Hello,
Today's Artists legally known as James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as Ladies Love Cool James, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, author and entrepreneur from Queens, New York. With the breakthrough success of his hit single "I Need a Beat" and the Radio LP, he became one of the first hip-hop acts to achieve mainstream success..A two-time Grammy Award winner, he is known for such hip hop hits as "Going Back to Cali", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", "Rock the Bells" and "Mama Said Knock You Out", as well as R&B hits such as "Doin' It", "I Need Love", "All I Have", "Around the Way Girl" and "Hey Lover". In 2010, VH1 has placed him on their "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time" list. In 2017, he became the first rapper to receive Kennedy Center Honors . ...... N Joy
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Hip-hop is notorious for short-lived careers, but LL Cool J is the inevitable exception that proves the rule. Releasing his first hit, "I Can't Live Without My Radio," in 1985 when he was just 17 years old, LL initially was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy with spare beats and ballistic rhymes. He quickly developed an alternate style, a romantic lover's rap epitomized by his mainstream breakthrough single, "I Need Love." LL's first two albums, Radio and Bigger and Deffer, made him a star, and in 1990 he shot to the top of the charts with Mama Said Knock You Out, which established him as a genuine musical superstar. By the mid-'90s, he had starred in his own television sitcom, appeared in several films, and racked up two of his biggest singles with "Hey Lover" and "Doin' It." In short, he had proven that rappers could have long-term careers.
Of course, that didn't seem likely when he came storming out of Queens, New York, when he was 16 years old. LL Cool J (born James Todd Smith; his stage name is an acronym for "Ladies Love Cool James") had already been rapping since the age of nine. Two years later, his grandfather -- he had been living with his grandparents since his parents divorced when he was four -- gave him a DJ system and he began making tapes at home. Eventually, he sent these demo tapes to record companies, attracting the interest of Def Jam, a fledgling label run by New York University students Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. Def Jam signed LL and released his debut, "I Need a Beat," as their first single in 1984. The record sold over 100,000 copies, establishing both the label and the rapper. LL dropped out of high school and recorded his debut album, Radio. Released in 1985, Radio was a major hit and it earned considerable praise for how it shaped raps into recognizable pop-song structures. On the strength of "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells," the album went platinum in 1986. The following year, his second album, Bigger and Deffer, shot to number three due to the ballad "I Need Love," which became one of the first pop-rap crossover hits.
LL's knack for making hip-hop as accessible as pop was one of his greatest talents, yet it was also a weakness, since it opened him up to accusations of being a sellout. Taken from the Less Than Zero soundtrack, 1988's "Goin' Back to Cali" walked the line with ease, but 1989's Walking with a Panther was not greeted warmly by most hip-hop fans. Although it was a Top Ten hit and spawned the gold single "I'm That Type of Guy," the album was perceived as a pop sell-out effort, and on a supporting concert at the Apollo, he was booed. LL didn't take the criticism lying down -- he struck back with 1990's Mama Said Knock You Out, the hardest record he ever made. LL supported the album with a legendary, live acoustic performance on MTV Unplugged, and on the strength of the Top Ten R&B singles "The Boomin' System" and "Around the Way Girl" (number nine, pop) as well as the hit title track, Mama Said Knock You Out became his biggest-selling album, establishing him as a pop star in addition to a rap superstar. He soon landed roles in the films The Hard Way (1991) and Toys (1992), and he also performed at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1993. Mama Said Knock You Out kept him so busy that he didn't deliver the follow-up, 14 Shots to the Dome, until the spring of 1993. Boasting a harder gangsta rap edge, 14 Shots initially sold well, debuting in the Top Ten, but it was an unfocused effort that generated no significant hit singles. Consequently, it stalled at gold status and hurt his reputation considerably.
