Mama Said Knock You Out

It's interesting to see that the most significant work of LL Cool J, his first four albums, aren't available on Spotify. This album is thought of as a sort of comeback for the artist after his critically panned Walking with the Panther. In many ways, the title track overwhelms everything else about this album. It's one of the best hip hop tracks of all time. It manages to create an effect increasing tension and momentum through the use of the flow of the looping production and the vocals. It's really a track that never gets old and that holds the excitement that it had over thirty years ago. Unfortunately, this is an album review, not a review of the single and the rest of the album just doesn't hold a candle to that single. Quite a bit of it feels a bit stilted, particularly with the choruses, and a lot of it feels dated given the innovations in the genre at this time, that comes out in the often uninteresting choruses and vocal sample loops. LL Cool J's skills as a MC are still here, but its often held back by the material. There is enough to make this a decent album and there are occasional tracks such as "Round the way girl" and "To the break of dawn" that really shine enough to make this worth a listen.

One everyone needs to hear. Essential.

Marley Marl is the MVP. Timeless Boom Bap production. LL is supposed to sound “hard” but to modern ears he comes off a tad corny. The title track is fire.

Wasn’t my favorite

I liked this album more than the average hip hop album I get from 1001 but this still wasn’t anything that blew me away 3/5 Favorites: Mr goodbar, milky cereal,

Despite how much hip-hop I've heard in my life, I haven't heard any L.L. Cool J album. Needless to say, I'm excited. 01. The Boomin' System Pretty damn cool way to start the album! Fun lyrics, especially for 1990 hip-hop! 02. Around The Way Girl Doesn't reinvent the wheel, and it doesn't need to. It serves as a nice woman anthem. 03. Eat Em Up L Chill Early favorite. Best bars, even if the instrumental is a little lackluster and boring. 04. Mr. Good Bar There are a few lines in here that are funny, but I honestly didn't care for this one besides a line or two. 05. Murdergram Holy shit. A song like THIS in 1990?! This is nuts! Even if the beat is stupid basic, that NASTY flow and lyrics make up for it tenfolds. 06. Cheesy Rat Blues Is a nice, more slow-paced song after Murdergram, but perhaps is too long, at least for me. 07. Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem) A classic posse track, but is a pretty generic one, even for 1990. 08. Mama Said Knock You Out Come on. It's Mama Said Knock You Out. Everyone and their grandparents quote this song. 09. Milky Cereal Is a super creative and funny song, but I don't see myself listening to it often. 10. Jingling Baby (Remixed But Still Jingling) Another cool song, but one I wouldn't listen to outside the album. Probably my favorite instrumental so far. 11. To Da Break Of Dawn Honestly one of the weaker tracks. A diss song like this where it was aimed at several other rappers is relatively novel for the time, but honestly it just didn't really intrigue me until the Ice-T verse. 12. 6 Minutes Of Pleasure Okay you're gonna put six minutes in the title and then NOT make it six minutes? -_- Anyways, something about this song I just really enjoyed. I like the lyrics, and the super laid-back tempo. 13. Illegal Search From my knowledge, one of the first hip-hop songs to talk about something like this. Pretty damn good! 14. The Power Of God Cool way for this to end, as I know religion is super important for LL COOL J. But sonically, this is the most boring and bland here. It's not my least favorite, but it also doesn't sound finished. This album is badass. For 1990, nearly everything here is super cool. But, there are a LOT of misses too. I think it evens out to a nice, even three. It's nowhere near the best hip-hop album ever, but what it did for the genre cannot be understated.

Oh man, I’m so disappointed that this whole record isn’t on Spotify anymore. It used to be. I know this because a buddy got this record about 6 months ago and I listened to it then. I unfortunately don’t really remember much of it. I do remember Mr GoodBar; I like LL alright, but no one ever claimed he was the second coming of Shakespeare, which is super evident in that track. Anyway, the title track is great, the rest of this record is a fun walk down memory lane, but overall, it’s a somewhat forgettable record. 6.5/10

Terrible, horrible. Last 10 minutes felt like eternity.

A godDAMN shame this whole album isn't on streaming. I've always had a soft spot for LL and he's really in his bag here.

Baller album, I wish I could find the acoustic version of this album as well.

Não muda muito da opinião do anterior do Public Enemy, da pra perceber uma diferença mais ‘moderna’ no som porém as batidas sempre iguais me causa um baita cansaço..

