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ISO basic Latin alphabet
Aa	Bb	Cc	Dd
Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh
Ii	Jj	Kk	Ll
Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp
Qq	Rr	Ss	Tt
Uu	Vv	Ww	Xx
Yy	Zz

L (named el or ell /ˈɛl/)^[1] is the twelfth letter of the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It is used to represent 50 in Roman numerals.

History[link]

Egyptian hieroglyph	Phoenician lamedh	Etruscan L	Greek Lambda

Lamedh may have come from a pictogram of an ox goad or cattle prod. Some have suggested a shepherd's staff.

Pronunciation[link]

In English, L can have several values, depending on whether it occurs before or after a vowel. The alveolar lateral approximant (the sound which the IPA uses the lowercase [l] to represent) occurs before a vowel, as in lip or please, while the velarized alveolar lateral approximant (IPA [ɫ]) occurs in bell and milk. This velarization does not occur in many European languages that use L; it is also a factor making the pronunciation of L difficult for users of languages that either lack, or have different values, for L, such as Japanese or some southern dialects of Chinese.

L can occur before almost any obstruent (stop, fricative, or affricate) in English. Common digraphs include LL, which has a value identical to L in English, but has the separate value voiceless alveolar lateral fricative (IPA /ɬ/) in Welsh, where it can appear in an initial position.

A palatal lateral approximant or palatal L (IPA /ʎ/) occurs in many languages, and is represented by GL in Italian, LL in Spanish and Catalan, LH in Portuguese, and Ļ in Latvian.

In English writing, L is often silent in such words as walk or could (its presence modifies other letters' sounds, e.g. 'wak' might be more likely to be pronounced such that it would rhyme with 'back').

Currency signs[link]

The capital letter L is used as the currency sign for the Albanian lek and the Honduran lempira. It was often used, especially in handwriting, as the currency sign for the Italian lira. It is also infrequently used as a substitute for the pound sign, which is based on it.

Form[link]

In some fonts, the lowercase letter L ⟨l⟩ may be difficult to distinguish from the digit one ⟨1⟩ or an uppercase letter I ⟨I⟩. In recent times, many new fonts have curved the lowercase form to the right and it is increasingly common, especially on European road signs and advertisements. A more stylized version based on the handwritten letterlike ⟨ℓ⟩ is sometimes used in mathematics and elsewhere. Its LaTeX command is \ell, its codepoint is U+2113 and its numeric character reference is "ℓ".

Related letters and other similar characters[link]

• Ł ł : Latin letter L with stroke
• LL Ll ll : Latin digraph Ll
• ℒ ℓ : Script letter L
• £ : pound sign
• ₤ : lira sign
• Λ λ : Greek letter Lambda
• Л л : Cyrillic letter El

Computing codes[link]

¹ and all encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

Other representations[link]

NATO phonetic	Morse code
Lima	·–··

Signal flag	Flag semaphore	Braille

References[link]

External links[link]

• Media related to L at Wikimedia Commons
• The Wiktionary entry for L
• The Wiktionary entry for l
• The Wiktionary entry for ℓ

Eva Simons (Born April 27, 1984) is a Dutch singer-songwriter. She started her music career at 18 when she auditioned for the Dutch "Popstars the Rivals", eventually joining the girl group Raffish before leaving the group to focus on a solo career.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Raised in Amsterdam, Simons grew up in a family of musicians, with a pianist father and vocalist mother. Simons is a classically trained pianist and has been writing compositions since she was a child, getting her first record deal at the age of 13. She is also a graduate from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.^[1]

In 2004, Eva decided to audition for the Dutch "Popstars the Rivals". She became a part of the girl group Raffish, receiving a golden record and several number 1 hits before leaving the group to pursue a solo career.

2009-present: Rise to fame, Silly Boy and Debut Album[link]

In 2009, Eva’s song “Silly Boy” gained popularity on the Internet. The song became one of the most notorious tracks online, generating over 20+ million views. After this success, she signed a worldwide deal at EMI. The song actually started out life as a demo idea for another high profile US female act, and gained much notoriety after Kayne West posted it in his blog, with Eva's vocal, and incorrect credits for the songs performer.

