Mama Said Knock You Out
LL Cool J
1990
Album Summary
Mama Said Knock You Out is the fourth studio album by American rapper LL Cool J. It was produced mostly by Marley Marl and recorded at his "House of Hits" home studio in Chestnut Ridge and at Chung King House of Metal in New York City. After the disappointing reception of LL Cool's 1989 album Walking with a Panther, Mama Said Knock You Out was released by Def Jam Recordings on September 14, 1990 to commercial and critical success.
WikipediaThe 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
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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
Competent rap but not my style. A bit aggro masculine. Did not finish.
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.
I knocked out Bald Bull during his bull charge in Mike Tyson's punch out right after "Don't call it a comeback"
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.
I never would have sought this album out, but I really enjoyed it. It had great flow throughout and good beats.
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!!
Great LL Cool J album, almost just as good as his debut (Radio, one of the best rap albums from the 80s).
Verrassend goed album eigenlijk ondanks dat ik over t algemeen niet de grootste LL cool J fan ben. Duidelijk uit onwetendheid en dus misplaatst.
very solid overall, couple weird songs but definitely golden age hip hop
Solid album. Better than I expected. Got some classic bangers. 7.5-8/10
I had two songs favorited on album. I favorited a new one when listening to the entire thing, for the fist time. So, pretty good but not life-altering.
This is a solid groove right between the gangster hop of later rap albums and the older sounds of earlier hip hop. Murdergram is a nice change from the more laid back rhythms. Mama Said Knock You Out is one of those cultural touchstones with a huge reach. Illegal Search is 31 years old and still applies to today.
I really liked the samples on this, overall it was a fun listen. Even when it’s corny (which is often), it’s still pretty entertaining, although Milky Cereal would be an easy skip . 8/10
Classic Hip-hop. Uncle L's flow is unmatched in today's era of rap where you can barely discern the lyrics, LL enunciates every line beautifully. A man before his time, this album doesn't sound like it was made in 1990. Best songs = Mama said knock you out & Round the Way Girl.
Love me some 90s hip hop complete with hilariously cheesy lyrics. Wicked.
This album was more fun to listen to than I was expecting and I really liked finding a rap album that didn’t overly rely on cussing throughout each song.
This is terrific. Classic beats (praise to Marley Marl), entertaining lyrics, smooth delivery from the one and only LL. The influence of this album on hip hop was massive - you hear beats and lyrics later ‘borrowed’ by other artists but also the style and swagger. LL raps about anything, broadening rap’s horizons. Such an enjoyable, fun album. Groundbreaking. Loved it. Stand outs - Mama Said Knock You Out, Around the Way Girl, Mr. Good Bar
Big fun 90s hip hop vibe, absolutely banging backing tracks with some tasty bass lines.
ll cool j doesn't hold back rapping over funky beats. mama said knock you out is such a great tune, if you don't like it, there's something wrong with you. bit too long though
Thanks to albums like this one is that I’m starting to really apreciate hip hop.
Some songs I wasn't a big fan of, but overall this is solid '90s hip-hop. I will say I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I feel like I'm saying that about a lot of albums here, but preconceived notions are TOUGH to overcome!
LL is the original rap star. Good album. Lyrics are a little corny for 2021 standards, but for this time LL comes off original and sells his identity well.
Because the opening line of the title track is "DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK!", I had assumed this album came a considerable amount of time after LL's last. It was little more than a year - and in the 80s/90s, that was short. But when gangsta rap reared its head in the late 80s and Ladies Love Cool James's loverboy schtick was looking dated, perhaps it felt like a cultural comeback. The album proved that LL could navigate the new hip hop landscape and deliver something as hard and defiant as the title track. But at the same time, he showed that he could make the ladies love him in a way that those gangsta rappers could only wish. (Case in point - when I was 15 I was OBSESSED with "Around the Way Girl" and had a dumb crush on LL. Hey, he had it!) The Mama Said album is LL Cool J in his imperial phase, showing his skill as an MC, a lyricist and his (and his producer's) ability to deftly mix rap with pop stylings.
Pretty killer rap album. Couple off tracks here and there. The title track is 10/10. Album holds up.
A hot slice of G-funk. Didn't expect to like this as much as I did but I got right into it.
Ladies Love Cool James manages to nut a commodious autonomic album full of great tracks
I thought the album was fine, never really cared for LL but the rhymes are nice. Still has a very 80s sound of hip hop. "Around The Way Girl" is my favorite song on the album. 7/10.