Incredible opening track. Nothing else as catchy or immediate as it on the rest of the album. That title track is the only song I knew before listening, so I'm still more familiar with LL Cool J from commercials for NCIS spinoffs during football games than I am his music, but I liked this. I'd definitely listen again.

Album isn't available on Tidal. Onward to SoulSeek

I had been a LL fan since Radio, but this album, the "Comeback" really takes him to a new level. Marley Marl's grooves and beats come hard, and LL matches with some of his best lyrics and toughest poses. "Boomin System" "Cheesy Rat Blues" and title song are all bad. "Milky Cereal" shows his skills with found poetry. "Power of God" finishes this hard. The bassline and the guitar riff are tight.

Album #320 LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out With the name Mama Said Knock You Out and an album cover of a man clenching his fist threateningly, I was expecting some pretty aggressive hardcore hip-hop, the kind of music that if I heard a group of guys listening to in public, I would probably cross the street. Instead, I was met with a rather pleasant album about cereal, chocolate bars, cheesy rats. The samples were good, the bars were funny, LL Cool J’s delivery was captivating, but probably the biggest compliment that I can give the album is that it didn’t feel like it lasted three hours. Maybe I’m starting to like hip-hop more as a result of the forced exposure therapy from this list, or maybe this album is just pretty damn good. Best Songs: Around The Way Girl, 6 Minutes of Pleasure, Mama Said Knock You Out Worst Song: Mr. Good Bar Score out of 10: 6.5

Not for me sorry. Me and Hip Hop just don’t get along.

Okay, I had to go on to YouTube for this one, as LL Cool J's first four albums have disappeared from streaming services for some unknown reason. I'm not surprised to see LL Cool J on this album journey, as one of the first rappers to achieve crossover success. I enjoyed his debut record, Radio, a rich concoction of samples and minimal beats that preceded the golden age of hip hop. That said, I get why Robert Dimery and his editorial team chose Mama Said Knock You Out instead, as the hardcore reinvention of LL's image after the very ballad-heavy Walking With a Panther. It's not a "comeback", as LL wanted to make known on the title track, but it's a much-needed shot in the arm for his career. Speaking of that title track, yeah, it's the obvious big hit, as the inspired blowback against LL's critics that became an enduring jock jam. But there's plenty of other tracks where LL kept a good flow amidst some phat beats, between the opening re-establishment on "The Boomin' System" and "Eat 'Em Up L Chill", his shots against rap rival Kool Moe Dee on "Murdergram", and further refining his jabs at Moe Dee, MC Hammer, and Ice-T on "To da Break of Dawn". But he also took the time to pay tribute to the neighborhood he grew up in on "Farmers' Blvd. (Our Anthem)", showing awareness of the continued racial disparity despite the advances he's made on "Illegal Search", addressing those who took advantage of him for his fame on "Cheesy Rat Blues", and illustrating the importance of his religious beliefs in his life without coming off too preachy on "The Power of God". LL certainly did his best to come across as well-rounded and measured. Yet, as much as LL tried to revitalize his image, some of the cheesiness carried over. Case in point: "Jingling Baby" from Walking Like a Panther reappears here, remixed with a slightly better vocal sample in the background, but the lyrics are still the same thinly veiled request for oral sex between more dissing of other rappers. We also still have the easy-listening R&B tracks in "Around the Way Girl" and "6 Minutes of Pleasure", though at least the beats are still snappy and I generally don't mind them even if they come off incongruent with the rest of the record. But no, my ire is with the two tracks with clear-cut brand-name porn: "Milky Cereal" with its baffling array of breakfast metaphors, and "Mr. Goodbar" where LL used the candy name to highlight his sexual prowess, which certainly went down the drain with the line "And I can't make you, I sure wouldn't rape you". Charming. So yeah, I generally vibed alright with Mama Said Knock You Out, even with its occasional wack moments. LL Cool J revitalized his rap career, though even that would take a backseat to his acting career. Eh, what can you do?

Around the Way Girl Mama Said Knock You Out Jingling Baby (Remixed but Still Jingling)

Classic rap album but honestly only ever really liked mama said knock you out lol but not terrible all together

Some solid classic hip hop. Didn't knock me out but certainly left some light bruising.

Kind of frustrating, the Spotify link to this album is missing a lot of tracks. Overall it's a great album that I think hit nailed the genre where it was at in 1990.

