Harlem rapper Big L (real name Lamont Cole) was a legendary underground emcee during the 1990s. Following the release of his debut album, Lifestyle Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, Big L cultivated young Harlem talents such as Ma$e and Cam’Ron, then went on to become a legend.
However, during an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast with Noreaga and DJ EFN, Jadakiss recently revealed that prior to his mainstream success, his crewmate, Styles P, had a brief feud with Big L.
“Big L was that n*gga — I don’t like that they gave him his flowers after he was dead,” shared Jadakiss. “They should have gave them [his flowers] when he was here. But, I guess it was too much going on. Or, just how the world is.”
However, he then explained how he and the Lox first came into contact with the ‘Put It On’ emcee, recalling, “Big L was one of the first — Big L, when we were still trying to get a deal, and we hadn’t met Puff yet — we were downtown on 139th getting some weed from Buzz Me In, the old spot that was there and he [Big L] was in front of the fried chicken spot.”
However, it was here that Styles P got into an altercation with Big L, which resulted in a rap battle. Styles subsequently went toe-to-toe with Big L, which resulted in a “furious” back-to-back.
“SP got out, and him and SP got into a battle — a furious one. There wasn’t a cameraman around back then. We got cool with him after that — once we found out about Children of The Corn and all that.”
Admitting that Lamont was more significant than the Lox at the time, Phillips divulged, “Big L was already famous. He was one of the first young dudes to make it. Once again, shout out to Digging in the Crates for seeing the talent in him way back when he was a youngster.”
Cole was murdered on West 139th Street in Harlem in 1999, the prevailing narrative is that he was shot in retaliation for something his brother did. The killer was alleged to be Gerard Woodley, and in a suspicious killing in 2016, Woodley was shot in the head on 139th Street. You can hear Jadakiss’ Drink Champs below.
