Emerging from Harlem, New York in the early to mid-1990s, Coleman became well known amongst underground hip-hop fans for his freestyling ability, and was eventually signed to Columbia Records, where he released his debut album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous in 1995 and is now considered by many fans as a classic album. On February 15, 1999, Coleman was shot nine times and killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in his hometown of Harlem.
Noted for his use of wordplay, multiple writers at AllMusic, HipHopDX and The Source have praised Coleman for his lyrical ability, and he has also been described as "one of the most auspicious storytellers in hip hop history." Regarding Coleman's legacy, Nas 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.'
Lamont Coleman was born in Harlem, New York City, on May 30, 1974, the third and youngest child of Gilda Terry (d. 2008) and Charles Davis. Davis left the family while Coleman was a child. His two older siblings, Donald Coleman and Leroy Phinazee (d.2002), were the children of Gilda and a man named Mr. Phinazee. Coleman received the nicknames "Little L" and "'mont 'mont" as a child. At the age of 12, Coleman became a big hip hop fan and started freestyling with other people in his neighborhood. He founded a group known as Three the Hard Way in 1990, but it was quickly broken up due to a lack of enthusiasm amongst the members. It consisted of Coleman, Doc Reem, and Rodney. No projects were released, and after Rodney left, the group was renamed Two Hard Motherfuckers. Around this time, people started to refer to Coleman as "Big L". In the summer of 1990, Coleman met Lord Finesse at an autograph session in a record shop on 125th Street. After he did a freestyle, Finesse and Coleman exchanged numbers.
Coleman attended Julia Richman High School. While in high school, Coleman freestyle battled in his hometown; 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." He graduated in 1992.
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. Gerard Woodley, one of Big L's childhood friends, was arrested three months later for the crime. "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. Woodley was later controversially released, and the murder case remains unsolved.
Big L is buried at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey.
On June 24, 2016 at 139th St. and Lenox Avenue, Woodley, 46, was shot in the head and later died at Harlem Hospital.
Coleman is often credited in helping to create the horrorcore genre of hip hop with his 1992 song "Devil Son." 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. 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.
He was notable for using a rap style called "compounding". Coleman also used metaphors in his rhymes. 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". 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." 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.
Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous
Big L Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Get beat down and all you hear is gunshot sounds
On 139 and Lenox Ave. there's a big park
And if you're soft, don't go through it when it gets dark
Cause at nighttime niggas try to tax
They're sneakier than alley cats
That's why I carry gats
Yo, I'm a muthafuckin' fugitive
Because to me it's all about a buck
I used to have a partner in crime by the name of Chuck
We stormed the city, shooting shit up like Frank Nitti
We robbed kids and split the dough 50/50
One day we stuck a dice game on the ave and split the cash
Then I murdered his ass and took his half
Because I'm all about ends and skins
When you got those, you don't need no muthafuckin friends
If I catch you on a late night, black, you're getting stuck, jack
My moms told me to get a job, fuck that
Aiyo, picture me getting a job
Taking orders from Bob, selling corn on the cob
Yo, how the hell I'mma make ends meet
Making about 120 dollars a week
Man, I rather do another hit
I want clean clothes, mean hoes and all that other shit
Yo, I admit, I'm a sucker
A low down, dirty, sneaky, double-crossin connivin' muthafucka
Breaking in cribs with a crowbar
I wasn't poor, I was po' - I couldn't afford the 'o-r'
I used to wait until it gets dark
And tell a nigga to strip, I wanna see some birthmarks
Like a ninja, dressed in black with a ski mask
I take all the funds, then I run down the street fast
I vicked this nigga named Eugene, took his brand new ring
Cause sticking up's an everyday routine
Once I was crusing in a beat-up ride
Saw this nigga named Clyde
And snuck up on him from the blind side
I told him, "give up the dough, before you get smoked
Oh you're broke, now you're dead broke"
The Big L was cold crazy
A top-notch crook snatching pocketbooks from old ladies
I don't care, I'll do anything to get a buck
Even rob a Miller truck, cause I don't give a fuck
Some say I'm ruthless, some say I'm grim
Once a burglar broke into my house and I robbed him
Plenty and many brains I bust
Cause I was livin' the lifestyle of the poor and dangerous
Word
All of us from Harlem
139
That's living the lifestyle of the poor and dangerous
KnawhatImsayin?
This goes out
To my brothers
Big Lee and Don Ice
Reggie Reg, T.C., Todd, Lou, Black Tone
Whitey, Ty Speeder, Ru Dog, Herb McGruff
E-Jet, G Love, Doc Ring, Slice and Rich Dice
I can't forget the 1-4-0, Lennox Ave, crew
And I gotta say rest in peace to Mate the Skate, Dog
And my man Kerry, peace
(Now what kinda life is that for a child
Now what kinda life is that for a child
Now what kinda life is that for a fucking child
Word to mother, fuck all that stupid shit
Controversial, not commercial, nigga)
In "Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous", Big L paints a vivid picture of the gritty street life in his Harlem neighborhood. He introduces himself as a fugitive who lives a buckwild and foul lifestyle, where getting a buck is the ultimate goal. He reminisces about his former partner in crime, Chuck, and how they wreaked havoc in the city, robbing kids and splitting the dough. However, one day he turned against Chuck and murdered him to take his half of the cash. Big L is proud to be ruthless and grim and will do anything to get a buck, including robbing Miller trucks and snatching pocketbooks from old ladies.