One of the most boring rap albums I've listened to. Entire album isn't even available on Spotify and it was still boring. Title track I've heard before but the rest were super forgettable

Álbum muito potente de Hip-hop. Batidas fortes e muito Groove. Experiência auditiva bem divertida. QkzXHBB Hades.

There's a run of tracks here that represent my platonic ideal for this era of rap and it starts with Murdergram. I can take or leave the lothario stuff that LL was known for.

Couldn’t find the complete album streaming anywhere. What I did find was OK.

This is better then alot but i isn't add anythong

i didnt like that many songs

Memories

OG Classic

Ehhh, not the worst but hip hop rarely ages well.

Huono 1/5

A solid hip hop album that has some really great hits and a considerable amount of filler. A recurrent problem I come up with hip hop albums is that they tend to be very extensive, with the average runtime reaching the hour. Sometimes they work and have a full list of impeccable songs, but there are also a lot of albums like this one, where a lot of the songs don't really add anything valuable to the album. At least in this one there is no track that I'll consider bad, and thank god there is not tasteless skits or interludes. At worst, the weakest songs are still decent, as every beat manages to be very groovy and even funky, and the rapper flow is also very smooth. His lyrics I believe are not his strongest point, often don't really caring what his talking about and not sounding very convincing. At best, there are some bases that actually slap and rapping performances that are very intense and full of style. The first two songs are some of the best examples, starting the album in a boastful way, creating high expectations of what the rest of the record has to offer, with "The Boomin' System" being a very cool into and "Around the Way Girl" having some wonderful memorable R&B choruses. Another two great songs I liked a lot are "Murdergram" and "Mama Said Knock You Out", which are possibly the most aggressive and menacing cuts, specially the first one with the very frenetic rhythm and vocal flow. So overall, I think it is a very decent album. It might be long and a lot of its material may not be very substantial, but they are at least good songs, and the best ones are really really good.

Never really engaged with LL Cool J as a rapper (he's always been more of a 'celebrity' figure to me). But you know what? He's pretty tight. A solid 90s rap album.

Will never listen to this again.

Not for me. It sounds like he’s trying to hit all the tropes of more modern hip hop in the wake of NWA et al, and it not being his bag really. Some of the rhymes are the work of a man skilled with a shoehorn but not so patient as to work out a better option. When it hits it’s great, but there’s about an EPs worth of hit.

Like a lot of classic hip-hop albums on this list, my personal ranking of this album should be separated from the fact that this is a stone-cold classic, a perfect send off to rap's first golden era that hints at what the 90s would become. LL Cool J mah have had the best flow of the 90s if it wasn't for Rakim, and he uses it to full effect throughout this album. While my personal ranking will definitely be lower, just because I am not the biggest fan of 80s hip-hop (that and some of the lyrics that have not aged well, typical for the genre), this is a classic that should be listened to. This is an ecstatic recommendation, even if I won't be listening to the album beside the title track any time soon.

Nah

Only 5 songs made it to Spotify, so I'm only rating those 5, but of those 4 were bangers so one star for each.

637/1089 - Somewhat went in one ear and out the other but I also didn't like the beats and flow if I remember correctly.

Good, but not great

OK. Nostalgia. A bit wall-papery.

Could not find it on Spotify, but remember it from when it came out and wasn’t super impressed.

Somehow this album is not available on Apple Music, so I only listened to the title track, which I found on a compilation called “Mom Songs.” My head canon is going to continue to be that the song originated on Jock Jams and other 90s TV infomercial compilations, and this album never actually existed. I enjoyed this tune and I’m going to extrapolate that the rest of the imaginary album was probably a lot like this so it’s a vibe call. ***

Surpised by this one - I have always disliked LL, didn't expect the production to be as good as it is & LL apperently is good at rapping. the Cereal song made me laugh out loud & the title track has always slapped. 3 out of 5 7.1 out of 10.

When I saw this album come up today, I kind of raised an eyebrow. It’s funny because LL Cool J has become such a familiar, affable television personality that he almost reminds me of Michael Strahan. Strahan went from terrorizing quarterbacks on the football field to being this warm, perpetually smiling morning-show host, and LL has undergone a similar transformation. It’s easy to forget that the guy who now seems like everyone’s lovable TV personality was once genuinely on the cutting edge of hip-hop. But I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something closer to the more rudimentary, old-school hip-hop of Grandmaster Flash and that first generation of rappers. Instead, a lot of this sounds much closer to the early-‘90s East Coast hip-hop that I actually enjoy, particularly A Tribe Called Quest. It’s got that same emphasis on rhythm, groove, and musicality, although there’s a harder, more aggressive edge to LL’s delivery. There are a few moments that veer dangerously close to Fresh Prince territory, but for the most part, I enjoyed it. What really surprised me was how musical the whole thing is. Marley Marl’s production is just relentlessly funky. There are these great, thick bass lines, terrific drum grooves, and occasional bursts of scratching, but nothing feels particularly cluttered. It’s actually a pretty sample-heavy record, drawing on funk and soul artists like James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, but the samples are assembled so seamlessly that they almost sound like a live band. A lot of the time, it’s just this great fucking rhythm section laying down a groove while LL raps straight over it. There’s something refreshingly uncomplicated about that. And LL himself is genuinely impressive. He’s got a terrific rhythmic command of the language, and a lot of his rhymes are clever, playful, and surprisingly funny. You can hear why he was such an important figure in the development of the genre. There’s a swagger and confidence to the whole thing that feels earned, particularly considering this was something of a comeback record for him. Ultimately, I enjoyed this more than I expected to, even if it’s not necessarily an album I’m going to find myself returning to very often. There are stretches where the material doesn’t do a whole lot for me, but the grooves are infectious, the rapping is sharp, and there’s more here for me to appreciate musically than I anticipated. A pleasant surprise. 5.8/10

Not available for streaming on Apple Music so no rating (placeholder 2)

this is very cool!!

Still not a rap fan

Pretty good at points but what the hell is milky cereal?

It's fine. I didn't know any of these apart from Mama... Sounds a bit dated now

This is a pleasant suprise - I enjoyed the album - in the end not quite enough for a four but very close.

Fun but cheesy as expected

Great flow, title track is obviously a banger. Gets slightly samey after a while but it’s a good album to have on while working.

Ok

Spotify doesn't let you hear the full album, and that's fine.

Probably very influential but just sounded like a pretty standard rap album to me.

Mama said. Great album

Old school hip hop. I only liked a few tracks on this. The rest were not really my taste.

Nope

Unavailable. Automatic 1 star. I'm not searching the world to listen to an album.

That title track is so darn iconic. Sure, LL Cool J's other material is fine, but man, Mama Said Knock You Out is just pure hip-hop perfection. The same goes for two or three other songs here. The album as a whole presents listeners with a pretty deep chasm between the best and worst songs, but it all balances out to 3 stars in the end. The Boomin' System starts us off with the lo-fi production that we've come to expect and love from the golden era of hip-hop. And that bassline is so damn good (not to mention well-recorded) that J even shouts it out in the lyrics. Around The Way Girl is even better; the bassline jumps around like nobody's business, and now we get a serious melody. At least, in the chorus. A high drone synth plays a suspended chord in the verses, setting up that release in tension in the chorus. I'm not fully convinced by the "chilllllllll" hook in Eat Em Up L Chill, though the verses admittedly slap. Not sure if the guitar line is sampled but it's very strong. Mr. Good Bar, unfortunately, doesn't have much going for it. All the various features repeat to no end (well, until the end of the song), particularly that alarm-like thing. Kind of annoying. Murdergram has a similar issue. J gives us little in the way of melody – or really anything memorable to make the listener want to return to the song. And Cheesy Rat Blues, too. A rough streak on the album, for sure. Fortunately, Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem) closes side 1 on a pretty catchy note, with a couple of groovy guitar and piano lines sharing the spotlight. Like I mentioned above, the title track represents everything great about early golden era rap/hip-hop. It seems a select few rappers have recognised that countermelodies in backing vocals (Ah, ah, ah, ah) make all the difference. The angry baby in each bar of the chorus, much like the horrific triangle part in Yeah! (Usher), is very annoying but also so iconic that it almost works to the song's benefit. Plus, the hook lyric is hilarious. No notes. Milky Cereal is pretty funny too, though considering the lyrics go "Milk / Cereal / Milk / Cereal (baby)" (etc.), the title is slightly wrong. Still solid. Or liquid, I guess. Jingling Baby starts off fairly unconvincing, but wow, that instrumental break. I think it's a keyboard/synth sound? Regardless, very catchy, and I completely understand why it's one of the more popular tracks. Then To Da Break Of Dawn comes in swinging with a repetitive yet sexy guitar line. Nothing much else of note there. 6 Minutes Of Pleasure has a bit of a scammy title, seeing as the song's length is only 4:35, but the sound itself is surprisingly soulful, kind of Marvin Gaye-esque. The use of mainly real instruments makes for a great choice here. Illegal Search, while a bit frenetic, contains a great bass groove and drumbeat that contrast nicely with the silky smoothness of the previous track. The Power Of God is a little repetitive and lacks the bombast needed for a closing track. 3/5 Key tracks: Around The Way Girl, Mama Said Knock You Out, Jingling Baby, 6 Minutes Of Pleasure