Following the failure of 14 Shots to the Dome, LL began starring in the NBC sitcom In the House. He returned to recording in 1995, releasing Mr. Smith toward the end of the year. Unexpectedly, Mr. Smith became a huge hit, going double platinum and launching two of his biggest hits, with the Boyz II Men duet "Hey Lover" and "Doin' It." At the end of 1996, he released the greatest-hits album All World, while Phenomenon appeared one year later. G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time), released in 2000, reached the top of the album charts, and 2002's 10 featured one of his biggest hits in years, "Luv U Better." With the help of producer Timbaland, he unleashed the tough DEFinition album in 2004 as his James Todd Smith clothing line was hitting the malls. "Control Myself," a hit single featuring Jennifer Lopez, prefaced 2006's Todd Smith album. His 2008 effort Exit 13 would be his last album for Def Jam as the rapper found work as a primetime television star, landing a starring role on CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles. In 2013 he returned to recording, first making news with the track "Accidental Racist," his much-maligned duet with country star Brad Paisley. Another Paisley duet landed on LL's 2013 album Authentic, a star-studded effort with Eddie Van Halen, Snoop Dogg, and Charlie Wilson also appearing as guests.
While LL Cool J first appeared as a rapper in the movie Krush Groove (performing "I Can't Live Without My Radio"), his first acting part was a small role in a high school football movie called Wildcats. He landed the role of Captain Patrick Zevo in the 1992 film Toys in which he shared the silver screen with Robin Williams. In 1995, he starred in his own television sitcom, In the House. He portrayed an ex-Oakland Raiders running back who finds himself in financial difficulties and is forced to rent part of his home out to a single mother and her two children. In 1998, LL Cool J had a role in the film Halloween H20. In 1999, he starred alongside Samuel L Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane and Jacqueline McKenzie in Deep Blue Sea; in that film, he played a wise-cracking cook on a top-secret sea base besieged by genetically enhanced sharks. He received rave reviews for his role as Dwayne Gittens, an underworld boss nicknamed "God", in In Too Deep. Later that year, he starred as Julian Washington—a talented but selfish running back on the dysfunctional Miami Sharks—in Any Given Sunday. Since then, LL Cool J has appeared in 2002 remake of Rollerball, Deliver Us from Eva, Mindhunters, and S.W.A.T.
In 2005, he returned to television in a guest-starring role on the Fox medical drama House; he portrayed a death row inmate felled by an unknown disease in an episode entitled "Acceptance". He appeared as Queen Latifah's love interest in the 2006 movie Last Holiday. He also guest-starred on 30 Rock in the 2007 episode "The Source Awards", portraying a hip-hop producer called Ridikulous who Tracy Jordan fears may kill him. LL Cool J appeared in Sesame Street's 39th season, introducing the word of the day--"Unanimous"—in episode 4169 (September 22, 2008) and performing "The Addition Expedition" in episode 4172 (September 30, 2008). Since 2009, LL Cool J has starred on the CBS police procedural NCIS: Los Angeles. The show is a spin-off of NCIS, which itself is a spin-off of the naval legal drama JAG. LL Cool J portrays NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, an ex–Navy SEAL who is fluent in Arabic and is an expert on West Asian culture. The series debuted in autumn of 2009, but the characters were introduced in an April 2009 crossover episode on the parent show.
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LL is one of the most influential rappers of all time. He practically painted thr way for many rappers coming in the 90s and revolutionized the music scene, being one of the first ones to bring hip hop to the radio. "Radio" is known for its simple full power, explosive ghetto blaster production, including heavy rock basslines like on the hit track "Rock The Bells". Catchiness is the adjective that describes this album best. The head-swinging flows that Cool J carried through many of the tracks was amazing for the time. "Radio" was the first full-length release from Def Jam, and it did them well, getting high scores from many sources like "The Rolling Stones Album Guide" and "AllMusic". "Radio" sold about 500k in its first 5 months and hit 1M by the year 1988. Massive hits like "Rock The Bells" hit number 6 on the Billboard 200 which was a big thing for hip-hop at the time and the album remained in the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 47 weeks.
You ever imagined what hip hop would sound like without anything else than drums and bass? What beats would be like if there were no sample or melody whatsoever? Radio is the answer to your doubts. Here you'll find nothing but drums, that are hard as FUCK and banging bass, maybe an occasional piece of melody but that's about it. Cool J's debut was rawer and more minimal than any other hip hop album released before, in my opinion this is Rick Rubin's finest production work inside hip hop. And LL himself? The most advanced bragger of his time. His technique was better than Kool Moe Dee's and he flowed over the beats finer than the boys of Run-DMC. With this album he wrote himself into history, Cool J completely owns this album and before Rakim no one could do it better than him. Yes, new school is something you either love or hate and this album shows it amazingly well. Some people are scared off because they think this sound is sooooo dated compared to everything that came after 1985. Of course it is, but in my humble opinion that's just the album's biggest strength. This appealing simplicity works so freaking well here. Def Jam got its first really big album here also, later they became the most legendary hip hop label right up there with Death Row.
