Big L Brings Me Back to Ninth Grade

Here's a dose of some hip hop, which I needed myself after only listening to indie rock and folk for the past two months.

I procrastinated at work today, it's a Friday... I got into a discussion about old hip hop with our guys in the mail room (who help make up the very small majority of dudes who actually work at my company), and we went from Blackstar to Eric B and Rakim, Pharaoh Monch to Company Flow, and finally finished on Big L. If you've never heard of him, he's another one of those prodigies who was killed in NYC before he could make it big - which at this point sounds way too casual to say.

Of the many things he's famous for, his song "Ebonics" sticks out by far, along with a freestyle he did on the Stretch and Bobbito show when he said 'ask Beavis I get nothin' Butthead," which still sticks out today. "Ebonics" is basically a quick ebonics to 'proper' English translation via a song - it's just all out original and different, things I don't always find these days in new hip hop.

Check out "Ebonics" below - the video is a bit cheesy.



And here's the famous freestyle, fast forward to 1:40 if you'd like