In mid 2010, Eva & Mike Hamilton (also known as the writing team Topline Ink) wrote the song “Take Over Control”. They played the idea to DJ Afrojack, who produced the hit single, which spent 6 weeks on the Billboard Top Dance Airplay Chart, topped iTunes dance charts globally, and gained Platinum status in Australia and certified Gold in the US. The song has become a globally dance crossover anthem, propelling the profiles of both Eva and Afrojack worldwide.

In 2011, as well as touring across the globe, Simons has gone on to sign a major label US deal, and is featured on LMFAO's track "Best Night". In addition to this, Eva has also collaborated with Will.i.am on tracks for his upcoming solo album.

In early March 2012, it was announced that Eva Simons will join LMFAO in the North American "Sorry For Party Rocking" tour.^[2]

On March 20, 2012, Simons premiered her new single, "I Don't Like You", which was released in most countries on March 26 under Interscope Records. The track is produced by Zedd. In March 2012, Eva Simons and RedOne (works with Porcelain Black, Lady GaGa, Jennifer Lopez, and many more) were working together.

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

Album appearances[link]

Music videos[link]

As main artist[link]

As featured artist[link]

Appearances[link]

References[link]

Ken Block
Ken Block in 2008.
Nationality	American
Born	(1967-11-21) 21 November 1967 (age 44) Long Beach, California
2012 Rally America
Debut season	2005
Current team	Monster World Rally Team
Best finish	2nd Overall in Rally America in 2006 and 2008
Awards
2004[1] 2005[1] 2009	• One of the most influential people (#17) in Sports Business Journal • Ad Age's Marketing 50 • One of the Fast 50 in Fast Company Magazine • 40 Under 40 Awards, Sports Business Journal • Rally America's Rookie of the Year • Gymkhana 2 was 2009's #4 most viewed viral video

Ken Block (born November 21, 1967, in Long Beach, California)^[2] is a professional rally driver with the Monster World Rally Team. Block is also one of the co-founders and recently appointed Chief Brand Officer of DC Shoes.^[1] Block has also competed in many action sports events including skateboarding, snowboarding, and motocross.

Rallying[link]

2005[link]

In 2005, Ken Block began his national rallying career with the Vermont SportsCar team.^[3] Vermont SportsCar prepared a 2005 Subaru WRX STi for Block to compete. His first event of the rallying season was Sno*Drift, where he ended up finishing seventh overall and fifth in the Group N class.^[4] During the 2005 season, Block had five top five finishes and placed third overall in the Group N class and fourth overall in the Rally America National Championship.^[3] At the end of his first rallying year, Ken Block had won the Rally America Rookie of the Year award.^[5]

2006[link]

In 2006, Ken Block along with his DC rally teammate Travis Pastrana signed a new sponsorship deal with Subaru.^[3] Through this deal with Subaru, the teammates became known as "Subaru Rally Team USA."^[3] With the new rally season, Block also got a brand new Vermont SportsCar prepped 2006 Subaru WRX STi.^[3] He competed in the first ever X Games rally event at X Games XII.^[3] In the competition, Block ended up finishing third to take the bronze.^[3] He went on to compete in the 2006 Rally America National Championship, where he finished second overall.^[3]

2007[link]

In 2007, Ken Block competed in the X Games XIII rally event, where he placed second overall and won a silver medal.^[5] In the 2007 Rally America National Championship, Block finished third overall.^[5] During this season, Block also entered in a few rounds of the World Rally Championship; Rally Mexico and Rally New Zealand.^[4] In Rally New Zealand, Block recorded two top-five stage times in the Group N class.^[4] At the end of 2007, Block had achieved 19 podiums and 8 overall victories in rally events.^[1]

2008[link]

In 2008, Block was provided with a brand new rally prepped 2008 Subaru WRX STi to compete. Block decided to compete in the Rallye Baie-des Chaleurs of the Canadian Rally Championship to gain some experience with his new 2008 rally car and prepare for the World Rally Championships later this year.^[6] Block gained his first Canadian rally win at the event.^[6] This was only the second event for the new car.^[6] Block and his co-driver were unable to get any championship points at the event due to not having a Canadian competition license.^[6] Block competed in the Rally New York USA competition and finished in first place.^[7] In the X Games XIV rally competition, Block finished tied for third place with Dave Mirra.^[8] This occurrence was due to both competitors having issues with their car. Block, who made it to the semi-finals of the event, had a radiator problem after landing the car awkwardly on a jump. With both bronze place competitors in damaged cars unable to compete, the medals were awarded to both of them.^[8]

