Every time LL Cool J gets nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and doesn't get in (the last 2 years and 5 times overall), I think that I should really get together his deep album cuts playlist. I was kind of disappointed that he didn't become the first solo rapper inducted -- 2Pac was a good choice too, but LL came first. And really, over the years I've become more defensive about LL's legacy, which has declined for modern day rap fans even more than Pac's. He was the only rapper who went platinum in 1985 and 1995, the first guy to have a decade-long run as one of rap's biggest stars, the guy who actually popularized the term G.O.A.T., and he's increasingly left out of 'greatest of all time' discussions. I'm gonna have to do it to these meatballs.

LL Cool J deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Dangerous
2. I Want You
3. You Can't Dance
4. Get Down
5. Kanday
6. The Breakthrough
7. Nitro
8. Jack The Ripper
9. Cheesy Rat Blues
10. Mudergram
11. Illegal Search
12. Mr. Good Bar
13. Ain't No Stoppin' This
14. Get The Drop On Em
15. Life As...
16. Starsky & Hutch featuring Busta Rhymes
17. Queens Is featuring Prodigy
18. Niggy Nuts
19. Feel The Beat

Tracks 1, 2 and 3 from Radio (1985)
Tracks 4, 5 and 6 from Bigger And Deffer (1987)
Tracks 7 and 8 from Walking With A Panther (1989)
Tracks 9, 10, 11 and 12 from Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)
Track 13 from the 14 Shots To The Dome (1993)
Tracks 14 and 15 from Mr. Smith (1995)
Track 16 from Phenomenon (1997)
Track 17 from G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) (2000)
Track 18 from 10 (2002)
Track 19 from The DEFinition (2004)

Big Elly has made 3 albums since the one with "Headsprung," but I decided to just leave it off there for more room for earlier records. It was fun to line this stuff up chronologically and hear the progression from skeletal Rick Rubin beats to DJ Pooh to Marley Marl to Easy Mo Bee to the Trackmasters to Havoc to the Neptunes to Timbaland. For 20 years he had his pick of the best producers and made great use of it. What surprised me is how suddenly his voice changes from the more aggressive delivery of the early '90s to the suddenly more relaxed flow of Mr. Smith that he'd previewed on the "Flava In Ya Ear" remix.

One thing I thought was interesting was that even though Bigger And Deffer has the legacy of "I Need Love" being the first big rap ballad, the first album had "I Want You," which is lyrically and vocally pretty much the same deal but with a less melodic beat. I was actually surprised to learn that "Kanday" was never a charting single, that's one of the early LL songs I always hear in DJ sets of '80s hip hop. And I heard a lot of LL's fingerprints on subsequent generations of rap in even his deep cuts. "Illegal Search" was quoted on singles by Ma$e and Kanye, "Kanday" was quoted on a Nelly hit, and "Cheesy Rat Blues" provided Run The Jewels with the inspiration to name their group.

Out of the 7 albums LL Cool J released in his first decade, only 2 missed platinum status, and both were kind of fiascos. Walking With A Panther had some enduring singles but it definitely suffers from the late '80s phenomenon of artists who'd had to fit an album on vinyl to now having the space of a full CD. He went from 45-minute LPs to a 76-minute CD, maybe the first truly bloated major label rap album. And the craziest thing is the cassette version was even longer, but the best song on the whole record, the Kool Moe Dee diss "Jack The Ripper," was the cassette-only track. But you could easily trim Panther down to a good record, there are a couple of great Bomb Squad productions, and the really poorly produced tracks like "You're My Heart" and "Two Different Worlds" are really easy to find and cut out. It's also funny to hear him say "be on the lookout, LL made a comeback" on the album before the record where he famously proclaimed "don't call it a comeback." 14 Shots To The Dome was more of a proper flop than Panther, but I think the title is more embarrassing than the songs, which feel like they're gamely but pointlessly trying to play catch-up with the Onyx era of tough guy rap.

Obviously, if people think LL Cool J is corny or boring now, that has a lot to do with his later R&B-driven hits and his career acting and hosting TV broadcasts. But it's a shame if he's just remembered as a former teen idol heartthrob, because he was a really interesting MC with a big vocabulary and a weird sense of humor from the very beginning. And even in the mid period when his singles got more formulaic, it's fun to hear him on the albums cutting loose with Busta Rhymes or getting on a Havoc beat with Prodigy. Mama Said Knock You Out deserves its spot as his most revered album but I think it should be mentioned more often as one of the best rap records of the '90s, this week I was especially struck by how well he wrote about discriminatory policing on "Illegal Search."

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 11:36 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.