LL Cool J - Classic or Dud?

Best moment = 12" versh of "Rock the Bells". It's such a slamming relentless track. It's the perfection of braggadocio style. Sounds like the whole thing was recorded without a pause. He seems to be audibly running out of breath towards the end. Also, the way he growls at the end of each segment. just like Chuck Berry (sampled on "go cut creator go"!) on "Too Much Monkey Business".

I just bought a used copy of Walkin' With A Panther the other day because I wanted to hear it again ... and it was the frickin' censored version. Now I gotta take the thing back. Still, great record.

Why did he start out "Mama Said Knock You Out" w/ the line "don't call it a comeback"? 'Cause Walkin' With A Panther had hits!

Classic, BTW, J.Lo missteps notwithstanding. "Doin' It" is one of the best singles of the 90s.

"Listen to the way I SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAY your crew."

classic now dud (although the track he did about booty (i think it was with ludacris????? was pretty cool) so i guess he is classic with the occasional daliance in to dud

(Jess, one hot song does not a career revival make)

the art teacher in my high school wz ll cool j's cousin.

"It's LL and Santana"

"eenie meanie minie mo, which muthafucka's the next to go?"

LL has been corny as hell for years.

LL knocked him the fuck out like six years ago

LL hasn't knocked *anyone* the fuck out since like '91

i love LL though.. he's a pip.

does he still have that skinny moustache? that freaked me out for real.

so true

classic for facing down fox news' bizzare use of an old interview. wtf to fox's snippy put-down of a response (we "wish him the best with his fledgling acting career")

fledgling since the movie Toys, yeah.

stay classy, fox news network.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TqQ0rLY-Qo

don't sleep on LL in Maine. might change your life...

awesome

is he playing a school dance??

I have a house in Brooklyn, I live in Queens...

is there such a thing as "live in Maine"?

history maine

this is fantastic.

"memorieeeees..." bahahaha this video is the best.

This is rap's Gimme Shelter, Stop Making Sense, and Last Waltz rolled into one half-hour masterpiece

what I am taking away from the first three tracks on Authentic is that LL is way more interested in collaborating with people than he is in making a cohesive album

you say that as if that's at all unique for the past 15 years of hip hop

not at all unique, just... this is so LAZY

is there a gear below autopilot?

authenticpilot

my entire hip-hop existence is defined by giving older dudes a massive pass and I've been pro-LL through "Headsprung" so the degree to which this whole thing is just a bland belly flop is legitimately upsetting

okay bland is maybe not the best word to describe "We're The Greatest", lol

LL, and increasingly Jay-Z, are kind of in a category to me of artists who've already had such unprecedented longevity that at this point anything good they do is just a bonus round and anything that sucks is like, well, they had a good run.

"my entire hip-hop existence is defined by giving older dudes a massive pass"

"my entire _____ existence is defined by giving older dudes a massive _____"

I am pretty sure that YouTube was invented so that one day it would be able to play this video. My friend who brought it to my attention explained it thusly:

"A German dude, who sounds like Falco, his mom driving a car and chiming in on the chorus with his dad in the back seat with an accordion and covering the scratches."

Absolutely brilliant. And when they finish the song, keep listening because German dude's outro is equally brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-VM5wqzhWY

G.O.A.T, this one.

Damn

LL Cool J feat. Rick Ross & Fat Joe

Produced by Q-Tip

“Saturday Night Special” 🔥🔥🔥
pic.twitter.com/wcIxh9bNrd

— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) June 14, 2024

I love that beat

I like to introduce myself to strangers at parties as,

The ladies love
Legend in leather
Long and lean
And I don't wear pleather

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7om2fIAdd0c

another new song. love this...Q-Tip's production on both these songs is bonkers, what a cool decision it was to have him produce the whole thing.

love it

Sounds great!