Block competed in the 2008 Rally America National championship, which concluded on October 17, 2008. In the event, he finished second overall with a strong victory in the last event. In the Lake Superior Performance Rally stage, Block finished over one minute ahead of his next closest competitor and secured the second overall position.^[9] Next up for Block this rally season is three World Rally Championship events.^[4]

2009[link]

Block appeared in a segment of motoring show Top Gear.^[10]

2010[link]

Ken Block testing Ford Fiesta for the 2010 Rally America season

Block driving a Ford Focus RS WRC at the 2010 Rallye de France

On January 6, 2010 the Monster World Rally Team announced Ken as their driver for selected rounds of the World Rally Championship, in which he will be campaigning the Monster/Ford Racing Focus RS WRC 08. His car will be prepared and run by the North of England based M-Sport, who also prepare the official Ford WRC cars. He will be simultaneously running in his sixth season of the Rally America Championship in an open class Ford Fiesta, as well as his fifth X-games. Ken will also be the first ever American driver to campaign for the World Rally Championship. On February 27, Block won the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood (Rally America) for the 5th consecutive time. This broke the record held by John Buffum.^[11] Ken is currently being trained by former Ford factory driver Markko Märtin. At the Spain rally, he won his first 2 points in World Rally Championship.

2011[link]

On March 23, Block and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino were taken to hospital, having rolled their Ford Fiesta RS WRC during the shakedown stage of the 2011 Rally de Portugal in Faro, Portugal.^[12] A representative of the Monster World Rally team later stated that both men were fine.^[13]

Complete Rally America results[link]

(key)

Complete WRC results[link]

* Season in progress.

PWRC results[link]

Other motorsport activities[link]

On October 15, 2009, it was reported that Block was close to a deal to join the World Rally Championship in a new Ford team. Long time co-driver Alex Gelsomino is also reportedly involved in the deal. Former Subaru WRC driver Chris Atkinson has been reported to be lined up as Block's team-mate in the all-new Monster Energy Drink Ford World Rally Team.^[14]

In 2005, Ken Block along with his DC Shoes associates participated in the Gumball 3000 Rally. For the event they sent out three modified 2004 Subaru WRX STi's sponsored by DC Shoes.^[15][16]

In 2006, Ken Block competed in the One Lap of America competition along with Brian Scotto. They were teamed up in a 2006 Subaru WRX STi and finished forty-fifth overall.^[17]

In 2006, for the Discovery Channel show Stunt Junkies, Ken Block jumped his Subaru WRX STi rally car 171 feet (52 m) and a max height of 25 feet (7.6 m).^[3] The whole episode was dedicated to Ken Block attempting this stunt.

In 2007, Ken Block joined the DC Shoes Snowboarding team at New Zealand's Snow Park.^[3] Block did massive jumps and assisted in snowboarding tricks while driving his rally car on the mountain alongside the snowboarders. The session made the cover of the December 2007 issue of Snowboarder Magazine and closed out the MTN.LAB 1.5 DVD.^[3]

In 2009, for the BBC show Top Gear, Ken took James May out for Gymkhana-style driving at Block's stunt course at Inyokern Airport, an operational California airport, also starring Ricky Carmichael, whom Ken describes as 'a good friend'.

In 2010, for the BBC show Top Gear, Ken took the feature car from the previous episode (a Reliant Robin) for a lap of the Top Gear test track. He rolled the car and was unable to complete a lap but was unhurt.

On January 6, 2010, the announcement is made as Ken joins up with Ford and begins his WRC career driving both a Ford Fiesta and Focus RS WRC.

On August 24, 2010, Block released the first of a three part Gymkhana 3 video release featuring his new Ford Fiesta.^[18]

Ken Block also holds the world record for the world's fastest snow cat, a modified Subaru STI called a Trax STI.^{[citation needed]}

On September 14, 2010, Block's third Gymkhana video, featuring a Ford Fiesta, was released on YouTube.^[19] The video got more than seven million views in its first week.

On August 16, 2011, the fourth Gymkhana video, The Hollywood Megamercial was released on YouTube, featuring Block driving around the Universal Studios backlot.^[20]

Involvement In Colin McRae: Dirt 2 and Dirt 3[link]

Ken Block is featured as a driver in Codemasters Colin McRae: Dirt 2, along with his Subaru Rally Team USA Impreza.
In Dirt 3 he is seen as a driver and Gymkhana teacher, his Monster World Rally Team vehicles are available in the game.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ken Block

• Ken Block's Official site
• Monster World Rally Team
• Rally Results and News
• Subaru Rally Team USA
• Rally America Website
• Ken Block Official Merchandise Store
• Ken Block Interview
• Gymkhana racing improved by Ken Block, Video, ~4min
• dirt2game.com

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).

Four posthumous albums have been released, mainly consisting of unreleased songs which were put together by Rich King and his brother, Donald. Multiple tributes have been given 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 twenty-third best MC of all time, and multiple writers at Allmusic have given him high praise.

Early life[link]

Born Lamont Coleman in Harlem, New York on May 30, 1974,^[1] he was the third and youngest child of Gilda Terry (d. 2008^[2]) and Charles Davis.^[3] His father left the family while Coleman was a child.^[4] He has two siblings, Donald and Leroy Phinazee (d.^[2]), who were the children of Gilda Terry and Mr. Phinazee.^[3] Coleman received the nicknames "Little L" and "'mont 'mont" as a child.^[5][6] At the age of 12, Coleman became a big hip hop fan and started freestyling against his own neighborhood.^[3][6] He founded a group called Three the Hard Way in 1990, but was quickly broken up due to a lack of enthusiasm.^[7] It consisted of Coleman, a "Doc Reem", and a "Rodney".^[8] No studio albums were released, and after Rodney left, the group was called Two Hard Motherfuckers.^[8] Around this time, people started to call him "Big L".^[3] In the summer of 1990, Coleman met Lord Finesse at an autograph session in a record shop on 125th Street.^[9][10] After he did a freestyle, Finesse and Coleman exchanged numbers.^[10]

Coleman attended Julia Richman High School.^[3] 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."^[11] He graduated in 1992.^[3]

Professional career[link]

1991–1994: The beginnings[link]

Coleman began rhyming in 1990.^[12] In 1991, he founded the Harlem rap group Children of the Corn (COC) with Killa Cam, Murda Mase, and Bloodshed.^[7][13] On February 11, Coleman appeared on Yo! MTV Raps with Lord Finesse to help promote Finesse's studio album Return of the Funky Man.^[14] Coleman's first professional appearance came on "Yes You May (Remix)", the B-side of "Party Over Here" (1992) by Lord Finesse,^[13] and his first album appearance was on "Represent" off of Showbiz & A.G.'s Runaway Slave (1992).^[9] In that same year, he won an amateur freestyle battle, which consisted of about 2,000 contestants and held by Nubian Productions.^[15] In 1993, Coleman signed to Columbia Records.^[7] Around this time, L joined Lord Finesse's Bronx-based hip hop collective Diggin' in the Crates Crew (DITC) which consisted of Lord Finesse, Diamond D, O.C., Fat Joe, Buckwild, Showbiz, and A.G.

Sometime in 1993, Coleman released his first promotional single, "Devil's Son", and claimed it was the first horrorcore single released.^[9] He said he wrote the song because "I've always been a fan of horror flicks. Plus the things I see in Harlem are very scary. So I just put it all together in a rhyme."^[9] On February 18, 1993, Coleman performed live at the Uptown Lord Finesse Birthday Bash at the 2,000 Club, which included other performances from Fat Joe, Nas, and Diamond D.^[3] In 1994, he released his second promotional single "Clinic". On July 11, 1994, Coleman released the radio edit of "Put It On", and three months later the video was released.^[3] In 1995, the video for the single "No Endz, No Skinz" debuted, which was directed by Brian Luvar.^[16]

[edit] 1995–1999: Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous

His debut solo album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, was released in March 1995. The album debuted at number 149 on the Billboard 200^[17] and number 22 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.^[18] Lifestylez would go on to sell over 200,000 copies as of 2000.^[19] Three singles were released from the album; the first two, "Put It On" and "M.V.P.", reached the top twenty-five of Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks and the third "No Endz, No Skinz" did not chart.^[20][21] Even though the album received a three-star rating from Allmusic, it was an AMG Album Pick.^[22]

Sometime in 1996, Coleman was dropped from Columbia mainly because of the dispute between Coleman's rapping style and the production from Columbia.^[23] He stated "I was there with a bunch of strangers that didn't really know my music."^[24] In 1997, he started working on his second studio album, The Big Picture.^[25] COC folded when Bloodshed died in a car accident in April 1996.^[26] DITC appeared in a July issue On The Go Magazine.^[3] Coleman appeared on O.C.'s single "Dangerous" for O.C.'s second album Jewelz.^[27] In November, he was the opening act for O.C.'s European Jewlez Tour.^[3] Sometime in 1998, Coleman formed his own independent label, Flamboyant Entertainment.^[28] According to the The Village Voice, it was "planned to distribute the kind of hip-hop that sold without top 40 samples or r&b hooks."^[29] He released the single "Ebonics" in 1998.^[30] The song was based on ebonics, and The Source called it on of the top five independent singles of the year.^[10] DITC released their first single, "Dignified Soldiers", that year.^[1]

Coleman caught the eye of Damon Dash, the CEO of Roc-A-Fella Records, after the release of "Ebonics". Dash wanted to sign Lamont to Roc-A-Fella, but Coleman wanted his crew to sign^[31][32] On February 8, 1999, Coleman, Herb McGruff, C-Town, and Jay-Z started the process to sign with Roc-A-Fella Records as a group called "The Wolfpack".^[3][33]

Death[link]

In a 2010 interview with Donald Phinazee, he commented on what led up to the death of Lamont Coleman

There was something that went down with a dude out here with my middle brother, "Big Lee", and, uh, Lee went upstate for five years. [...] It was a little problem like I just said, "divide and conqueror" between the fellas and, uh, Lee went upstate, then I went upstate, and then [Lee] sent word to do something [to someone]. He sent word to somebody else to do something, but Lamont went with him, which he shouldn't have. [...] It didn't go down the way it should have and they seen Lamont face. So, uh, both of us is gone, and [Lamont] was out here by himself. And so you can't get one brother, you get the other one. That's it in a nutshell.

—Donald Phinazee, ^[31]

Coleman was killed in the doorway of 45 West 139th Street in Harlem on February 15, 1999 after being shot nine times in the face and chest.^[34][35][36] Gerard Woodley, one of Coleman's childhood friends, was arrested in May for the crime.^[37] At the time of his death, Coleman had two brothers in prison. "It's a good possibility it was retaliation for something [Big L's] brother did, or [Woodley] believed he had done," said a spokesperson for the NYPD.^[38] Woodley was later released, and the murder case remains unsolved.^[39]

Posthumous career[link]

The tracks "Get Yours", "Way of Life", and "Shyheim's Manchild" b/w "Furious Anger" were released as singles in 1999 for DITC's self-titled album (2000) on Tommy Boy Records.^[3][40] The album peaked at number 31 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 141 on the Billboard 200.^[41] Coleman's first posthumous single was "Flamboyant" b/w "On The Mic", which was released on May 30, 2000.^[42] The single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs^[43] and topped the Hot Rap Tracks,^[21] making it Coleman's first and only number-one single.

