February 15th marked the 11-year anniversary of Big L’s murder from 9 gunshots in his hometown of Harlem. L never had a hit, or the kind of lasting legacy that comes from rap martyrdom. What he had was skills: battle tested punchlines you don’t come up from, internal rhyme riddles that’d make even Eminem envious, rough and ready for whatever swagger (what the fuck is swag?), a flavor for razor blade reality, menacing metaphors, and the kind of comic relief you see in good slasher flicks -laugh to keep from shitting yourself.

Here’s some select evidence of L’s microphone mastery

“I’m far from broke, got enough bread
And mad hoes, ask Beavis I get nuttin Butt-head”

“I got styles you can’t copy bitch
It’s the triple six in the mix
straight from H-E double hockey sticks”

listen to L make Jay-Z look like a rookie with this line:

“Big L is the nigga you expect
To catch wreck in any cassette deck
I’m so ahead of my time, my parents haven’t met yet”