goddamn q tip is killing it, classic LL perv mode too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_oMmmp7PYg

the outro is so cool

damn that's nice. i grew up with a poster of LL on my wall. who knew he'd be exactly what i needed in my mid-40s

the Gary Numan sample sounds so good

haha I was thinking that sounded like Gary Numan! what a jam

Album signing at Rough Trade in NYC, noon next Friday. I may go to this (or let a co-worker go in my place, depending on how the day goes). More importantly, hope the album as a whole turns out to be a surprise - I always wished he did another one that lived up to his best, and I never would've expected a Q-Tip collaboration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/31/arts/music/ll-cool-j-the-force.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HE4.isED.cewQdBKJQCRZ&smid=url-share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8PhpifGSo

The only thing I’ve read about this album so far that’s even slightly tempered my excitement is the fact that Eminem is on one track. But otherwise I can’t wait to hear it.

Since I’m on my phone I didn’t know that was the track you posted, ha ha. I just saw the url, no thumbnail.

Loving Proclivities. This thing feels dense

Eminem song is good

xps hah, no worries! I've got mixed feelings about Eminem, but some Eminem fans I know really like that track. I kind of like hearing the two together because it highlights their individual strengths, and Eminem claims LL Cool J was a big influence so it could be useful to hear closely with that in mind.

LL also kills it on this song

Really good Whiney interview with LL!

Nice

Really good Whiney interview with LL!

One of my favorite random moments on Conan happened when LL was promoting a movie (forgot which) and he said something like "I mean it, this is a good movie. I'm not just saying that like I've done in the past. I've lied to the people Conan...but not anymore. Rollerball SUCKED!"

Thanks, unperson

Kinda wish LL and Eminem would team up for a whole record. Would keep LL rapping and touring and would give Em the new creative direction he desperately needs.

this is good!

Yeah the whole album is great

It's fantastic

Just read the interview, congrats Whiney

Also that is the best commentary I’ve seen on “Accidental Racist”

I'm in genuine shock. Some of Q's beats and sounds outdo what he did on the last Tribe album.

Yo this is GREAT

It's sounding amazing yeah

Listened to it yesterday and was blown away and am diving in again now. Q-Tip made him a billy woods-level art rap album and he's absolutely risen to the challenge.

Don't call it a comeback!

LL and Busta Rhymes rapping over Can's "Halleluwah" on "Huey in the Chair"!

He'll, Eminem is tolerable

*hell

Yeah my first thought with that Can sample was I actually can't believe it's taken all this time. Unless someone has already used it?

The Eminem track is one of my favs no less.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/sep/05/ll-cool-j-hip-hop-isnt-underdog-music-any-more

From that interview:

Who is your favourite MC, and who would you most like to do a collab with? BadAlbert
If we’re gonna get down to it, probably Big Daddy Kane. Those first couple of albums were just so crazy and hot in the way he delivered them. The wit, the humour, the banter, the flow, the voice. Songs such as Set It Off or Raw were just flawless to me.

Nice. Big Daddy Kane was incredible in 87 and 88. I listened to those first two albums so much in high school.

man tip and ll really matched eachothers greatness on this. incredible album.

Album signing at Rough Trade in NYC, noon next Friday. I may go to this.

That was a lot of fun. Got there maybe 30 minutes early and even though it was sold out, the line wasn't long at all. I think you didn't have to be there today - the event description seems to suggest that they can set aside a copy that ticketholders can pick up later. LL was very cool - he was gracious enough to sign any records you might've brought besides the new one. Most people didn't, but at least a few people besides me brought a couple records from home.

He's doing another signing at B&N later today at 6pm (they start letting people in at 5pm), but it's a ticketed event and they haven't sold out yet. He's really doing it old school with the in-person events to promote this thing.

Actually same deal with B&N:

If you are unable to attend the event, Barnes & Noble - Fifth Ave will hold your Vinyl and/or CD for seven days after the event. Please contact the store to arrange your pickup.

It's so weird to me that Jay-Z is only two years younger than LL

At this point Jay seems older

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/sep/05/ll-cool-j-hip-hop-isnt-underdog-music-any-more

Was completely unaware of what happened here in Georgia and London:

themarkmcdonald: Looking back, was it a bad decision to play "I Need Love" live at Hammersmith Odeon, London 1987?

