It was announced that on the 10-year anniversary of Big L's posthumous The Big Picture going gold, his family estate is releasing Return Of The Devil's Son, 21-brand new unreleased songs – assuming you've never done any form of pedestrian research on Big L.
Return Of The Devil's Son is essential if you're incapable of arranging the unreleased Big L tracks you ripped from Audiogalaxy in '99 onto an iTunes playlist and burning the tracks to a blank CD-R. Hey, maybe that monstrosity of a desktop PC crashed before the external hard drive technology was affordable to you, consequentially destroying your will to explore the plethora of canonical hip hop blogs that have cataloged Big L's posthumous leaks for the last decade. The only good reason for caring about the release of Return Of The Devil's Son is that it's not a bootleg. The songs were compiled, meaning this is a compilation, by L's older brother Donald
Phinazee, meaning the money earned goes directly to the Lamont Coleman estate. The only complaint I'm making is based on a suspicion that Phinazee is doubting our intelligence, like we won't figure out that “I Shoulda Used A Rubber” is the song known as “Clinic” or wouldn't figure out that “Zone of Danger” is a remix to “Danger Zone” off L's debut. The foulest possibility is that “Yes You Can” is actually Lord Finesse's “Yes, You May”(Remix), L's first professional appearance on record.
Some may recall Lord Finesse claiming there would never be another Big L album… ever, again, for infinity times the likelihood of Furbies being popular again. That is still partially true, as Finesse and DJ Premier are not involved in this compilation – meaning no production from a living legend nor executive producer guidance from Big L's mentor. For these players to have roles in the furthering of Big L's legacy, it boils down to waiting for Big L's deadbeat pops to die or a superhero lawyer discovers a legal loop hole that prevents his claims for a share of the profits he doesn't deserve. The world is a cruel place considering we lost one of the wittiest lyricists to approach the mic at the age of 24 and his single mother, but the rolling stone father is alive and well, trying to cash in on a child he abandoned in the 70s.
Return Of The Devil's Son is out November 23 on SMC Recordings.
In other news, how have you not heard these songs before:
