(Photo: PA Photos /Landov)

By Dan Reagans

“You know dead rappers get better promotion” – Jadakiss,  ”We Gon’ Make It”

I love music. On the eve of music’s biggest night (the Grammy Awards) the world lost one of its brightest icons, Queen of Pop Whitney Houston. While the initial shock still lingers but slowly subsides each day, I took time to reflect on her uncanny legacy, and revisit her enormous catalog of hits.

As I pondered on a music-based topic to Sound Off about I came across the latest posthumous album of the late Lamont “Big L” Coleman, L Corleone. Released this Valentine’s Day in anticipation of the 13th anniversary of the fallen MC’s passing. Big L was murdered in the streets of Harlem on February 15, 1999. While Big L recorded a large body of work, he only released one studio album — Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous (1995). Since his untimely demise there have been five posthumous releases composed of  unreleased songs and freestyles.

While I just may be the biggest Big L fan, and will forever support any of the respective movements from my fellow Harlemites, L Corleone and other previous posthumous efforts are not up to the same standards displayed on his debut album. Although he isn’t the first artist to have unreleased and dated material added onto his discography (i.e. : Tupac, Big Pun, Notorious BIG, Amy Winehouse, and others) this latest effort should serve as a filter of exploitation…or lack thereof.

As of late, it appears as if the desire to remain relevant has become greater than the fear of tarnishing a legacy. Great music is timeless and shouldn’t be force fed to younger generations. There are more creative and innovative ways to reintroduce past artists who inspired us to the younger masses. Diddy showed us in the ’90s with his much celebrated “sampling era” and Jay-Z pays homage by incorporating a Biggie line in numerous songs to “big up” his brother.

Releasing discarded or subpar material just for the sake of relevance or anniversaries is not the way to commemorate one’s legacy. Diddy even set aside his “we won’t stop” moniker and closed the book on Big’s catalog after releasing the last of two posthumous albums, The Duets: the Final Chapter.

While we can surely expect a Whitney Houston greatest-hits album in the near future one can only hope that it captures the icon at her peak as opposed to a compilation of never-meant-to-be-released music.

It’s not far-fetched to think that most artists would want to be remembered at a time when they were on top of their games, but we need to find more ways to reintroduce them in that same manner of creativity that we first fell in love with without diluting their voice, message and legacy. We can never recreate the magic and charisma they once possessed, but we dare not present them to this new generation in a less than bright light they once commanded.

Artists are authors in their own right and should have a say in how they are presented to the world.

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