Åter igen. Old school hip hop är det coolaste vi har. För bra! + tänker bara på kultklassikern Kangaroo Jack när jag hör mama said knock you out. Mm helt sjukt hur bra smak jag kan ha?
LL Cool J is probably one of the more underrated rappers in hiphop. He did not seem to make a grab at the headlines as much as his contemporaries did, but that does not seemed to have made a negative impact on his resume. Disclosure: First exposure to LL Cool J was his song with Boyz II Men "Hey Lover". Late night radio on the local Top 40 station for the win. "Hey Lover" is on another album though, but it serves as the blueprints for how this review approaches "Mama Said Knock You Out". Rap music and the wealth of catchy phrases and quips that make it into the modern lexicon are on full display here even thirty years later with "Don't call it a comeback!" on the title track. LL Cool J has an amazing voice with near crystal clear clarity. While the lyrics are not complicated, the delivery by LL Cool J is rhythmic and on time. This is a fairly great representation of what may have been hiphop's most appealing era where it was a balanced mix of fun and inviting with stories happy, sad, and socially aware. A key example of where this album remains socially aware is "Illegal Search" where LL Cool J chides the stereotypes by which the black community is essentially punished for being successful, or even just appearing to be. Crossed T's, dotted I's notwithstanding, he laments angrily the sort of gauntlet that they have to navigate just to verify that. Interestingly enough, the following track "The Power of God" contains a message of hope, an exhortation of sorts acknowledging the struggles and temptations of his early life but documenting his commitment to stay above those things, to maintain focus on the "power of God". Overall, the album is a great listen on par with his 90s contemporaries where messaging and storytelling take precedence on the whole over the single. These days are truly missed.
Nek sam se ja na MSN-u zvao LL Cool L, ah. Dosta sam njegovih albuma preslušao, nisam detaljno većinu, ali se uvijek znalo nać par pjesama koje sam si stavljo na plejliste, ali to je davno bilo kad sam ga baš slušao. Mama Said Knock You Out je izvrstan klasik, spot, uvijek slika ostaje te boje spota. Nisam očekivao da će album biti malo udaljeniji od njegove klasične r&b/love story + hip hop sheme (za kojom bome nisam lud). Album definitivno može biti kraći, pjesma-dvije definitivno ne bi falile ako bi se izrezale. Sve u svemu, drago mi je da je malo skrenuo sa svoje rute glazbe pa izbacio malo jači hip hop album što se tiče samog sebe.
I love this album. Early 90s had more fun than a lot of modern rap. LL Cool J was a really fun rapper before he turned into a "meh" actor.
It pretty good album. I am not the biggest LL Cool J fan but this album does have his best overall song. I would definitely listen to some of the songs again
Fun 90s hiphop. Some good beats, some good rhymes, some total cheese, but it's all good.
Wasn’t looking forward to more rap, but this was good! Got a little bored here and there but mostly into it. I liked the smoother jams like “Around the Way Girl” and “6 Minutes of Pleasure” a lot!
Really enjoyed the first two and a few of tracks near the end but got a bit bored in between. I like his smooth sound.
Used to listen to this albums quite a bit back in the early 90’s but admittedly, it’s been at least over a decade since my last full listen of it. Great beats, dope rhymes. Still a great album all the way through. The fact that Run the Jewels took their name from a line in “Cheesy Rat Blues” tells you how influential this album was.
the name LL cool J reminded me of a C tier famous person in bad mtv shows, but this album is surprisingly good. Lyrically very nice and the beats are also creative enough.
Never knew how far back in time LL had music! Old school style for sure. Pretty clean overall, beats and lyrics.
Finally, some hip hop! After trying to get through fancy pants Rush for a few days, the steady beats of golden age early 90s rap is just what I needed. I’m learning some things about myself with this whole processs - namely, I don’t want my music to be some sonic journey, I want my music to be simple. Simple simple simple but you know, simple but interesting isn’t so easy! Enter rap! Give me that beat, that hook, and let’s not let go of it for four minutes! Old school rap just scoots me along, pushing me forward through the haze of tween sleepovers, dirty dishes, dog diarrhea, and unread email. Just like in the streets! So, now we see why this era of rap is the ultimate culmination of all greatest music - peak melodic perfection, boiled down and distilled into… um, peak melodic perfection. But let us now come to Ladies Love Cool J. If only I could sexually harass women the way he does and have them laugh and tell me I so crazy. If only I had the swagger to rap a song comparing women to breakfast cereal. For the entirety of the song. LL is not one finds himself at the emergency vet at 6am on a Saturday, LL probably has a perfectly calm and dangerous Rottweiler that never eats garbage and that the ladies equally love. I have emotionally neurotic belle, who growls at small children. But me and belle both have LL, and his masterful collection of pop rap gets us through. We don’t need to actively listen to innovative artistry that push’s the bounds of music, we need to listen to music. Good music that sounds even better around the way with the jinglin babies in a booming system while eating milky cereal and telling every female that my name is Mr. Good Bar.
