Mama Said Knock You Out

Better actor than rapper. And he is not a good actor.

LL breaks new ground and pioneers "sexy rap". NWA talks about bitches. Beastie Boys want girs to do their laundry. LL is here to wear a Kangol hat give your girl a dozen orgasms. Fun and very consistent album. B

The album is too long, and a lot of the material either didn't age well ("I sure wouldn't rape you" as a pickup line? Yikes) or is super corny (Milky Cereal, among others). There is no denying the power of the title track, though. Best track: Mama Said Knock You Out

I knocked out Bald Bull during his bull charge in Mike Tyson's punch out right after "Don't call it a comeback"

Holy damn wow. 1990?! 1990!!!!???!?! The whole album is good, with incredibly clever, powerful rhymes delivered perfectly, the mixing is great, the samples are minimal but effective--this is the perfect rap album, and I can't believe it happened in 1990. LL Cool J is the father of modern rap, and it's right here in this album. When he does the obligatory "I am the greatest at this and you suck" rap songs, a weird staple of all rap albums, I JUST NOD AND AGREE.

Such a clear portrait of the transition from 80's hip hop to 90's hip hop. At times feels like listening to two different albums on shuffle. That sounds like a knock, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My first real exposure to LL Cool J's music was when I saw his performance of "Mama Said Knock You Out" on MTV Unplugged in 1990 and it blew me away. Listening to this album all the way through serves only to make me more of an admirer. Such great music, lyrics, performing, fun, depth, all of it. Loving the groove, loving the energy in his voice; just really loving this album.

Having just gotten to Mr. Good Bar, I have to ask... how can anyone find this anything but incredibly cringey? Some hip-hop acts from this era have aged pretty well... Rakim, Run-DMC... but the punchiest moments on this album feel like Will Smith trying to be Ice Cube.

I'd rather have mama knock me out than listen to this shitload of crap again.

I don’t know what I thought LL Cool J sounded like but it was not this. Pleasantly surprised by the banger beats and his flow. “Around The Way Girl”s’ chorus was so smooth and weaved perfectly into the song at the right times. His lyrics are witty and full of finesse. This is possibly one of the biggest surprises so far with just how much I enjoyed this. “Milky Cereal” is probably my favorite song on the album. It was basically banger after banger. I found myself nodding along to every song and will probably relisten to this album a couple more times. 10/10

Ladies Love Cool James.... As for me? Not so much. His music has just never done it for me. Mama Said Knock You Out is great and there’s a few other good tracks here. But there’s probably a hundred or so rap records I would listen to before this one

Top classic hip hop

All the bad traits of 90s Rap that killed Hip Hop. The tracks were ok but the lyrics were crap. Also the line "I Sure wouldn't rape you' is worrying

I remember listening to this as a teenager. It was ok then, but didn't pass the test of time. Not only are the lyrics trivial, but also very sexist.

Pretty shite. Run of the mill, cliched, insincere tat. Mr. Cool wreaks of desperation, wanting to be in the cool gang but probably spend his high school years playing Warhammer.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Hell yes.

Loved this. Eastside rap was a lot more cosmopolitan than west, and I preferred its sound. Mama Said Knock You Out still sounds great, while Milky Cereal is great fun.

Awesome hip hop album

Competent rap but not my style. A bit aggro masculine. Did not finish.

Pretty cheesy tbh

Badass old school hip hop. Really dug the album

A blueprint.

Great Hip Hop

Deep Blue Sea! He’s real! Rapping about milk and cereal my fave

This album strongly reminds me of the late 00s, possibly the early 10s as I used to have this album in rotation for my drives to work. I'd often drop off my housemate at his work while on the way to the office while this album was playing, and his office was best accessed via a lay-by clearly signed as being "No buses". We would always shout "fuck you, no buses!" as we pulled into the layby, because clearly we weren't even in a single bus, let alone multiple buses. Anyway, this album is just fun. It makes you glad that you're listening to it.

Just the epitome of that era of hip hop. The lyricism is clever, the production is simple yet great, and LL Cool J is obviously one of the best to ever do it. What I didn't expect was the range of song themes and tones. I expected the entire album to be somewhat similar to the titular track but there was a broad range of different themes and emotions that really added a lot of depth to the album. Truly one of the greats.

I am unabashedly nostalgic for this album and the era of hip hop it came from. This came out just when I was just beginning to develop my own musical consciousness apart from what my parents put on. I know every one of these songs despite never having owned a copy of the album myself. I had friends who had the cassette, and we were too young to have much money, so we'd all buy different albums and share. Plus the videos for the singles were all over Yo! MTV Raps and the video jukebox channel. LL Cool J is severely underrated. He, and this album in particular, was a fucking juggernaut when it came out. I feel like around 93/94 any rap that wasn't overtly gangster became viewed as somewhat passe, even in retrospect, which is a shame. Dude was a pioneer and he played a big part in popularizing hip hop with a mass audience. His delivery is iconic, particularly on the ferocious title track.

So fucking good. 5 stars.

amazing

They don’t make hip hop like they used to…

Classic. This one comes with special memories

I love this album! Remember when he performed Mama Said Knock You Out on VH1 Unplugged? Yeah, he was part of the first rappers to do unplugged shows. Also hard to compute that “comeback” was even a part of this. Around the Way Girl makes me FEEL. Ugh. This album has sexy, fun, hard vibes throughout. Listened to it several times!!

Yeh, something else. 32 years old my arse. Still so fresh.

I never would have sought this album out, but I really enjoyed it. It had great flow throughout and good beats.

Classic old school rap album.

Assured and aggressive but still approachable and amusing.

Förvånansvärt bra old school rap.

Great old school hiphop

I think it was this version of "Jingling Baby" that a friend put on a beloved mixtape he gave me when we were teens, and a nostalgic joy hit me when it came on here, as I hadn't heard it in over a decade; I never knew it was LL Cool J, though I knew his name. Such swerve, the samples career and race. Much of this album is like that, though it is 20 minutes too long.

Pretty enjoyable, with some excellent parts (title track is an all-timer) and some terribly-dated cringe ("Milky Cereal", "Mr Good Bar" - a chocolate bar, for those non-US people - with the choice 'I sure wouldn't rape you' lyric; thanks, LL!). I prefer the previous "disappointing" (?) Walking With A Panther but this has enough classic '90s production to keep its average up. However - pro tip - the excellent "Def Jam 10th Year Anniversary" box set has all the LLCJ you'll ever need.

Is it just me or is the most famous track on this record (the title track) the weakest of the bunch? Also, I appreciated the Bartles and Jaymes reference in “To da Break of Dawn”, but that’s because I’m old and the first sip of alcohol I ever had was a Bartles and Jaymes wine cooler I stole from my parents at a Fourth of July Barbecue in the early 90’s. The music is pretty good, the lyrics mostly are dated and of their time at best, 3 stars.

I enjoyed the beats. Don't know what he was saying to much. Something about ice cream, riding the bus and raping a woman. xXxplicit

I’m in my LL Cool J appreciation era for sure. I def undervalued him as a rapper bc growing up I knew him more as a cheesy action star/ubiquitous CBS personality. But this man has serious skills. The lyricism and storytelling are a cut above. The beats are funky fresh and playful as hell. It’s not just the ladies, listeners love cool j, too!

God damn is LL Cool J funny as hell. So many hilarious lines. This guy is a rap OG and after a few years of getting made fun of LL had enough and shit on everybody who doubted him, creating an album that inspired every rapper who heard it. Legend

Wonderful.

defining Rap album!!

Damn ok

Nobody's calling it a comeback, sweetie. This is the album that legitimized Rap Music, proving that it was not just a fad. LL Cool J elevated Rap as both an art form and a commercially viable genre. With unstoppable beats and and a flow to match, this album planted its flag not just in urban neighborhoods, but also the suburbs. Interesting fact: "Mama Said Knock You Out" was released on the same day that Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a helicopter crash. There's probably some sort of symbolic correlation there.

awesome

Knock u out

This man is horny. I wanted to give it 4 stars, but the titular track pushed it over to 5.

While not as legendary as other acts from the east coast hip hop scene, this album is still a good time from front to back. 4.5 bumped to 5.

I’m at a 4.5, and I wish I could leave it there, but I’m gonna be that guy who goes up to a 5. This album feels like a very distinct bridge between the 80s and the 90s – I’ve mentioned before that Run-DMC made commercially viable hip-hop possible, N.W.A. gave rap the blueprint to have the amount of edge you’d find in albums to come, and A Tribe Called Quest provided the perfect melding of both. This album feels like the bridge between N.W.A. and A Tribe Called Quest – not necessarily in terms of subject matter (though some of it overlaps), but mainly in its production. A lot of these tracks feel blended between the late 80s style (heavily sampling just the drums, more stunted and less melodic flows, long verses without a break) and the early 90s style of production (effective use of pauses, more melodic flows, more diverse sample use). It’s a really interesting listen for that alone, but what drives this album for me is how effective it is at managing to blend the two in a way that still feels classic and fresh – stuff like Mama Said Knock You Out and Around The Way Girl are the two foremost examples for me, though I’ll throw a quick shout to “6 Minutes of Pleasure” as well. I don’t think there’s a bad track here, just a few that aren’t as melodic and more driven by wordplay, and to each their own when it comes to that sort of thing, but I tend to enjoy both. I think LL Cool J’s flow is great on most of these tracks, and when it’s not as good, the lyrics do carry it (save for that godawful "I sure wouldn't rape you" line). The beats are relatively diverse, but a few of them sort of fall into that “mainly sampling just the drums” thing. I just really enjoyed it – I really wish I could keep it a 4.5, because in spite of how much I enjoyed this, I don’t think it’s quite at a 5, but it definitely feels like it should be higher than a 4. I don’t mind going up to a 5, but I can see this falling on any subsequent listens; for now, though, I liked it enough to give it a 5. Someone will probably give this a 3 to balance me out.

Very cool, head bopping good hip-hop

This ended up getting about six or seven plays, and it got better every time. Favourite tracks: pretty much all of them. It's such a solid record.

Solid, old school, hip-hop album. Sure, a couple of songs are a bit goofy (looking at you "Milky Cereal" and "Jingling Baby"), but the first bunch of songs are so strong you can almost forgive their goofiness. Almost. One of the good things about the album, I wasn't waiting for the "hit," the title track, which is so undeniable. The first bunch of songs were just as good: "The Boomin' System" slams, "Around The Way Girl" is a great, cool song, "Eat 'em Up L Chill" is a good egg-em on song. The groove to pretty much every song I enjoyed, I can see how this album was such a success, even without the title track. The two songs I mentioned "Milky Cereal" and "Jingling Baby"... yeah, they're goofy. But I still kinda liked them. The album is replayable. There's no skits or goofy stuff that breaks up the song that you want to skip on a replay. Classic album, really enjoyed it.

I've always have a bit of admiration for old school hip hop, but i never haerd the music of LLcoolJ, a guy that i discovber not musically but in the crime serie NCIS Los Angeles. The songs that i like: The boomin' system is very groovy and rythmy, prefect intro to the guy. Around the way girl, the sample on it and the RnB sound is so chill and cool. Cheesy Rat Blues also bennefit for, his incredible flow. Mama said knock you out is the title track and one of his most famous, honnestly its not better than other song, but the verses, the sample and the chorus is peak so yeah it deserved the title track. Illegal search also benefit from cool lyrics, flow and sample. LLCoolJ have a solid flow, could be agressive and provocative, could be very lover and smooth, very mainstream in the form but still pretty obvououssly from the street it came from and that why its so good.

Oh my heavens! I had A GREAT TIME listening to this! FIVE STARS

Absolute classic from the GOAT. Ladies love cool James for a reason.

I bought this on release (vinyl) and listened to it a lot. Sad to say it fell out of my rotation and I probably last listened to the complete album 20 years ago. What a fool I've been. An absolute masterpiece, not one bad track.

I thought it was good wouldnt really call it rap more like MC

Great LL Cool J album, almost just as good as his debut (Radio, one of the best rap albums from the 80s).

Can't beat a bit of LL Cool J

I'M On My Way To Tounes Taw. Work Work Work

Good

I am unabashedly nostalgic for this album and the era of hip hop it came from. LL was never my favorite, but this is the pinnacle of his work as the East Coast transitioned from 80s to 90s rap. The title track is still a banger and the MTV Unplugged edition is even more iconic! 4⭐️

classic 90s hip hop album! i feel like a lot of current rap artist pay homage to this album in a lot of ways. clearly was extremely influential in the hip hop/rap scene

I think I'm already on record as saying that I really like any rap song in which the rapper proudly describes himself as 'funky' - so when LL informed me in the very first track that he 'gets funky, frequently' I was very much in. I know that my rap opinions are invalid because I liked this more than Wu-Tang. To me, LL seems like an ancestor to Drake. Especially on songs like 'around the way girl' He's a smooth dude who likes the ladies not just for their bodies, but for their minds and personalities too. That's how I like to think of myself too, come to think of it. And the ladies love cool Frank too.

it's kind of crazy this is from 1990, you can hear a lot of what will come in the late 90s and early 2000s, which is generally my least favorite era of hip hop, but this is much more varied sonically and with a lot more of the humor and playfulness later mainstream rap lost and never quite regained. it is overly long though, especially considering there are some (in my opinion) obvious stinkers that break up the album flow and could have been cut with no loss whatsoever

Pretty good

Well, this is certainly an interesting album, even though I can't say that I find it all that engrossing. LL Cool J very much feels like he's caught between hip-hop's past and future here. At times he shows the intensity of gangsta rap, but the lyrical style often sounds more like the 80s than the 90s. The sampling is using a lot of well-known songs, much like groups like Tribe and De La Soul were using at the time. It's a weird little time capsule that doesn't feel connected to any particular movement in hip-hop, but rather straddles several of them. I don't think I'll ever listen to this album again, but I have to admit that my initial skepticism that this doesn't belong on this list was unwarranted. It feels like it represents a true inflection point for hip-hop 4/5

Perfect!

It's got a lot of hip hop classics.

Otroligt bra hiphop, inga skits direkt (som jag minns). Lite för långt

Mama needs to take a long hard look at herself.

more on points than a k.o.

Fav song: Around The Way Girl I was expecting not to like this album but was really pleasantly surprised! Around The Way Girl is SUCH a banger. I loved the production on this album and that early 90s vibe.

Tough one... the highs are great. Boomin system, around the way girl, jingling baby, mama said knock you out. The lows are low - Mr. good bar, milky cereal and others. Hard to deny how popular and important this album was at the time though.

Mama Said Knock You Out was a surprisingly very good album. I didn't have the highest expectations going into it in which i was expecting to only like the back half but a good majority (if not all of it) turned out to be very good. The beats all were really cool sounding and the only issue with them is that they could get a little repetitive but it was rare. The main selling point of this album though, was the rapping itself. The LL Cool J had some really good flows and somehow he could manage to make them sound so good without swearing all that much which is difficult for a lot of rappers to do. Aside from the repetition, There isn't really anything for me to complain about so all I'll say is its a really good album. Best Song: Mama Said Knock You Out Worst Song: Mr. Good Bar

I had never heard an LL Cool J album, though I knew about three songs on this album. It's hard to listen to music and not be familiar with Mama Said Knock You Out and Around the Way Girl. Some of these lyrics were fairly cheesy, especially Milky Cereal, which should have been locked away never to be heard again. This is not the most gracefully aged album of rap, especially when compared to Public Enemy and other albums in this book. LL Cool J was never the most talented lyricist and his lyrics can be cringy on this one as well. Overall, there are more songs that I liked on here than those I did not enjoy.