Good but overall not as good as his contemporaries. LL Cool J's flows are enjoyable but not terribly inventive and his samples tend to be somewhat more repetitive and less interesting. His rhymes tend to rely on a great deal of repeated rhyming endings, seemingly changing it up when he runs out of steam; it's a bit old-school. Similarly, he's rhythmically straightforward: he raps along at the same rhythm and time as the sample. There's no no half-time, no double-time, relatively few triplets and just no wandering off on something polyrhythmic for a brief jaunt. To some extend, Cool J is a good example of why Snoop Dogg was such a revelation: rhymes everywhere, rhythmic tension and release, etc. Still, a nice rap record that stands up to 36 years of aging (it is currently 2026). Good, not great. But spare a moment to consider the balls required on a guy to perform under the name Ladies Love Cool J and to make that true every show.

Not really my cup of tea, but that is the joy of this challenge!

Album is so awesome (especially Farmers Blvd.) and he’s a legend bc he’s in Renny Harlin movies and Rollerball 02 (even though he publicly disowned it 😟)

so apparently this guy put out like a really good album in 2024? isnt that so random. Hes pretty good and has a very entertaining cadence. kinda makes sense that hes an established actor now eh.

The title track literally blows every other song here out of the water

It sounds like something to build on.

I’ve used these reviews to explore my own history with music and the whole idea of enjoying music. Drawing on my experiences and views. This well.. it’s fine. I’ve never listened to it before and I’ll never listen to it again

With the exception of the title track (which is great), solid if not spectacular. Loses a point because an artist of LL Cool J’s cultural standing and sellouthood should really have all of their albums on streaming.

1077 - "Here's your juice box and orange slice. Thanks for coming."

Rollerball star LL Cool J???

Rap. Only mitigating factor is that he's called James Smith.

Great

This album, on the Def Jam label, presented LL Cool J as a very different prospect compared to his late 80s stuff that I recall being out of sync with the likes of Public Enemy. I've had three rap albums from the list in the last four days and this definitely has the most musical use of samples to my ears and has far clearer production and balance than 'It takes a nation of millions'. I still don't find a hour of it easy to take, but it was more manageable than Monday.

Crazy. This is the first album I actually could not find ANYWHERE on the internet. YouTube, soundcloud. Everywhere, scrubbed. Like 1/3 was still available to play, including the title track. And based off that, man LL Cool J was great for the time. I hope his old stuff becomes available again. 4 Boolean: True

