When the Fat Boys fell out of the picture, Jamaican-born Heavy D. (Dwight Myers) became the reigning champ of heavyweight lighthearted rappers. Based in a northern suburb of New York City, he and a three-man crew made friendly goodtime party records of easy appeal and no great depth. Produced by Teddy Riley, Living Large offers cheerful tributes to sneakers, wealth and “Moneyearnin’ Mount Vernon” (with guest vocals by Al B. Sure!) as well as a couple of rapped/sung romantic numbers and such self-referential tunes as “The Overweight Lover in the House” and “Mr. Big Stuff.”
The more adult Big Tyme swaps the sweats and gold ropes for swanky suits and a toughened-up sound (although “Gyrlz, They Love Me” and a few others hark back to the first LP) that dips into ’70s soul (“You Ain’t Heard Nuttin Yet”), political sampling (“Make It a Better Land”) and dancehall reggae (“Mood for Love”).