LL Cool J - Radio (flac 268mb)
01 I Can't Live Without My Radio 5:27
02 You Can't Dance 3:37
03 Dear Yvette 4:06
04 I Can Give You More 5:07
05 Dangerous 5:57
06 Rock The Bells 4:00
07 I Need A Beat (Jazzy Jay Rmx) 4:31
08 That's A Lie 4:41
09 You'll Rock 4:42
10 I Want You 4:51
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LL Cool J rocketed to the top of the hip-hop world in 1985 with Radio, his astonishing debut, but he lost his footing a bit with Bigger and Deffer, his mildly disappointing follow-up that proved to be a commercial breakthrough all the same. It's a powerful album that gets underway with a bang, as LL raps, "No rapper can rap quite like I can," and makes his case throughout the album-opening "I'm Bad," a ferocious hardcore rap with a great DJ-scratched hook. While that song ranks among LL's best (and most popular) ever, Bigger and Deffer doesn't boast too many other standout moments, with the exception of "I Need Love." Its balladic tenderness comes as a late-album surprise, considering how ferocious LL sounds elsewhere here. Nonetheless, like it or loathe it, the song set the template for a number of such lovers raps that would bring LL much crossover success in the years to come. "I Need Love" aside, Bigger and Deffer is consistently solid, produced entirely by the L.A. Posse (Darryl Pierce, Dwayne Simon, and Bobby Erving) and filled with the sort of hard-hitting hip-hop that was Def Jam's staple at the time. But while the album is mostly solid, it does lack the creative spark that had made Radio such an invigorating release only a couple years prior (the absence of Rick Rubin here is unfortunate). In those couple years since LL had put out Radio, rap music had taken big strides. Now, in 1987, LL had to contend with the likes of Eric B. & Rakim, Kool Moe Dee, Public Enemy, and Boogie Down Productions, with others like EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T, and N.W.A on the horizon. When put in such a context, Bigger and Deffer pales a bit; in the years since LL's Radio rocked the streets of New York, rap had taken leaps and bounds while LL hadn't. So it was no surprise when LL suddenly came under attack by his rivals and a few fans, sending him back to the drawing board for his next effort, the whopping 18-track Walking with a Panther (1989).
LL Cool J - Bigger and Deffer (BAD) . (flac 259mb)
Bigger Side
01 I'm Bad 4:40
02 Kanday 4:00
03 Get Down 3:23
04 The Bristol Hotel 2:44
05 My Rhyme Ain't Done 3:45
06 .357 Break It On Down 4:05
Deffer Side
07 Go Cut Creator Go 3:57
08 The Breakthrough 4:04
09 I Need Love 5:22
10 Ahh, Let's Get Ill 3:45
11 The Do Wop 4:58
12 On The Ill Tip 0:32
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Released at a time when hip-hop's anxieties about crossover success were at a fever pitch, Walking With a Panther found LL Cool J trying to reinvent his sound while building on the commercial breakthrough of Bigger and Deffer. Even though the album succeeded on both counts, it did so in a way that didn't sit well with hip-hop purists, who began to call LL's credibility into question. Their fears about commercialism diluting the art form found a focal point in LL, the man who pioneered the rap ballad -- and there are in fact three ballads here, all of them pretty saccharine (and, tellingly, none of them singles). Apart from that, some of the concerns now seem like much ado about nothing, and there are numerous fine moments (and a few great singles) to be found on the album. It is true, though, that Walking With a Panther does end up slightly less than the sum of its parts. For one thing, it's simply too long; moreover, the force of his early recordings is missing, and there's occasionally a sense that his once-peerless technique on the mic is falling behind the times. Nonetheless, Walking With a Panther is still a fine outing on which LL proves himself a more-than-capable self-producer. The fuller, more fleshed-out sound helps keep his familiar b-boy boasts sounding fresh, and force or no force, he was in definite need of an update. On the singles -- "Going Back to Cali," "I'm That Type of Guy" (inexplicably left off All World), "Jingling Baby," and "Big Ole Butt" -- LL exudes an effortless cool; he's sly, assured, and in full command of a newfound sexual presence on record. So despite its flaws, Walking With a Panther still ranks as one of LL's stronger albums -- strong enough to make the weak moments all the more frustrating.
