Lamont Coleman (May 30, 1974 -- February 15, 1999), better known by his stage name Big L, was an American rapper. Coleman was born and raised in Harlem, New York, where he started his rap career with Three the Hard Way. He founded the group Children of the Corn and was a member of the Diggin' in the Crates Crew before pursuing a solo career. His first professional appearance came on Lord Finesse's "Yes You May (Remix)". He released his debut album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous in 1995, and significantly contributed to the underground hip hop scene. He created his own independent label, Flamboyant Entertainment, in 1998 where he released one of his best known singles "Ebonics" (1998).

On February 15, 1999, Coleman was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in his hometown of Harlem. Suspects, including the main suspect Gerald Woodley, were brought in for questioning, but no one was found guilty. His second studio album, The Big Picture was put together by Coleman's manager, Rich King. It was released the following year and certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Since his death, three posthumous albums have released, mainly consisting of unreleased songs which were put together by Rich King and his brother, Donald. Multiple tributes have been giving to Coleman, including in The Source, MTV, and HipHop DX. A documentary is in the works titled Street Struck: The Big L Story (2012). About.com called him the seventeenth best MC of all time, and multiple writers at Allmusic have given him high praise.
Born Lamont Coleman in Harlem, New York,[2] he was the third and youngest child of Gilda Terry (d. 2008[3]) and Charles Davis.[4] He has two siblings, Donald and Leroy Phinazee (d. 2002[3]), who were the children of Gilda Terry and Mr. Phinazee.[4] Coleman received the nicknames "Little L" and "'mont 'mont" as a child.[4][5] At six years old, he became a big fan of horror movies and films such as The Godfather.[4] At the age of 12, Coleman became a big hip hop fan and started freestyling against his own neighborhood.[4][5] He founded a group called Three the Hard Way in 1990, but was quickly broken up due to a lack of enthusiasm.[6] It consisted of Coleman, a "Doc Reem", and a "Rodney".[7] No studio albums were released, and after Rodney left, the group was called Two Hard Motherfuckers.[7] Around this time, people started to call him "Big L".[4] In the summer of 1990, Coleman met Lord Finesse at an autograph session in a record shop on 125th Street.[8][9] After he did a freestyle, Finesse and Coleman exchanged numbers.[9]

Coleman attended Julia Richman High School.[4] While in high school, Coleman freestyle battled in his hometown; in his last interview, he stated, "in the beginning, all I ever saw me doing was battling everybody on the street corners, rhyming in the hallways, beating on the wall, rhyming to my friends. Every now and then, a house party, grab the mic, a block party, grab the mic."[10] He graduated in 1992