unfortunately most cats who listen to rap, don't listen to lyrics anymore, they want catchy flows that aint sayin shit, intellectual hip hop makes people feel stupid, because they are....i always listen to lyrics and yea Big L is sick, 2pac is given way too much credit i think, biggie was sick but same as pac, they became "Legends" after they died, they both had good messages but i wouldn't say they were my inspiration, the first album i bought myself was warren G regulate....then started picking up bone thugs, then i picked up pac and biggie, the problem with rap...is it's rap...not hip hop, hip hop was telling stories, talking bout real shit, even pac and biggie talked about expensive liquor, and cars, and bitches all that shit that's so overplayed these days, pac was not the originator of story telling though he did have a strong grip on it, listen to real old skool tracks, listen to Nate dogg before he sang hooks, listen to cannabis and Wu, Lost boyz, Dead Prez...the list goes on and on, there are so many dope emcees, and the richest and/or dead ones are the first people give credit to for "starting this shit" don't follow the hype.
that said R.I.P. Big L, B.I.G., Pac, Freaky Tah, Easy E, Jam Master J, Big Pun
