DIGIINDIE

1995: Big L released his debut album Lifestylez Ov Da Poor and Dangerous. In 1991, the budding Harlem rapper founded the Children of Corn, featuring fellow Uptown natives and future hip-hop stars Cam’ron and Ma$e. However, L wouldn’t gain national exposure until he appeared on Showbiz and A.G.’s “Represent” a year later. In 1993, L went on to sign a deal with Columbia Records, the same year the “Devil’s Son” rapper officially joined Lord Finesse’s Bronx-based Diggin’ in the Crates collective.

It would be another two years until Big L released his debut album Lifestylez Ov Da Poor and Dangerous in 1995. Peaking at #22 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, the album spawned three singles – “Put It On,” “M.V.P.” and “No Endz, No Skinz.” Although the album was critically acclaimed at the time, L was dropped from Columbia in 1996. Three years later, however, the Harlem legend’s career was cut short when L was murdered in his native Harlem, in what many believe was a retaliation shooting against his elder brothers, both of whom were incarcerated at the time.

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