Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous [Explicit Lyrics]

Big L, Big L | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl (March 28, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000294Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (137 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,725,577 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Put It On

2. M.V.P.

3. No Endz, No Skinz

4. 8 Iz Enuff

5. All Black

6. Danger Zone

7. Street Struck

8. Da Graveyard

9. Lifestylez Ov da Poor and Dangerous

10. I Don't Understand It

11. Fed up Wit the Bullshit

12. Let 'Em Have It "L:

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The defining effort by the most gifted MC of a generation, August 31, 2004

By 

J. B. Haselswerdt (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous (Audio CD)

There have been plenty of MCs with more intelligent and enlightened content to their rhymes than Big L. There have also been a few (though not many) with more distinct delivery--and perhaps one (Nas circa "Illmatic"?) with a more natural flow. But for sheer, unadulterated rhyming skill...there's just no one that touched L. Ever. Period. His gift was so unbelievable that I half wish they would have studied his brain when he died (morbid as it may seem)--because there had to be something abnormal about it. If anyone in the hip-hop game was ever a bona fide "genius" in the true sense of the word (meaning blessed with an almost freakish mental gift) it was L.

Don't sleep on the posthumously released "The Big Picture," but make no mistake, this grittier and more vibrant first album was L's magnum opus. Any one of these tracks contains more stunning, astounding, OHHHH (...)!-inducing rhymes than most MCs ever pen in a lifetime. Just listening to the relentless, incendiary first verses of "8 is Enuff" and "Da Graveyard" is enough to blow you straight off your feet. The numerous collaborators on those tracks are stunning, too, but they're clearly just sweeping up what fragments remain of the mic after L annihilates it.

Accompanying L's absolutely unparallelled talent for rhyme is a penchant for vicious, shock-value lyrics--which is a deadly combination. The faint of heart do NOT want to pick up this album. In fact, even the not-faint of heart should be advised--if you're going to be offended by references to cop-killing, child-killing, mother-killing, GRANDmother-killing, NUN-killing, Satanism, general blasphemy, rape and other violence against women...just click on over to another album. L obviously lived and died under tough, violent circumstances. His music not only reflects it, but magnifies it to the point of satire (one of the sickest things about all this is you'll find yourself LAUGHING at lines like "Every Sunday, a nun lay from my gunspray").

The occasional more thoughtful moment on the album (such as the cautionary "Street Struck") should reassure you that no, L doesn't really mean all these terrible things. Is he posing? I don't know, was Mick Jagger posing when he sang from Satan's perspective in "Sympathy for the Devil?" It's my considered opinion that lyricists, writers, poets, etc. have the right to don whatever guises they wish in their quest to enlighten and entertain--and I certainly don't begrudge Big L that right.

This disc sometimes catches flak for having weak production, but I disagree. The arrangements boast driving drumbeats and basslines to support L's dazzling vocals, while some occasional mellow, jazzy samples round out the tracks with a nice touch of sophistication without crowding L's flow. Anyone expecting huge, flashy arrangements should pick up "The Chronic" or something by Handsome Boy Modeling School--this is production designed purely to support the MC, and in my humble opinion it succeeds.

If you have ever nodded your head in appreciation of a rhyme, buy this disc now...but be careful not to break your neck.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest Rapper of All time, August 28, 2000

By 

"sugglife" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous (Audio CD)

Well, there's too much to say about this album, but I'll try to keep it within a thousand words. L was, and still is, simply the best. He proves it with crazy metaphors like "when it comes to gettin' nookie, I'm not a rookie, I got girls that make that chick Toni Braxton look like Whoopi," and "I told him give up the dough before you get smoked... 'Oh, you broke?' (gunshots)... now you dead broke!" Definitely the most clever MC there ever was, regardless of whether he achieved gold or platinum status. This album in particular is special because of the stellar production from Showbiz, Buckwild, and Lord Finesse(D.I.T.C.- the best crew in hip-hop for those that didn't know) and dope guest spots from Herb McGruff, and the rest of his crew in Harlem. People are just catching on to L's greatness even though this joint came out in '95. It's a shame that L didn't live to see the success of his new joint, but buy this joint and his legacy will live on.... R.I.P Big L 1974-1999.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, January 31, 2002

By 

"peruviannigga" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous (Audio CD)

One of the best debuts i've ever heard, along with Illmatic, Ready to Die, and 36 Chambers.
The beats have an old school feel to them, even though some tracks are dark-sounding (Danger Zone, Street Struck)and others are funky (No Endz No Skinz, MVP), and the lyrics are just perfect; very simplistic, but at the same time extremely clever and most of all very ILL. L proves that you don't have to use big words and rap about the moon and the sun to be underground.
I also noticed how he influenced some of today's rap starts, like Cam'Ron and Jay-Z. A young hova (literally) shows up on Da Graveyard, dropping a decent verse along with some other MC's. Just imagine what L's career would've been like if he was signed to Rocafella, it's just too bad this album didn't seel many copies and L was murdered before he dropped his second effort.
Big L's carrer was cut short if you ask me, and the same happened with 3 other GREAT MC's, you know who they are.
L lives on in the hearts of real hip-hop heads, go cop this album if you don't have it, it's a must.