5/10 I've not heard much from LL Cool J in the past to be honest, and I'm more familiar with his work as an actor. His music career straddled the early days of mainstream hip-hop, which I often feel doesn't age all that well, particularly from a musical point of view, with limited variety and a slight over reliance on short sampled loops that repeat ad nauseam. To be fair, that's more a symptom of the limited equipment available to those early producers, but it hasn't necessarily helped the music to stand the test of time. This record does suffer a little from that issue, but not quite as much as I'd feared. There are some great grooves scattered through the tracklist and I often found myself bobbing along to the beats, even after they started to become a little stale. As a rapper, Cool J is a little on the limited, Will Smith end of the scale. There's not much in the way of rhythmical inventiveness, with a fairly consistent cadence and bounce to the flow that, while pleasant enough in small doses, does feel a bit too on the clean and poppy end of the spectrum. As the record progresses, we do get a bit more range, and the live track jumped out as an example of him giving things a bit more drive and aggression, which worked really well. From a lyrical point of view, things veered between moments of seemingly self-aware wit and humour to some that were toe curlingly cringe worthy, with the odd dose of flat out misogyny and off hand references to sex crimes. It's a real mixed bag and I wish he'd stuck more to the light hearted approach that gelled more successfully with his vocal style. So it's a bit of a mixed bag, all in all. There are moments of quality in there, but there are also times when things lull or drag a bit too much, which is an issue that's exacerbated by the over long runtime. I think this probably stood up far better in 1990 than it does today, but there's still enough in there for me to appreciate, if not completely get on board with. I probably won't be digging much deeper into Cool J's work, but this was worth a listen from a historical point, if nothing else. The Boomin' System - Well it’s a pretty cliched late 80s/early 90s hip-hop track to kick things off. The grooves are of course decent, because they’re pinched wholesale from some great funk and soul records (with James Brown’s Funky Drummer as the main beat), so that’s to be expected. Aside from that, there’s not a lot of range or excitement to be found here and Mr Cool J very much sounds like he’s going through the motions, which is a bit weird. Around The Way Girl - Now I want to listen to the Mary Jane Girls. Again, some great samples and at least our main man has bothered to get up off the sofa to deliver his vocal this time. He does remind me an awful lot of Will Smith in his delivery, and this feels a bit like that kind of pop-rap stuff that Smith excelled at, but with a bit more dirt to it. It’s not bad, even if it’s not the kind of thing that really floats my boat. Eat Em Up L Chill - We’re solidly back in the mid 80s with this one. It’s pretty repetitive and while the central groove isn’t bad, it does get pretty stale fairly quickly. Lyrically, he feels quite limited too. Not much to get worked up about here. Mr. Good Bar - It’s another that has a good groove that gets old fairly quickly. Cool J gives a bit more bite to his delivery here, but you’ve got to question a guy who, in writing a song in which he’s chatting up a lady uses the lines “I’m in the mood for a tuna melt” and “I sure wouldn’t rape you” within about five seconds of each other. Yeesh. He’s not a good lyricist and there’s not even any real charm to this either. Murdergram (Live At Rapmania) - Ok, so he can actually rap. Suddenly, in a live environment, Cool J steps it up with pace and rhythm to his delivery, and a bit more passion and inflection to his vocal. Musically, this does sit very much in the repetitive late 80s/early 90s hip-hop school, but it’s a pretty good example of the genre and he’s getting me back on board a bit now. Cheesy Rat Blues - Ah, so this is where Run The Jewels got their name? The groove here is solid and there’s a bit more drive and bite to the vocal, which is good. It’s helped with a bit of backing vocal work that adds depth to the mix. He’s still working in the clean, rhythmically unadventurous style that I most associate with Will Smith, but I can understand why that style of rapping works with a mainstream audience. It’s just a bit safe for me. Not a bad track though. Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem) - We get some guest rapping performances no that give this a bit more zip and interest. The underlying groove is solid yet repetitive as usual. It’s got enough quality and funk to it to keep your head bobbing, which is good, and there are some little breakdowns to break up the sections a bit. Not too bad. Mama Said Knock You Out - The fact that the main sample just loops round and round for the entire duration of this song really doesn’t help it at all. It’s a shame really, because it’s a good groove and the extra scratching and other sound design work does give this more range. Cool J has also upped his game too and brought some of that live energy from Murdergram to the studio party. It’s pretty decent stuff despite that main loop doing its best to drag down the quality. Milky Cereal - Ok, fair play to him, this is quite silly and charming. It’s got a good wit to it and, while the main groove is fairly limited, the lilt and punch to the vocal delivery sells it completely. While this may not be something that’ll go on my regular rotation, it’s pretty enjoyable stuff. Jingling Baby (Remixed But Still Jingling) - It’s easy to get stuck into the same repetition that I moan about in music when reviewing some records, particularly hip-hop ones that rely so much on sampled musical content. I’ll try and avoid it from hereon in. This isn’t bad, and there’s at least a bit of range between the sections and the rapping performance has a bit of zip to it. It’s not bad stuff really. To Da Break Of Dawn - It’s a cool, funky groove and the sax work breaks this up really nicely. There’s a nice bit of bounce to the groove and the vocal delivery has a nice bit of pop to it too. While it’s not the most rhythmically interesting of tracks, it has a bit of charm and playfulness that works pretty well. Not bad really. 6 Minutes Of Pleasure - There’s a bit more musical range to this and, while it’s a bit poppy and lightweight as a rap song, it’s got a bit of charm and a decent groove. The synth sax bit is fucking awful though. Hilariously so, actually and I can’t quite tell if that’s what they were going for. Aside from that, it’s another fairly unremarkable, but decent enough bit of work. Illegal Search - We’re back in the land of fairly bland 80s hip-hop stylings. The groove has decent bounce to it, but it’s all a bit safe and rhythmically, it doesn’t really offer a vast amount in the vocal. I don’t dislike it, to be fair, but it’s not the kind of thing that I’m going to ever fall in love with, I don’t think. The Power Of God - It’s a fairly slow jam to finish off and I can feel that LL is trying really hard to be deep, but he doesn’t seem like it’s something that he can pull off at all. It just comes of as insincere and, frankly, it’s pretty boring too. This album is too long already, and this really doesn’t help it.

