Tag: LL Cool J

audio review : Bad [ Bigger And Deffer ] ( album ) … LL Cool J

audio review : Bigger And Deffer ( album ) ... LL Cool J

There’s no rapper Bigger And Deffer than LL Cool J on the grandiloquent title song. It starts the album with such a bang that the following “love” ode (Kandy) comes across as rather anticlimactic, especially considering the fact that J and his boys are Bad at hooks. The best songs are the ones without one; namely The Breakthrough, The Do Wop and My Rhyme Ain’t Done. I Need Love is another standout.

my rating : 3 of 5

1987

audio review : 14 Shots To The Dome ( album ) … LL Cool J

audio review : 14 Shots To The Dome ( album ) ... LL Cool J

This LL Cool J album begins like his previous one should’ve. How I’m Comin, a Marley Marl production seemingly created and released as the first single to recapture the commercial success of Mama Said Knock You Out, is an appropriate starter. Crossroads, about Biblical Revelation, is a fitting closer.

There’s only one good song in-between; a lament entitled Diggy Down on which Cool J covers societal problems such as poverty and crime. “In every alleyway, they’re getting high,” the occasional philanthropist observes, “On playgrounds, they’re selling crack and every day another baby dies.”

my rating : 3 of 5

1993

audio review : Mama Said Knock You Out ( album ) … LL Cool J

audio review : Mama Said Knock You Out ( album ) ... LL Cool J

“Don’t call it a comeback; I been here for years,” LL Cool J warns, “I’m rocking my peers, putting suckers in fear.” Why the battle rapper’s suddenly being coached by Marley Marl; the producer provides the music for every song here; as if he’s a member of The Juice Crew is anyone’s guess. They’re a good match though.

The album starting with a random jam about cars Boomin loud music instead of the go-hard title track comes across as an artistic blunder, though they’re two of its better cuts. Other highlights include Cheesy Rat Blues; a funny anecdote about going broke; along with the Ladies Love songs 6 Minutes Of Pleasure and Mr Good Bar.

my rating : 3 of 5

1990

audio review : My Rhyme Ain’t Done ( song ) … LL Cool J

One good thing about music, especially lyrical music like rap, is that it allows you to escape from reality. LL Cool J does just that via a series of fanciful story Rhymes that start with God raising Michelangelo from the “dead”, at the request of the pope, in order to make a painting of the rapper’s “head”. By the time he’s in his TV, meeting The Honeymooners, you’re lost in the groove of the beat.

my rating : 4 of 5

1987

audio review : Bad [ Bigger And Deffer ] ( album ) ... LL Cool J