Joey Bada$$ is looking to expand his acting résumé with hopes of playing the late Big L in a biopic — and the Harlem rapper’s label is all for it.
During a recent interview with REVOLT, Joey spoke about wanting to portray the fallen rap legend on the big screen, saying it would be an honor to help tell his life story.
“A Hip Hop icon that I would love to play in a biopic would have to be Big L,” he said. “I’ve heard many people in my career tell me how I favor him look-wise. Personally, he’s one of my favorite rappers to come out of the golden age — his story isn’t known well enough, so I would love to bring his story to light and worldwide.”
TMZ later reached out to Brian Shafton — a partner at RBC Records, which owns several of Big L’s masters — who said he thinks Joey would be an excellent fit for the role. He also believes a biopic would be great way to introduce Big L’s legacy to a new generation.
However, the project may run into roadblocks when it comes to licensing L’s songs due to all the samples used in his music. According to Shafton, securing the rights to his entire catalog would be “near impossible.”
Big L (real name Lamont Coleman) was shot and killed on February 15, 1999, in his hometown of Harlem, New York. The 24-year-old MC made a name for himself alongside Cam’ron, Ma$e and others as part of the group Children of the Corn, as well as with the Diggin’ in the Crates Crew alongside Fat Joe, Lord Finesse, Diamond D and more.
He dropped only one studio album in his lifetime with Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous in 1995 — home to hits like “Put It On” and “M.V.P.” — and was close to signing with JAY-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records before he was murdered.
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Joey Bada$$, meanwhile, is proving to be a force in the TV and film space. The Brooklyn native took home an Oscar in 2020 after his short film Two Distant Strangers won the award for Best Short Live Action. He currently stars as Unique in 50 Cent’s Power Book III: Raising Kanan series.
During a recent interview with HipHopDX, the Pro Era MC spoke about starring in Power and how his neighborhood and upbringing helped prepare him for his breakout role.
“I’ve always been around that stuff, but I never took that path because it was right there,” he explained. “I wanted to challenge myself to do other things, and then I had good older cousins and family that pushed me to not do that because they were doing it. It would’ve been easy for me to do it, but they wanted to see better for their little cousin and nephew.”
He continued: “So it was easy to just kind of pull from those experiences that I’ve had or those observations that I made as a kid. Acting, in general, comes pretty instinctively to me, and I find it very similar to music, just in a way where you kind of go somewhere else. Like on that stage, I gotta go into superstar mode. I’m still here but it’s like a superstar hangover, but when I’m home, it’s a different vibe where I’m chill.”
I couldn’t agree more Joey badass would be a excellent fit to play big l Joey badass got big ls swag lyricial style similar to big l big l would of definitely been proud and gave Joey his blessing to play him no question yeah they need to put out big ls story lot of people and young people need to know who big l was and what he meant to hip hop and I don’t give a damn what anyone says his debut album lifestylez of the poor and dangerous was his best work he was so ahead of his time big l was a lyrical genius had the illist wordplay.
RJ Payne would be a better fit
Damn. That would be the perfect person in that role. I hope we get to see it.
I DON’T THINK A BIOPIC IS THE WAY TO GO WITH BIG L. NOT SAYING HE DOESN’T DESERVE IT, BUT A DOCUMENTARY WOULD BE MORE FITTING.
Big L was a good emcee but he never really had any hits and he was around for a minute before he was murdered. A bunch of his stuff got remixed official and unofficial and he got a second life with file sharing. Unless there’s some secret plot twist like he was from the suburbs the whole time, I’m not sure I’d really want to see another depressing rap movie where dude gets shot at the end or it begins with dude getting shot and it’s all a sad flashback.
G Dep would be a more interesting movie since I think he was better than Big L. But he’s not dead just in jail for a long time since he turned himself in for a murder he committed before he signed to Bad Boy. That one album he did was a classic – better than Biggie and Big L. Everyone said the only reason he never blew up large was because he was a legit insane dust head. Turned out he had long term issues driving all of that
Lol gdep foh bro big l was ahead of his time man
Boy shut up. Big L was in a league by himself. G-Dep was ok and I loved G-Dep but does not compare to Big L.
did you hear the G Dep album? Everybody know G Dep the microphone champ. Dude had Rakim and Kook G Rap on the same track floating like goodyear with the gods. Not dissing Big L but he had a whole record deal with Columbia put out an album some singles it’s not like he was an unknown. Listen to that G Dep record close before you speak on it