I like this kind of rap, just that late 80s/early 90s thing before G-funk took over the entire genre. I've never heard this album but it really ticks the box. Would be a full score except it's just that bit too long. 4/5.
Ihan letkeetä menoa ja en juuri muuta muistanut kuin tuon suurimman hitin.
Probably my favourite 90s hip hop album on this lost (so far) some good rhymes, beats, bass. Some annoying tracks. Not really something I'd listen to regularly.
Selvästi paras listan tähänastisista amerikkalaisista rap-levyistä. Letkeän groovaavaa menoa ilman suurempaa angstailua ja uhoamista, vaikka levyn kannesta tulikin hieman pahat etukäteisvibat. Biiseistä jäi mieleen erityisesti Around The Way Girl. Tähän voisi jopa palata myöhemmin joskus!
No offense kinda corny but so were some of the early Beatles songs can’t fault LL for trying his hand at something that went from a fad to an institution.
Eh, not really my thing. For the first 5 tracks I was seriously thinking of awarding 2 stars because it just seemed like unreflective brag rap with fairly basic rhymes. It did approve a bit after that. Fave track - "Cheesy Rat Blues" - a much more interesting listen than most of the other tracks. Plus it's where Run the Jewels got their name! The title track is also a pretty good tune, tbf
No one of the great rap artists in my opinion, and not one of the greatest albums. This is actually LL's last good album.
At least 3 stars for the title track alone. The other tracks are a lot of fun. I love 90's rap, and I feel like this album starts to bridge the gap between old school and more 2000s-style gangster rap. I wish I knew more about the genre, I feel inadequately equipped to fairly appraise it.
Probably the first time I've given this dude an extended listen. Around the Way Girl is a classic.
I liked the R&B style beats but some of this was extremely corny and grating. 6
Torn... I wanted 4 but just can’t. If MTV unplugged was in then it would be
Fairly middle of the road 90s hip hop - title track is the clear stand out.
A real evolution of LL's craft as seen on "Radio" - lots of great beats and rhymes delivered with the utmost conviction.
Viel me alleszins mee. Moest grinniken om teksten als ‘I’m hot like pastrami’. En wat was er de hele tijd met Fendi-tassen?
De titel-track is echt een geweldige classic. Maasr de rest van het album vond ik ook nog best te pruimen. Beetje gedateerd, maar niet zo schreeuwerig en van die stoerdoenerij als bij veel andere rap uit die tijd.
Cool! Mama said knock you out! Dat is echt nostalgie. Rest van de plaat wel ok.
ll cool j oder j rocs kuseng. nowateimsäin. Das Album schiebt den Hosenbund zurück auf den Hüftäquator. Olde schule, ziemlich fly und cool, j. Abseits des geglückten Inhalts spricht mich auch das Cover an. Können diese Lippen küssen? One can only dream.
I’ve never liked LL Cool J’s persona, too much, “c’mon girl,” too cool for school swagger. But, I can’t deny this album, solid samples, great production, only a few songs dated and LL’s glow isn’t too bad. Quite a few catchy songs. I would say this album isn’t really my cup of tea, pretty straight forward and it was way too long. I found my ears creeping away and listening to other things. I would’ve cut out a couple of songs, the more dated ones, from the end. Overall I was impressed but not floored.
It's all right -- catchy, good sound and rhythms. Can't say I really relate to the lyrics. Probably a 3; we'll see if there are more songs that jump out at me besides "Around The Way Girl" and "Mama Said..." It was pretty good. 3 is fine.
Admittedly had this playing as more of a background album so didn't really take in many of the lyrics. Some solid early 90s hip-hop sounds, though. Best track: Around the Way Girl
A couple of stand out tracks buried amongst a lot of tracks where I struggled to connect with or even process the lyrics. The Power of God is a great song though and just about pulls up the album up to 3 stars.
Decent instrumentals, but like a lot of the rap from this era, it feels incredibly dated now.
I liked some tracks as time capsules of 1990, but the whole album got too "cheesy" for me.