The second verse of the song focuses on Big L's burglarizing and stealing strategies. He waits until it gets dark to break into houses and forces people to strip to see if they have any birthmarks before taking their belongings. He relishes in being a top-notch crook who shows no mercy. He's not interested in getting a job and taking orders from anyone, and moving stolen goods is his preferred source of income. He declares that he's living the lifestyle of the poor and dangerous, surrounded by the sounds of gunshots and crime.
Line by Line Meaning
My name is L, and I'm from a part of town where clowns
I'm Big L and I'm from a part of Harlem where there's a lot of violence
Get beat down and all you hear is gunshot sounds
The violence in my part of town is so bad that you hear gunshots all the time
On 139 and Lenox Ave. there's a big park
There's a big park on 139th and Lenox in my neighborhood
And if you're soft, don't go through it when it gets dark
Don't go through the park at night if you're not tough enough or you might get robbed
Cause at nighttime niggas try to tax
At night, people try to rob others
They're sneakier than alley cats
These robbers are sly and difficult to catch
That's why I carry gats
That's why I carry guns
Yo, I'm a muthafuckin' fugitive
I'm a criminal on the run
Buckwild and foul is the lifestyle that I choose to live
I choose to live a wild, dangerous criminal lifestyle
Because to me it's all about a buck
For me, everything is about making money
I used to have a partner in crime by the name of Chuck
I used to have a partner in crime named Chuck
We stormed the city, shooting shit up like Frank Nitti
We were reckless, shooting up the city like Frank Nitti's gang
We robbed kids and split the dough 50/50
We robbed kids and split the money evenly
One day we stuck a dice game on the ave and split the cash
One day we robbed and split the money from a dice game on the street
Then I murdered his ass and took his half
I killed Chuck and took all the money for myself
Because I'm all about ends and skins
Because I'm all about money and women
When you got those, you don't need no muthafuckin friends
When you have money and women, you don't need friends
If I catch you on a late night, black, you're getting stuck, jack
If I catch you at night, I'm going to rob you
My moms told me to get a job, fuck that
My mom told me to get a job, but I won't do that
Aiyo, picture me getting a job
Can you imagine me getting a regular job?
Taking orders from Bob, selling corn on the cob
Working a typical job selling corn on the cob? No way
Man, I rather do another hit
I would rather commit another crime
I want clean clothes, mean hoes and all that other shit
I want nice clothes and women who will do whatever I want
Yo, I admit, I'm a sucker
I admit that I'm not very smart
A low down, dirty, sneaky, double-crossin connivin' muthafucka
I'm a dishonest, manipulative person
Breaking in cribs with a crowbar
I break into people's homes with a crowbar
I wasn't poor, I was po' - I couldn't afford the 'o-r'
I wasn't just poor, I was really poor - I couldn't even afford the 'o-r' in poor
I used to wait until it gets dark
I used to wait until it's dark to commit crimes
And tell a nigga to strip, I wanna see some birthmarks
I tell my victims to strip so I can see if they have tattoos or birthmarks that I can use to identify them later
Like a ninja, dressed in black with a ski mask
Like a ninja, I dress in all black and wear a ski mask to conceal my identity
I take all the funds, then I run down the street fast
I take all the money and run away as quickly as possible
I vicked this nigga named Eugene, took his brand new ring
I robbed a guy named Eugene and took his new ring
Cause sticking up's an everyday routine
Robbing people is something I do all the time
Once I was crusing in a beat-up ride
One time when I was driving an old, beat-up car
Saw this nigga named Clyde
I saw a guy named Clyde
And snuck up on him from the blind side
I approached him from behind, where he couldn't see me
I told him, "give up the dough, before you get smoked
I demanded he give me his money, or he would get killed
Oh you're broke, now you're dead broke"
If you don't have any money, I'm going to kill you anyway
The Big L was cold crazy
I, Big L, was completely insane
A top-notch crook snatching pocketbooks from old ladies
I was a skilled criminal, stealing purses from elderly women
I don't care, I'll do anything to get a buck
I don't care what I have to do, as long as I make money
Even rob a Miller truck, cause I don't give a fuck
I would even rob a Brink's truck, because I don't care about the consequences
Some say I'm ruthless, some say I'm grim
Some people say I'm heartless and brutal
Once a burglar broke into my house and I robbed him
Once someone broke into my house, and I robbed them
Plenty and many brains I bust
I have killed many people
Cause I was livin' the lifestyle of the poor and dangerous
Because I lived a dangerous, criminal lifestyle that was shaped by poverty
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@MrJoseTiago
"Some say I'm ruthless, some say I'm grim
Once a burglar broke into my house and I robbed him"
@kaibilbalam-gonzalez9584
Christopher Engish Eubank Lol. *Needed*. Past tense.
@ronaldcolemanjr.3621
I love that line- Jersey Boi-
@escobarjr6193
This, while reloading my gun.. Fuck me this is good.
@mjbmjb4699
@@escobarjr6193 thats how you end up murdering somebody
@escobarjr6193
@@mjbmjb4699 Chill bro, i ain't that stupid.
@wolfsbane7559
"Yo, I admit, I'm a sucker, a low down, dirty, sneaky, double-crossin connivin' muthafucka" I literally love this line, the flow, the delivery, everything
@damienlopez6693
Diabolical
@deezy81
Funny thing is, him double crossing somebody is what lead to his death.
@extraspooky819
"Could you imagine me with a job? Taking orders from bob, selling corn on the cob" I don't know why but I fucking love that line. L had this talent for making lyrics sound hilarious yet hard. RIP One of New York's greatest.