) And they were very serious moments. Showbiz is a great guy but you definitely don’t want to piss him off." ~ Chris Conway, Studio Engineer, nicknamed The Conman by Big L.

Source: http://othersounds.c...w-chris-conway/

[The Big Sleep]

Quote

"I know underground heads that think Rick Ross should be stomped out for what he said, but at the same time rate Big L as one of the G.O.A.T.s. For some reason, they never had any issues with Big L 'raping nuns' in his lyrics or even raping the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I love Big L, but lets be real: some of L’s lyrics make this controversial Rick Ross rhyme look like Walt Disney." ~ R.A. the Rugged Man

Source: http://www.hiphopdx....ffensive-lyrics

[The Big Sleep]

“Big L was discovered by Lord Finesse when he was fifteen years old. Fat Joe had an album release party at this club called The Blue Flamingo. Finesse was like, “Yo Lak, I’m about to my stage. Watch Lak, he ill!” Big L got on that stage at fifteen, and from that point on, I knew he had it. I said, “Man, that boy is the truth!” He was fifteen and he killed it at Fat Joe’s album release party.” ~ Lakim Shabazz