Pretty fun album actually, a lot better than I thought it would be. I'm probably not going to go out of my way to put it on, but I enjoyed it.
De old school vibe vind ik altijd leuk; maar het was weer iets te lang
“I want a girl with extensions” (Around the Way Girl). Boy, nothing dates the album like this. (Although, to be fair, the diversity of hair clip use these days could give this line a new lease of life…) The very conservative use of samples and loops makes me realise, belatedly, that this album was pointed directly at the mainstream. Got there just in time too - The Chronic and Gangster Rap reshaped that landscape just a year or so later…) On the whole, a period piece rather than a classic. Mama Said Knock You Out is still banging, tho…
Liked it a lot more than I thought. A couple of stand out tracks. Mr. Goodbar Murdergram
3.3 - A commercial breakthrough for hip hop - "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "Around the Way Girl" were on constant blast, even in my white town. LL Cool J cultivated just enough of a bad boy image to appeal to the youth without scaring our parents. Artistically, this album sounds stale. Songs revolve around two themes: "I'm a great MC and a cool guy (PS: you're neither of those things)" and "I have sex."
Most rap albums get 1 or (rarely) 2 stars from me and I only listen to about a minute of the first 4-5 songs. This album on the other hand I found absolutely decent and only skipped forward once or twice and otherwise listened to the whole album. I'm still not a fan of rap and I wouldn't actively listen to this album again. But it was totally fine and I didn't mind it at all, which is more than I can say for 95% of all rap.
Some songs were very powerful (title track, Illegal Search) while others were dated and did not age well (6 Minutes of Pleasure that clocked in at under 5 minutes, casual sexist mentions.) A conflicted 3/5
I like this much more than I expected. There's some filler, but the combination of beats, samples and lyrics often works extremely well.
Not a big rap guy so it's always hard to judge a genre I don't really enjoy. Still this had good beats. Wasn't always a huge fan of the lyrics, but the production was good although it suffers from that 90s era run-time length. It didn't need to be 60
Wasn't sure at first, didn't sound like anything special but I was enjoying it by the end, got some funky fresh sounds. LL Cool Jay did a rap with Elmo on Sesame Street once.
I actually got really into this by the end - and I enjoyed the variations of the samples. Fun and funkayy!
This is tricky to rate... I love Around the Way Girl love the beats love the energy in general and the samples. Howeverrrr I don't like the aggressive masculinity or the fact that that was so acceptable in the 90s. Hm I'll have to go in the middle I think but it's a shame because I feel super strongly on both negative and positive sides!
When it's good (Opener, title track, anywhere he's trying to start a fight) it's great, but there is a lot of filler on here. It's probably the first real attempt to make rap pop. Half the album goes from good to brilliant, but there's also some overlong attempts at romance or comedy, neither of which land particularly well. But again, at its height it's ace.
No es malo, realmente no es malo... pero yo no soy de hip hop, ni rap. Me gustó pero solo eso
Dobar je al se ne bi nikad vratila na njega. Mama said knock you out je klasik pjesma.
This was so edgy when it came out. Now it sounds like hip hop with training wheels on. It's so innocent, it's cute. The production still sounds great, and the title track still kicks ass.
Dude was hungry while writing this album. Food references dropped everywhere
Ladies Love Cool James but I thought this was only ok. 90s rap gets pretty samey after a while. Ofc Mama Said Knock You Out is great
I don't really care for rap, but I do like LL Cool J. And I love the hook of the title track.
LL Cool J kind of makes me giggle. I think it is something about his ?sexy? smile. Anyways, the album was fine but maybe not the most engaging. I mean, I found myself really wanting to skip to the end of some of the tracks, once I got the hang of how they sounded.
90s hip-hop is just such a vibe. I've gotta be in the mood but when I am nothing else scratches the itch. Lyrically I'm kind of lukewarm on this album by and large but his flow and the beats are on point.
He sounds "hard and funny" and raps about "crass materialism" and "life's simple pleasures". Okay... (5/10) FT: Mama Said Knock You Out, Around the Way Girl
Album is pretty good, but it was good to learn about LL Cool J's early career.
Bailed out of the first listen. Came back the following day to give it another crack, and it's actually pretty smooth. I didn't like the album too much, but it isn't bad and came away with some songs saved to the playlist. Guess stuff like this is what the generator is about.
Historical artefact this, from I guess when major labels still wanted rappers to produce MTV-friendly fodder rather than controversy. LL is an engaging enough presence, but NWA were about to blow this kind of rap completely away. Only one track with an explicit warning! Bless.
