The Big Picture offers a musical painting boasting Big L's detailed and expressive lyrics asking for a deserverd spotlight in the same listening room that storytellers Tupac and Biggie Smalls reside. His verbal wizardry is showcased in "Ebonics" where he translates street slang. He flexes his mental quickness for "'98 Freestyle" using lines like "Ask Bevis because I get nothing but head" and "F***** punk/you're not a leader/nobody followed you/you was never shit/your mother shoulda swallowed you." Close your eyes and and you could actually smell the blunt through L's fictional creativity on "The Heist" and "Casualties of a Dice Game." Being backed by platinum producers Mike Heron, DJ Premier, Lord Finesse and Show, his inevitable mass popularity was only inhibited by the number of years he had to live. R.I.P.Rawkus.com