The massively influential Harlem rapper Large L was killed in a drive-by taking pictures in 1999. He was 24 when he misplaced his life, which implies he’s been useless for longer than he was ever alive. Large L by no means discovered stardom in his lifetime, however he’s been a cult hero ever since his passing. His posthumous album The Large Image got here out in 2000 and went gold. Since then, we’ve gotten two extra posthumous albums, and we’re about to get one other one as a part of Mass Attraction’s Legend Has It… sequence. The brand new LP Harlem’s Most interesting: Return OF The King comes out on Halloween, and it’ll characteristic a uncommon look from Large L’s buddy Jay-Z.
When you have been questioning whether or not Large L may presumably nonetheless have any music left unreleased all this time after his dying, you aren’t being paranoid. So far as we all know, there’s no remaining treasure trove of accomplished and unreleased songs from Large L, a person who solely had time to launch one album throughout his lifetime. However the man did depart behind a ton of radio freestyles which have been extensively bootlegged however by no means correctly launched. There’s, as an illustration, the legendary seven-minute freestyle that Large L and Jay-Z did on The Stretch & Bobbito Present in 1995. It looks as if a few of these freestyles have been repurposed for Harlem’s Most interesting.
Large L’s property is credited as government producer on Harlem’s Most interesting, as Royce Da 5’9″ and Mike “Heron” Herard are its affiliate producers. We don’t have a tracklist but, however we all know that Nas and Jay-Z are amongst its friends. The lead single is “u aint gotta likelihood,” which is kind of new and kind of not. The manufacturing is new, and so is the Nas verse, a technical show that sadly begins Nas telling us that he’s the primary in rap to kind a enterprise cap. Large L’s verse, in the meantime, comes from a Tim Westwood freestyle that Large L and fellow DITC member O.C. did in 1997. The tune undoubtedly doesn’t really feel wholly natural, but it surely does give a pleasant snapshot of Large L’s punchline-centric fashion. Pay attention beneath.
Harlem’s Most interesting: Return OF The King is out 10/31 on Mass Attraction.