LL Cool J - Walking With a Panther (flac 450mb)
01 Droppin' Em 4:22
02 Smokin' Dopin' 3:32
03 Fast Peg 1:39
04 Clap Your Hands 5:07
05 Nitro 4:43
06 You're My Heart 4:43
07 I'm That Type Of Guy 5:16
08 Why Do You Think They Call It Dope? 3:49
09 Going Back To Cali 4:09
10 It Gets No Rougher 5:26
11 Big Ole Butt 4:35
12 One Shot At Love 4:19
13 1-900 L.L. Cool J 3:01
14 Two Different Worlds( Voc.Cydne´ Monet) 5:48
15 Jealous 3:55
16 Jingling Baby 4:16
17 Def Jam In The Motherland 4:35
18 Change Your Ways 3:19
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At one time LL Cool J had been the poster badboy of rap. An unquestioned force of the hard. But he was completely overthrown by a seemingly endless supply of people more hard. That's fine, he could still be a great rapper. But by 89' he started to pick up a negative reputation of being a crossover artist. One deliberatly appealing to mainstream America and not the street. To put it in perspective his career was being looked at like he was MC Hammer. Ouch. Start the 90's and you get a year wherein the financial benefits of being a crossover hit were evident from Vanilla Ice and Hammer's twin albums of poop. LL had a choice, he could embrace this role he had been associated with, he could most likely benefit giagntically from it in terms of cash and fame. But instead LL made a deft return to hardcore aesthetics, at least as he understood them, and made the album of his career. It's easily his best album and one of the best rap albums period. He fashions a believable image of tough guy and not only makes a good love rap but a hella dope one in "Around The Way Girl". The true stroke of genius was getting Marley Marl on production. Marley himself had something to prove after a wave of lackluster 89' production credits on albums like Craig G's debut. And Marley also makes a return not only to form but beyond, making some of his greatest beats of all time here. The siren like drone of "Mr Goodbar", the jeep bouncing "The Boomin' System", and of course both men create one of the ultimate rap songs with the title track itself, five minutes of the best pump you up music since the Rocky IV soundtrack. In terms of attitude and production no album better showed the change for the new decade. There's only one word here. Triumph. His mama said to knock us out, he said he would knock us out, he knocked us the fuck out. Even apart from the sympathetic musical settings, LL is at his most lyrically acrobatic, and the testosterone-fueled anthems are delivered with a force not often heard since his debut. The album's hits are a microcosm of its range -- "The Boomin' System" is a nod to bass-loving b-boys with car stereos; "Around the Way Girl" is a lush, winning ballad; and the title cut is one of the most blistering statements of purpose in hip-hop. It leaves no doubt that Mama Said Knock You Out was intended to be a tour de force, to regain LL Cool J's credibility while proving that he was still one of rap's most singular talents. It succeeded mightily, making him an across-the-board superstar and cementing his status as a rap icon beyond any doubt.
