BIG L: REBEL ON A HIGHER LEVEL

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Big L: Devil’s Son (Columbia, 1993, 12″)

Was meant to be the debut solo single from Big L but supposedly withdrawn by the label for being too violent. Originally released only as a promo (though subsequently bootlegged).

Hearing Big L spit fire on a killer Showbiz track is never a bad thing but it’s not hard to see why Columbia may have balked on releasing this. I mean, dude really “took it there,” especially during the second verse. Still, in terms of energy, “Devil’s Son” is a great reminder of why there was so much hype behind Big L back in that era.

For no particular reason, I never went out of my way to cop this back in its heyday but when I saw this copy up on the wall at Groove Merchant the other week – and also learned it used to be Matthew Africa’s – I figured “sure, why not?”

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