Columbia / Legacy (2026, Reissue)
Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.
Big L is one of those MCs whose reputation as an elite lyricist has only grown since his tragic murder in 1999. His only full album released while he was still allive was 1995's Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous. While it is an exceeding popular album with those in the know, this is one of those albums that I was completely oblivious to when it originally came out as there wasn't much in the world of hip hop that I was following after 1994 wrapped up. I've written about it a million times, but the sounds were changing and I wasn't on board.
In later years, I first discovered Big L via a guest appearance on the Showbiz and AG song "Represent." It's the sort of appearance that makes you immediately head to the internet to see what is out there and that's how I discovered Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous. For a 1995 album, this is way more up my alley than a lot of records released that year. It almost always boils down to the production, and there's enough upbeat tracks with soulful samples to keep me engaged. Yeah, there's some slower ones on here, but even then Big L has an energetic flow that can transcend the few beats on here that aren't my particular cup of tea. His style and cadence are firmly rooted in the early 90s and it's obvious that many of the songs here were gestating long before 1995.
It took me a while to get my hands on this album as it's been out of print since 2019 and the price had gotten pretty out of control. It was nice to finally be able to get a copy at a reasonable price, but it is kind of lame that it's a single LP instead of the double LP reissues that came out in the 2010s. But when the price different is plural hundreds of dollars, the single LP will do just fine by me. I'm just happy to have a copy for the collection and am always excited when I can find another post-1994 record that clicks with me.
Big L – Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous:
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