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out (flac 411mb)
01 The Boomin' System 3:43
02 Around the Way Girl 4:08
03 Eat 'Em Up L Chill 4:39
04 Mr. Good Bar 3:44
05 Murdergram (Live at Rapmania) 3:56
06 Cheesy Rat Blues 5:09
07 Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem) 4:28
08 Mama Said Knock You Out 4:52
09 Milky Cereal 3:56
10 Jingling Baby (Remixed But Still Jingling) 4:59
11 To Da Break of Dawn 4:34
12 6 Minutes of Pleasure 4:35
13 Illegal Search 4:34
14 The Power of God 4:19
Bonus
15 Mama Said Knock You Out (Steering Mix) 4:47
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Today's Artists legally known as James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as Ladies Love Cool James, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, author and entrepreneur from Queens, New York. With the breakthrough success of his hit single "I Need a Beat" and the Radio LP, he became one of the first hip-hop acts to achieve mainstream success..A two-time Grammy Award winner, he is known for such hip hop hits as "Going Back to Cali", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", "Rock the Bells" and "Mama Said Knock You Out", as well as R&B hits such as "Doin' It", "I Need Love", "All I Have", "Around the Way Girl" and "Hey Lover". In 2010, VH1 has placed him on their "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time" list. In 2017, he became the first rapper to receive Kennedy Center Honors . ...... N Joy
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Hip-hop is notorious for short-lived careers, but LL Cool J is the inevitable exception that proves the rule. Releasing his first hit, "I Can't Live Without My Radio," in 1985 when he was just 17 years old, LL initially was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy with spare beats and ballistic rhymes. He quickly developed an alternate style, a romantic lover's rap epitomized by his mainstream breakthrough single, "I Need Love." LL's first two albums, Radio and Bigger and Deffer, made him a star, and in 1990 he shot to the top of the charts with Mama Said Knock You Out, which established him as a genuine musical superstar. By the mid-'90s, he had starred in his own television sitcom, appeared in several films, and racked up two of his biggest singles with "Hey Lover" and "Doin' It." In short, he had proven that rappers could have long-term careers.
Of course, that didn't seem likely when he came storming out of Queens, New York, when he was 16 years old. LL Cool J (born James Todd Smith; his stage name is an acronym for "Ladies Love Cool James") had already been rapping since the age of nine. Two years later, his grandfather -- he had been living with his grandparents since his parents divorced when he was four -- gave him a DJ system and he began making tapes at home. Eventually, he sent these demo tapes to record companies, attracting the interest of Def Jam, a fledgling label run by New York University students Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. Def Jam signed LL and released his debut, "I Need a Beat," as their first single in 1984. The record sold over 100,000 copies, establishing both the label and the rapper. LL dropped out of high school and recorded his debut album, Radio. Released in 1985, Radio was a major hit and it earned considerable praise for how it shaped raps into recognizable pop-song structures. On the strength of "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells," the album went platinum in 1986. The following year, his second album, Bigger and Deffer, shot to number three due to the ballad "I Need Love," which became one of the first pop-rap crossover hits.
LL's knack for making hip-hop as accessible as pop was one of his greatest talents, yet it was also a weakness, since it opened him up to accusations of being a sellout. Taken from the Less Than Zero soundtrack, 1988's "Goin' Back to Cali" walked the line with ease, but 1989's Walking with a Panther was not greeted warmly by most hip-hop fans. Although it was a Top Ten hit and spawned the gold single "I'm That Type of Guy," the album was perceived as a pop sell-out effort, and on a supporting concert at the Apollo, he was booed. LL didn't take the criticism lying down -- he struck back with 1990's Mama Said Knock You Out, the hardest record he ever made. LL supported the album with a legendary, live acoustic performance on MTV Unplugged, and on the strength of the Top Ten R&B singles "The Boomin' System" and "Around the Way Girl" (number nine, pop) as well as the hit title track, Mama Said Knock You Out became his biggest-selling album, establishing him as a pop star in addition to a rap superstar. He soon landed roles in the films The Hard Way (1991) and Toys (1992), and he also performed at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1993. Mama Said Knock You Out kept him so busy that he didn't deliver the follow-up, 14 Shots to the Dome, until the spring of 1993. Boasting a harder gangsta rap edge, 14 Shots initially sold well, debuting in the Top Ten, but it was an unfocused effort that generated no significant hit singles. Consequently, it stalled at gold status and hurt his reputation considerably.