Decent early rap release, but doesn't reach the heights of some of his contemporaries, like Tribe, De La Soul or Eric B & Rakim.
early 90's rap had great beats and nice mixing. LL was not bad as well. good stuff
Outside of the title track this album suffers from being a little corny. There are a few gems throughout this but otherwise it just doesn’t work that well.
This album is the exact definition of a 3 stars. Tracks are not bad, not solid, just enough to be good and enjoyable. Not a masterpiece, not a bad album. In fact, I have nothing to say about it, positive or negative.
If you're in the mood for some rap then this is a good a place as any to listen to some
This album dates from the middle of my high school days, but I was too busy listening to God knows what (although this was also my Bangles phase, which I don't regret in the slightest). So besides the title track, I hadn't heard any of this album. "Second wave" rap like this - after the early pioneers ("Rapper's Delight", anyone?) but before rap took its hard "East Coast vs. West Coast" turn later in the 90s still really shows its roots as improvised street poetry from the Bronx. I mean, you still get lines like "your rhymes are so cheesy, you found them in a mousetrap", which would be unthinkable coming from Biggie or Tupac. It didn't take itself so seriously, but at the same time being serious. So while I don't LIKE most rap, I definitely RESPECT rap as an art form - I mean, the Illiad and Beowulf were basically "rapped" for hundreds of years before they were written down in their final form - as bards improvised their lyrical rhymes to tell the story. This stuff has a LONG history. So, because the day was so busy, I ended up listening to this in the car with the kids - as Claire aptly put it, "I don't know if I like this, or hate it" - agreed. I don't think I'll be pulling this up, but like Alex said, "it make sense that this would be on the 1001 list".
Some bangers on here, overall nothing too thrilling to me though. 3.5 rounded down.
A few really good tracks, and a lot of bloat. Nothing here really astounded me, but it certainly wasn't a bad or unpleasant experience. That cereal track was so stupid, it wrapped back around to hilarious though.
Gangsta rap may have been conquering the charts, but a few lighter efforts like this one managed to slip by. LL sounds like he’s having fun, and the beats are mostly decent, but there are too many misogynistic and clunky lyrics to call this a truly classic album.
Hasn’t stood the test of time. Boring by numbers hip hop. I remember it as better than it sounds now
Amazing that this is what rap was. Bass, drums, one did who I can understand
Didn't do much for me. Title track slaps. Neat to hear where "RTJ" comes from. The beats sound like they would be background beats for every alt 90s/early00s tv show/movie. In other words, I bet Spike Lee loves this album
El rap mai m'ha atret. Quan he vist que em tocava escoltar un altre disc d'aquest estil, m'hi he resistit. Finalment, però, l'escolta ha resultat més refrescant del que esperava. M'ha agradat la producció, les línies de baix, els samplers. En alguna ocasió m'ha fet pensar en els Red Hot Chili Peppers... És un disc de rap força tranquil, molt més soul que per exemple el dels Public Enemy. No aconseguirà que em capbussi en el rap, però he de reconèixer que no m'ha desgradat del tot.
4/10, was much too long. Milky Cereal was pretty funny, and generally liked the bits where the lyrics were just dumb jokes, which was most of it. But, it wasn't funny enough or interesting enough to work for a whole hour. I don't know that I agree with the reviewer here who thinks LL Cool J played Warhammer in high school, but I'll bet he at least did all the assigned readings in English class, like even when they were Jane Austen.
Pakko tunnustaa, että vähän negatiivisella asenteella lähdin kuuntelemaan, joten saattoi olla hankalaa sitten vaihtaa sitä ennakkokäsitystä. Sinänsä leppoisaa flowta, mutta ei kovin mukaansatempaavaa. Ja se funkin ja laulelun määrä meni vähän yli. Teemana vähän pehmeämpää kuin monet muut listan gangsta-suuntauksen levyt. Levyn kohokohta oli sanonta "Wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight". Olen luullut että se on Jay-Z:n oma läppä 99 Problems -biisistä (2004), mutta näköjään se on löytynyt jo tältä 1990 julkaistulta levyltä.
Niet voor mij; behalve het refrein van zijn hitje vind ik er weinig aan.
Tja, niet echt stoer, beetje Will Smith-achtig. Ik was er snel klaar mee
Ladies love Cool James, but Josh isn't the biggest fan. Some catchy tracks, but a little too sexy for my sexless sensibilities.
Bit of a struggle to get through the whole of this whopper. Enjoyed some of the tracks, beats and the odd line but it didn't grab me.