Big Lou - I Learned (The Rebirth Mixtape)

How can a single digit exit on a major highway heading towards the southern states translate into a phenomena unseen since the untimely death of The NotoriousB.I.G?

In 2007 two distinct towns separated by an invisible border made shocking headlines. Moorestown NJ was named one of the best places in the United states to live and raise a family. It's neighbor Camden, NJ was ranked in the top 5 most dangerous places in America for the 10th year in a row. Incredibly both destinations are strangely off exit 4 on Interstate 95.

The irony? In 2007 a young man from the 8 square miles that makes up the city of Camden emerged onto the rap scene out of nowhere. The rare combination of Big Lou's lyricism and ability to create radio friendly tracks may just be more unbelievable in rap music today than having two places with such an extreme social gap share the same exit. Big Lou represents everything that the true hip hop fan has been craving since the genre's demise due to the short lives of commercial radio lyricists like Biggie, Tupac Shakur and Big Pun. Sure there are successful artist that continue to fill the airwaves. But the connection with the fans continues to decline due to lack of content, creative word play, and strong metaphorical punchlines, that can effectively make the dancer dance, and the listener listen.

Big Lou is exit 4. A rare artist in a strange lonely place that is the fork road of hip hop. A special artist that one day hopes to convert that road into a bridge that will re-connect his genre the ways that the legends of the past did.