Following the failure of 14 Shots to the Dome, LL began starring in the NBC sitcom In the House. He returned to recording in 1995, releasing Mr. Smith toward the end of the year. Unexpectedly, Mr. Smith became a huge hit, going double platinum and launching two of his biggest hits, with the Boyz II Men duet "Hey Lover" and "Doin' It." At the end of 1996, he released the greatest-hits album All World, while Phenomenon appeared one year later. G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time), released in 2000, reached the top of the album charts, and 2002's 10 featured one of his biggest hits in years, "Luv U Better." With the help of producer Timbaland, he unleashed the tough DEFinition album in 2004 as his James Todd Smith clothing line was hitting the malls. "Control Myself," a hit single featuring Jennifer Lopez, prefaced 2006's Todd Smith album. His 2008 effort Exit 13 would be his last album for Def Jam as the rapper found work as a primetime television star, landing a starring role on CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles. In 2013 he returned to recording, first making news with the track "Accidental Racist," his much-maligned duet with country star Brad Paisley. Another Paisley duet landed on LL's 2013 album Authentic, a star-studded effort with Eddie Van Halen, Snoop Dogg, and Charlie Wilson also appearing as guests.
While LL Cool J first appeared as a rapper in the movie Krush Groove (performing "I Can't Live Without My Radio"), his first acting part was a small role in a high school football movie called Wildcats. He landed the role of Captain Patrick Zevo in the 1992 film Toys in which he shared the silver screen with Robin Williams. In 1995, he starred in his own television sitcom, In the House. He portrayed an ex-Oakland Raiders running back who finds himself in financial difficulties and is forced to rent part of his home out to a single mother and her two children. In 1998, LL Cool J had a role in the film Halloween H20. In 1999, he starred alongside Samuel L Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane and Jacqueline McKenzie in Deep Blue Sea; in that film, he played a wise-cracking cook on a top-secret sea base besieged by genetically enhanced sharks. He received rave reviews for his role as Dwayne Gittens, an underworld boss nicknamed "God", in In Too Deep. Later that year, he starred as Julian Washington—a talented but selfish running back on the dysfunctional Miami Sharks—in Any Given Sunday. Since then, LL Cool J has appeared in 2002 remake of Rollerball, Deliver Us from Eva, Mindhunters, and S.W.A.T.
In 2005, he returned to television in a guest-starring role on the Fox medical drama House; he portrayed a death row inmate felled by an unknown disease in an episode entitled "Acceptance". He appeared as Queen Latifah's love interest in the 2006 movie Last Holiday. He also guest-starred on 30 Rock in the 2007 episode "The Source Awards", portraying a hip-hop producer called Ridikulous who Tracy Jordan fears may kill him. LL Cool J appeared in Sesame Street's 39th season, introducing the word of the day--"Unanimous"—in episode 4169 (September 22, 2008) and performing "The Addition Expedition" in episode 4172 (September 30, 2008). Since 2009, LL Cool J has starred on the CBS police procedural NCIS: Los Angeles. The show is a spin-off of NCIS, which itself is a spin-off of the naval legal drama JAG. LL Cool J portrays NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, an ex–Navy SEAL who is fluent in Arabic and is an expert on West Asian culture. The series debuted in autumn of 2009, but the characters were introduced in an April 2009 crossover episode on the parent show.
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LL is one of the most influential rappers of all time. He practically painted thr way for many rappers coming in the 90s and revolutionized the music scene, being one of the first ones to bring hip hop to the radio. "Radio" is known for its simple full power, explosive ghetto blaster production, including heavy rock basslines like on the hit track "Rock The Bells". Catchiness is the adjective that describes this album best. The head-swinging flows that Cool J carried through many of the tracks was amazing for the time. "Radio" was the first full-length release from Def Jam, and it did them well, getting high scores from many sources like "The Rolling Stones Album Guide" and "AllMusic". "Radio" sold about 500k in its first 5 months and hit 1M by the year 1988. Massive hits like "Rock The Bells" hit number 6 on the Billboard 200 which was a big thing for hip-hop at the time and the album remained in the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 47 weeks.
You ever imagined what hip hop would sound like without anything else than drums and bass? What beats would be like if there were no sample or melody whatsoever? Radio is the answer to your doubts. Here you'll find nothing but drums, that are hard as FUCK and banging bass, maybe an occasional piece of melody but that's about it. Cool J's debut was rawer and more minimal than any other hip hop album released before, in my opinion this is Rick Rubin's finest production work inside hip hop. And LL himself? The most advanced bragger of his time. His technique was better than Kool Moe Dee's and he flowed over the beats finer than the boys of Run-DMC. With this album he wrote himself into history, Cool J completely owns this album and before Rakim no one could do it better than him. Yes, new school is something you either love or hate and this album shows it amazingly well. Some people are scared off because they think this sound is sooooo dated compared to everything that came after 1985. Of course it is, but in my humble opinion that's just the album's biggest strength. This appealing simplicity works so freaking well here. Def Jam got its first really big album here also, later they became the most legendary hip hop label right up there with Death Row.