8/10

You can add LL Cool J to the list of artists I never thought I’d see on here. Most people my age probably don’t know who this guy is. And for those slightly older, he probably sticks out more in their mind as an actor than an artist. Similarly to Ice-T. But at one point, he was one of the few rappers in the game to really achieve success early on, and acted as a poster boy for Def Jame Records alongside the Beastie Boys. I honestly had zero expectations for this. Because really, what am I to expect from this man of all people? I knew him for one song, and one song only, and couldn’t even begin to speak on the rest of his career or catalog of records. But I’m actually glad to say this was a pleasant surprise. Of course, nothing Earth-shatteringly good. But it gets off to a really strong start, and is consistently entertaining until nearly the half-way point. The latter half isn’t as strong or memorable though. Marley Marl was not a familiar name to me either, but production on this is relatively solid. Some, if not most of these instrumentals are potentially a little repetitive, but they do the job right. And I think overall, this acts as a really interesting bridge point between the early days of hip-hop and the more aggressive, boom bap and hardcore affiliated, sound of the 90s and 2000s. It still contains some of the tongue-in-cheek goofiness of that earlier era, some of which has debatably not aged all that well. But his lyricism and delivery are a lot more intense and charismatic than I imagined they would be. I don’t know if I would call this an absolute hip-hop essential. But for those who really wish to get a deeper look into every time period and moment of the genre, this isn’t a bad option. Rating: 7/10

This album feels ahead of its time for 1990. Really dig it. Title track is fantastic!

DONT CALL IT A COMEBACK

Not really what I expected, but it is 1990. lots of great songs, hype. last few songs are really boring tho. Favorite songs: the boomin' system, around the way girl, eat em up l chill, murdergram, mama said knock you out, jingling baby. Overall around 8/10

This was cool. Didn’t feel dated at all and I don’t mean that sarcastically. I enjoyed all but the last song. LL Cool J puts the “cool” in cool, I suppose. Heh. Anyway. 4/5

I wonder what my friends had to say about this album

It's curious. Put this album on, and tidal waves of nostalgia hit me. Yeah Gods...it's 34 years old! The music does feel a little "basic hip-hippity", but that's a measure of how much music was affected by this album / era of black music. Musically, it's still a banger of an album, but it's doesn't feel as earth-shattering as it once did.

Classic old school 90’s hip hop. Definitely a trailblazer of the genre.

Surprisingly solid. Don't get me wrong, the album's a bit too long, there are some cringe lyrics here and there. But it's an interesting time capsule. It really feels like a transition between 80s rap (see "Eat 'Em Up L Chill" or "Murdergram") and 90s rap (the more RnB and jazz-influenced tracks). Some of the samples on the latter are almost ethereal, definitely the highlights. The title track stands out as well, not really fitting into either of the two categories. It's aggressive and playful in a strangely compelling way. Fav tracks: Around the Way Girl, Mama Said Knock You Out, Jingling Baby (Remixed but Still Jingling), 6 Minutes of Pleasure

classic

Smooth, muscular, and very fun old-school rap. This feels like a major vibe and sound shift from most of the other 80s rap I’ve heard on the list, as full bass-driven beats dominate here. LL Cool J isn’t exactly a virtuoso, but he’s still a charismatic and talented rapper who sells every song successfully. Best song: Mama Said Knock You Out

Still musically solid (the title track is one of the all-time great bangers) and lyrically clever enough to surprise a laugh when you least expect it. A seminal album for good reason!

Illin'

oOoo. This is an interesting mix of 80s/90s right during that transition. Title track is a classic.

Hip hop classic. And brought back the painful memory of having a name too unusual to get mentioned in ‘Around the Way Girl.’

Having only heard the song "Mama Said Knock You Out" and a couple J-Lo collabs, I didn't really know of LL Cool J's real hip-hop prowess. But this album sold me as a fan. He has a flow that could fit in anywhere from the early 80s to the mid-00s while still having that old school rap attitude. J also showed his vulnerability with some softer, R&B sounding tracks on this record too. Definitely worth digging deeper into his work for me. Notable Tracks: - The Boomin' System - Around The Way Girl - Murdergram - Mama Said Knock You Out 7.5/10

This slapped with the exception of Milky Cereal

Hilarious time capsule.

Gotta love LL. Verses are great, but choruses get a little repetitive. Around the Way Girl is an awesome chill song. Momma Said Knock You Out is always a banger. Milky Cereal is pretty funny. The slower jams are definitely better, but all around good album. Best song: Around the Way Girl