I like the beat, that's about it

J’ai l’impression d’avoir deja entendu 20 albums comme celui ci, pas de pépite, une boite a rythme qui se repete beaucoup, tous les sons se ressemblent. L’un des pionners du pop-rap.

Ladies love Cool J because he used to have some hits! This is a solid hip hop album from the golden age. Top tracks: "Around the Way Girl," "Mama Said Knock You Out," "Jingling Baby (Remixed but Still Jingling)"

"The Boomin' System": fun bass line driving the action "Around the Way Girl": solid. "Eat 'Em Up, L Chill": head bopper "Mr. Good Bar": cheesy but the beat sustains. "sure wouldn't rape you"? uh, good to know, LL "Murdergram (Live at Rapmania)": I don't buy his "hard" attitude but the beats hit "Cheesy Rat Blues": "Run the Jewels"?! I appreciate the self awareness but the beat has fallen off here "Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem)": here we go. head bopper. this hits hard "Mama Said Knock You Out": I need a My-Mom's-Favorite-Rapper celebrity boxing match between LL and Ice Cube "Milky Cereal": the beat is good again but this is way too cheesy. was he trying to get a licensing deal? "Jingling Baby (Remixed but Still Jingling)": I definitely don't buy everything LL says lyrically, but the dude has good musical instincts "To da Break of Dawn": solid but nothing special "6 Minutes of Pleasure": appreciate the saxophone. also appreciate this is not actually six minutes. I like this, real smooth. my flavor of cheese "Illegal Search": both wholesome and based "The Power of God": don't really relate to the religiosity but the sound is sleazy. I dig it

Around the way girl and mama said knock you out are 2 of the best songs of the 90s. Unfortunately the rest of the album suffers from being meet in comparison. As the 90s drew on ll cool j would release better albums but no songs would top the aforementioned barnburners

A bunch wasn’t on Spotify for some reason

Not on Spotify fully

Mr. Cool J doesn't seem to want me to listen to this full album without putting down cash for it so I can't really review it. The scraps I found on YouTube seem fine so uh 3 I guess

Yes please knock me out

L has a great flow. This is still dated, but fun!

This is the hardest I have worked to listen to an album for this list. The full version doesn’t seem to be readily available on streaming anywhere. I had to go song by song based on the tracklist. Could you imagine? Anyway. It was sort of worth the effort. More forward-thinking, production-wise, than other rap albums from this time, though there’s still plenty of late-80s on it. He’s also funny and not so self-serious, which goes a long way. It’s at its best when it isn’t trying to be sexy or whatever.

Great energy in the delivery. Nice punchy beats too.

Hipp Hopp ist still not my favourite

I found this very inauthentic at the time because LL Cool J hadn't tried to come across as a hard gangsta before but in retrospect it's got bangers.

1990 east coast hip hop, Everyday detail w remorseless rhythm Around the way girl Mama said knock you out %o the break of dawn

still don't get the like for this style of music. "mama said knock you out" was a pretty decent song though, albeit a bit repetitive. Most of the songs on this album were not available on Spotify so I didn't listen to them - not a huge loss

Can't find the full album on Apple Music and Spotify has several tracks missing. The title track is an all time banger. The songs I can hear on Spotify are solid early 90s rap. Feels like this is here because it's an artifact of the time, not really because it's a great album.

pretty good

Everybody loves this early 90s classic

Better than Coldplay

Album is not available via Apple music! what!? anyways I know how legendary of an album this is. WOuld've been nice to listen to it

Some classic tracks, but never my favorite from back in the day.

Title track is a tune

Not the best hip hop album