LL Cool J - Radio (flac 268mb)
01 I Can't Live Without My Radio 5:27
02 You Can't Dance 3:37
03 Dear Yvette 4:06
04 I Can Give You More 5:07
05 Dangerous 5:57
06 Rock The Bells 4:00
07 I Need A Beat (Jazzy Jay Rmx) 4:31
08 That's A Lie 4:41
09 You'll Rock 4:42
10 I Want You 4:51
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LL Cool J rocketed to the top of the hip-hop world in 1985 with Radio, his astonishing debut, but he lost his footing a bit with Bigger and Deffer, his mildly disappointing follow-up that proved to be a commercial breakthrough all the same. It's a powerful album that gets underway with a bang, as LL raps, "No rapper can rap quite like I can," and makes his case throughout the album-opening "I'm Bad," a ferocious hardcore rap with a great DJ-scratched hook. While that song ranks among LL's best (and most popular) ever, Bigger and Deffer doesn't boast too many other standout moments, with the exception of "I Need Love." Its balladic tenderness comes as a late-album surprise, considering how ferocious LL sounds elsewhere here. Nonetheless, like it or loathe it, the song set the template for a number of such lovers raps that would bring LL much crossover success in the years to come. "I Need Love" aside, Bigger and Deffer is consistently solid, produced entirely by the L.A. Posse (Darryl Pierce, Dwayne Simon, and Bobby Erving) and filled with the sort of hard-hitting hip-hop that was Def Jam's staple at the time. But while the album is mostly solid, it does lack the creative spark that had made Radio such an invigorating release only a couple years prior (the absence of Rick Rubin here is unfortunate). In those couple years since LL had put out Radio, rap music had taken big strides. Now, in 1987, LL had to contend with the likes of Eric B. & Rakim, Kool Moe Dee, Public Enemy, and Boogie Down Productions, with others like EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T, and N.W.A on the horizon. When put in such a context, Bigger and Deffer pales a bit; in the years since LL's Radio rocked the streets of New York, rap had taken leaps and bounds while LL hadn't. So it was no surprise when LL suddenly came under attack by his rivals and a few fans, sending him back to the drawing board for his next effort, the whopping 18-track Walking with a Panther (1989).
LL Cool J - Bigger and Deffer (BAD) . (flac 259mb)
Bigger Side
01 I'm Bad 4:40
02 Kanday 4:00
03 Get Down 3:23
04 The Bristol Hotel 2:44
05 My Rhyme Ain't Done 3:45
06 .357 Break It On Down 4:05
Deffer Side
07 Go Cut Creator Go 3:57
08 The Breakthrough 4:04
09 I Need Love 5:22
10 Ahh, Let's Get Ill 3:45
11 The Do Wop 4:58
12 On The Ill Tip 0:32
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Released at a time when hip-hop's anxieties about crossover success were at a fever pitch, Walking With a Panther found LL Cool J trying to reinvent his sound while building on the commercial breakthrough of Bigger and Deffer. Even though the album succeeded on both counts, it did so in a way that didn't sit well with hip-hop purists, who began to call LL's credibility into question. Their fears about commercialism diluting the art form found a focal point in LL, the man who pioneered the rap ballad -- and there are in fact three ballads here, all of them pretty saccharine (and, tellingly, none of them singles). Apart from that, some of the concerns now seem like much ado about nothing, and there are numerous fine moments (and a few great singles) to be found on the album. It is true, though, that Walking With a Panther does end up slightly less than the sum of its parts. For one thing, it's simply too long; moreover, the force of his early recordings is missing, and there's occasionally a sense that his once-peerless technique on the mic is falling behind the times. Nonetheless, Walking With a Panther is still a fine outing on which LL proves himself a more-than-capable self-producer. The fuller, more fleshed-out sound helps keep his familiar b-boy boasts sounding fresh, and force or no force, he was in definite need of an update. On the singles -- "Going Back to Cali," "I'm That Type of Guy" (inexplicably left off All World), "Jingling Baby," and "Big Ole Butt" -- LL exudes an effortless cool; he's sly, assured, and in full command of a newfound sexual presence on record. So despite its flaws, Walking With a Panther still ranks as one of LL's stronger albums -- strong enough to make the weak moments all the more frustrating.