Coleman's second studio album, The Big Picture, was released in August 1, 2000 and featured Fat Joe, Guru of Gang Starr, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane among others. The Big Picture was put together by his manager and partner in Flamboyant Entertainment, Rich King. It contains songs that he had recorded and a cappella recordings that were never used, completed by producers and guest emceess that Coleman respected or had worked with previously.^[3] The Big Picture debuted at number thirteen on the Billboard 200, number two on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and sold 72,549 copies.^[19] The album was certified gold a month later for shipments of 500,000 copies by the RIAA.^[44] The Big Picture was the only music by Big L to appear on a music chart outside of the United States, peaking at number 122 on the UK Albums Chart.^[45]

A compilation album containing COC songs entitled Children of the Corn: The Collector's Edition was released in 2003. The next posthumous album released was 139 & Lenox, which was released on August 31, 2010.^[46] It contained previously unreleased and rare tracks.^[46] It was released by Rich King on Flamboyant Entertainment.^[47] The next album to follow was Return of the Devil's Son (2010), which peaked at number 73 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.^[48] Coleman's next release was The Danger Zone (2011),^[49] and an upcoming album called L Corleone is planned to release February 14, 2012.^[50]

Legacy[link]

Henry Adaso, a music journalist for About.com, called him the twenty-third best MC of 1987 to 2007, claiming "[he was] one of the most auspicious storytellers in hip hop history."^[51] HipHop DX called Coleman "the most underrated lyricist".^[7]

Many tributes have been given to Coleman. The first was by Lord Finesse and the other members of DITC on March 6, 1999 at the Tramps.^[3] The Source has done multiple tributes to him: first in July 2000^[52] followed by March 2002.^[53] XXL did a tribute to Fat Joe and Lamont in March 2003.^[54] On February 16, 2005, at SOB's restaurant and nightclub in Manhattan, held a commemoration for him.^[55] It included special guests such as DITC, Herb McGruff, and Kid Capri.^[55] All the money earned went to his estate.^[55]

Style[link]

	"Ebonics" noicon In "Ebonics", one of Coleman's best-known tracks, he raps about the slang used in Harlem while he was growing up.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Coleman is often credited in helping to create the horrorcore genre of hip hop due to his 1992 song "Devil's Son."^[9] However, not all his songs fall into this genre, for example, in the song "Street Struck" Coleman discusses the difficulties of growing up in the ghetto and describes the consequences of living a life of crime.^[56] Idris Goodwin of The Boston Globe said, "[Big L had an] impressive command of the English language", and the best example was Coleman's song "Ebonics".^[57]

He was notable for using a rap style called "compounding".^[58] He also used one-liners: an example is in the song "'98 Freestyle" from The Big Picture where he raps "If my girl think I'm loyal, then that bitch is a fool."^[59] Coleman also used metaphors in his rhymes.^[22] M.F. DiBella of Allmusic stated Coleman was "a master of the lyrical stickup undressing his competition with kinetic metaphors and a brash comedic repertoire".^[22] On the review of The Big Picture, she adds "the Harlem MC as a master of the punch line and a vicious storyteller with a razor blade-under-the-tongue flow."^[23] Trent Fitzgerald of Allmusic said "a lyrically ferocious MC with raps deadlier than a snakebite and mannerisms cooler than the uptown pimp he claimed to be on records."^[60]

Documentary[link]

A movie title Street Struck: The Big L Story is set to be released in 2012. It is directed by a childhood friend and independent film director, Jewlz.^[15] Approximately nine hours of footage was brought in, and the film is planned to be 90 to 120 minutes long.^[31] The first trailer was released on August 29, 2009.^[15] Street Struck contains interviews from his mother Gilda Terry; his brother Donald; childhood friends E-Cash, D.O.C., McGruff, and Stan Spit; artists Mysonne and Doug E. Fresh; producers Showbiz and Premiere; and recording DJs Cipha Sounds and Paul Rosenberg.^[15] A soundtrack will be made for the documentary, and it will be put together by Lamont's brother Donald.^[31]

Discography[link]

Studio

• Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous (1995)
• The Big Picture (2000)

Posthumous

• 139 & Lenox (2010)
• Return of the Devil's Son (2010)
• The Danger Zone (2011)
• L Corleone (2012)

See also[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Big L

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Hess, Mickey (2010). Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide: Volume 1: East Coast and West Coast. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-34323-0. 
• Jasper, Kenji (July 6, 1999). "Of Mics and Men in Harlem". The Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-07-06/news/of-mics-and-men-in-harlem/. Retrieved February 6, 2012. 