LL Cool J: "I Need Love" is one of the most important songs I’ve done. It helped usher in a whole new sub-genre of hip-hop with songs that are more skewed to females and the love aspect. I got arrested in Columbus, Georgia for humping a couch to it on stage so I think I can handle booing and coins getting tossed in London. I don’t regret playing it and I’d do it all over again.

I got arrested in Columbus, Georgia for humping a couch to it on stage

Somewhere the loins of young JD Vance stirred.

It was all a dream
used to dry hump a couch through the seam

Britishes need love

10 year old me hearing I need love: I was conflicted

Great album...all the better for coming in under 45 minutes

That interview was a great read. I liked the line he said about guys at home sharpening their toothbrushes not getting over a beef.

oh my god whiney's interview needed a footnote to explain who martha quinn is

rip me, i'm deaded

The title track is so good it’s almost miraculous

I AGREE.

Dang this album jams.

Someone I know said something very funny on FB:

"Gonna be funny if we have a hip-hop veteran renaissance where making better than usual music without sweating pop is in fashion, until Andre 3000 looks at his pan pipes and goes 'well now I feel like a schmuck.'"

37 years between buying LL Cool J albums. If I do that again I'll be 93.

til Infinity

This album exceeds any hype about it. So great. For those who buy vinyl, (the Euro pressing at least) sounds fantastic.

I wrote 1000 words or so about this record in my latest newsletter.

Love this album

I wrote 1000 words or so about this record in my latest newsletter.

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Wednesday, September 11, 2024 11:20 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sick, I had like a 20 minute convo with a music writer yesterday about this album. Album is touching all the bases but not fitting into any sort of critical paradigm we're used to seeing

Whiney your LL piece was great - loved how candid he was in some of his responses! great read

and the album is so good, i’m really enjoying it

Thank you so much. I chalk a lot of the good responses to them letting me have an hour with him. He was VERY happy when I told him *my* favorite LL line ("I'm the type of guy that picks her up from work early/Takes her to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and breakfast.")

lol yes

Fabulous piece, Whiney, and your piece gave me stuff to think about, unperson.

that west African guitar on Black Code Suite >>>>>

I can't believe how hard they went on this album. Agree w/ the comment that the production even outdoes the last Tribe album.

His VMAs performance last night (featuring Public Enemy) was fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMGqTTXCoZc

^^^ Wow!

I'm gonna have to hear this album. The title track is fabulous.

This album, my god. I can't think of a record I've heard in recent times where every track just hits so hard. Like, the first six tracks is just a flawless run

I love the song lengths in the second half. It moves along really nicely.

kills, so nice. if you like olds-in-the-know in-jokes or rap dad joeks, they’re everywhere without seeming like they’re the object of it all. when the numan same hit i was just “fuck it this is how it needs to go.”

okay this is my favourite album of the year

I’m only docking this album points for not being released earlier because this should’ve been playing at everyone’s backyard party this summer.

Great listen for sure.

based off his appearance, imagine a 40 minute q-tip produced eminem album.

watching the vuelta i kept getting shown the car commercial with the qtip vox from chem bros song- like 60 times. i like a world w qtip around, instantly recognizable too /old

That last album still bangs so hard...first hip hop album in years to keep interested front to back...perfect summer soundtrack

Very admirable of LL to cancel his appearance at a 4th of July concert in Philadelphia because city workers there are on strike.

As they say, Labor Loves Cool James. Was glad to see that.

i was listening to some assorted older LL tracks yesterday and was wondering if "going back to cali" is rick rubin's best production. i love all the little drum machine (808?) percussion hits combined with the live horns. i was trying to find an article or something about the production but didn't see much.

the little kalimba melody! how the beat jumps into doubletime and back!

i haven't listened to any rap album like this since the dj quik/kurupt blaqkout album. half the beats sound sampled from a broadcast album. the beats q-tip must have at his disposal. the seamless transitions. the fact LL does not for a second slow down on any song.

"mind in the sky but keep a street level view"

November will be 40 years since the all-time classic debut.