LL Cool J - Walking With a Panther (flac 450mb)
01 Droppin' Em 4:22
02 Smokin' Dopin' 3:32
03 Fast Peg 1:39
04 Clap Your Hands 5:07
05 Nitro 4:43
06 You're My Heart 4:43
07 I'm That Type Of Guy 5:16
08 Why Do You Think They Call It Dope? 3:49
09 Going Back To Cali 4:09
10 It Gets No Rougher 5:26
11 Big Ole Butt 4:35
12 One Shot At Love 4:19
13 1-900 L.L. Cool J 3:01
14 Two Different Worlds( Voc.Cydne´ Monet) 5:48
15 Jealous 3:55
16 Jingling Baby 4:16
17 Def Jam In The Motherland 4:35
18 Change Your Ways 3:19
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At one time LL Cool J had been the poster badboy of rap. An unquestioned force of the hard. But he was completely overthrown by a seemingly endless supply of people more hard. That's fine, he could still be a great rapper. But by 89' he started to pick up a negative reputation of being a crossover artist. One deliberatly appealing to mainstream America and not the street. To put it in perspective his career was being looked at like he was MC Hammer. Ouch. Start the 90's and you get a year wherein the financial benefits of being a crossover hit were evident from Vanilla Ice and Hammer's twin albums of poop. LL had a choice, he could embrace this role he had been associated with, he could most likely benefit giagntically from it in terms of cash and fame. But instead LL made a deft return to hardcore aesthetics, at least as he understood them, and made the album of his career. It's easily his best album and one of the best rap albums period. He fashions a believable image of tough guy and not only makes a good love rap but a hella dope one in "Around The Way Girl". The true stroke of genius was getting Marley Marl on production. Marley himself had something to prove after a wave of lackluster 89' production credits on albums like Craig G's debut. And Marley also makes a return not only to form but beyond, making some of his greatest beats of all time here. The siren like drone of "Mr Goodbar", the jeep bouncing "The Boomin' System", and of course both men create one of the ultimate rap songs with the title track itself, five minutes of the best pump you up music since the Rocky IV soundtrack. In terms of attitude and production no album better showed the change for the new decade. There's only one word here. Triumph. His mama said to knock us out, he said he would knock us out, he knocked us the fuck out. Even apart from the sympathetic musical settings, LL is at his most lyrically acrobatic, and the testosterone-fueled anthems are delivered with a force not often heard since his debut. The album's hits are a microcosm of its range -- "The Boomin' System" is a nod to bass-loving b-boys with car stereos; "Around the Way Girl" is a lush, winning ballad; and the title cut is one of the most blistering statements of purpose in hip-hop. It leaves no doubt that Mama Said Knock You Out was intended to be a tour de force, to regain LL Cool J's credibility while proving that he was still one of rap's most singular talents. It succeeded mightily, making him an across-the-board superstar and cementing his status as a rap icon beyond any doubt.
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out (flac 411mb)
01 The Boomin' System 3:43
02 Around the Way Girl 4:08
03 Eat 'Em Up L Chill 4:39
04 Mr. Good Bar 3:44
05 Murdergram (Live at Rapmania) 3:56
06 Cheesy Rat Blues 5:09
07 Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem) 4:28
08 Mama Said Knock You Out 4:52
09 Milky Cereal 3:56
10 Jingling Baby (Remixed But Still Jingling) 4:59
11 To Da Break of Dawn 4:34
12 6 Minutes of Pleasure 4:35
13 Illegal Search 4:34
14 The Power of God 4:19
Bonus
15 Mama Said Knock You Out (Steering Mix) 4:47
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LL Cool J not cool.
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