External links[link]

• Official website
• Big L at Allmusic
• Big L at MTV
• Big L discography at Discogs
• Big L at Find a Grave

Florence Rey (born August 25, 1975) was involved in a shoot-out in central Paris on 4 October 1994 alongside her boyfriend Audry Maupin, (born 4 October 1972) following a high speed car chase. The incident caused the deaths of five people — three policemen, a taxi driver, and Maupin.

Background[link]

Florence Rey was a 19 year old student studying philosophy at the Science-Po and Audry Maupin was a 22 year old drop-out from the faculty of medicine at Nanterre. At the time of the incident they were living together in a squat in an abandoned bourgeoise house in Nanterre. The pair were already under observation by the Renseignements Généraux, the French secret police, prior to the incident due to their involvement with an underground political group. When the police searched their squat after the killings they found revolutionary and anarchist literature, such as The Society Of The Spectacle by Guy Debord. They found the couple's writings, which echoed surrealism, radicalism and situationism.

4 October 1994[link]

The incident began at 9.25pm, at the Porte de Pantin car pound. The pair climbed the perimeter fence with the intention of stealing the service firearms of the two policemen on night duty inside and neutralizing them with their own handcuffs. They discovered that the two officers did not carry handcuffs so they sprayed them with tear gas before making their escape. Outside they boarded a taxi waiting at a red light driven by an African chauffeur from Guinée named Amadou Dialoo. A passenger, Georges Monnier, was already on board and they threatened them with their arms, ordering the chauffeur to drive to the place de la République.

Normally the incident would have stopped there but ten minutes after hijacking the taxi, on arriving at the place de la République, Dialoo noticed a police patrol car with three officers returning to their base in the 11th arrondissement after finishing their duty. Dialoo panicked and rammed the patrol car at full speed, badly injuring one of the officers, Regis D. The two other officers jumped out and Rey and Maupin opened fire, killing the two officers, Laurent Gerard and Thierry Memard. During the gunfight Maupin shot Dialoo but Monnier had escaped from the taxi and was lying on the ground.

The couple then hijacked a Renault super cinq driven by Jacky Bensimon and ordered him to drive to the Bois de Vincennes. A chase began and Maupin fired through the rear window of the Renault killing a motorcycle patrolman, Guy Jacob. On arrival at Vincennes there was a road block so Maupin ordered Bensimon not to stop or he would kill him. 100 metres before the road block Bensimon pulled the hand brake which caused the car to spin three times. Bensimon was thrown out which probably saved his life. The police opened fire on the Renault, fatally wounding Maupin who died at 10pm the following evening at the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital. Before being arrested Florence Rey kissed Maupin without showing any emotion then refused to discuss the incident throughout her interrogation.

Aftermath[link]

She was held in preventive detention at the Maison d'Arrêt des Femmes at Fleury Merogis waiting trial where she was occupied with reading and took part in amateur theatricals. She never discussed the incident with anyone, including her lawyers. Her trial began on the 17 September 1998, at the assise court in the Palais de Justice, Paris. She was defended by two lawyers, Maître Olivia Cligman and Maître Henri Leclerc. Throughout her trial she continued to show no emotion and Maître Cligman even rebuked her in court for her indifference. Ten witnesses were called but they all gave different versions of the event. The decision as to if she was a murderer or an accomplice rested on ballistic evidence which proved that Maupin fired all of the fatal shots.

On the 30 September 1998, the advocate general asked the court to sentence Florence to 30 years. After her lawyers had delivered their plea she was given the final opportunity to speak but she chose to remain silent. After five hours of deliberation the jury found her guilty as an accomplice and she was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. She served her sentence in the Maison d'Arrêt des Femmes in Rennes. She became somewhat of a heroine amongst disaffected Parisian youth, for example where the writer Patrick Besson wrote Sonnet pour Florence Rey, and the band The Kills wrote a song dedicated to her. But unlike other notorious criminals who have earned money with their memoires, she still remains silent and refuses the interviews.

After benefiting from a remission of sentence Florence Rey was discreetly liberated on the 3 May 2009. During her incarceration she had received frequent visits from her mother and studied history and geography. She had also worked as a waitress in the prison refectory.

References[link]

• Andrew Hussey, The Game Of War: The Life And Death Of Guy Debord (2001)
• Shootout, Documentary (2002)