Aiight ya'll...we're down to the top 10. Now this is when cats start calling me crazy, stupid, dumb and stop coming through here and following me on Twitter cause cats don't agree with the picks I'm coming up with but it is, what it is. So with the #10 pick in my top 20 MC's EVER list is Ladies Love Cool James.
Now this is one of those choices where this is strictly about skills cause truth be told, LL is not one of my favorite MC's. And that's not a knock on money cause I mos def respect what L has done for the game (which is why he's so high on the list) but he's just never been one of my favorites. But who can deny L's legacy in the game? We're talking about a dude who came into the game in '85 at 17 years old and sold 1.5 million records of his debut album "Radio." Did ya'll get that? Money sold 1.5 million records....at 17 years old...in 1985! Ya'll do realize that hip hop was still relatively underground in '85 right? It was hard enough for cats to sell 1.5 mil in '95 when hip hop was a world wide phenomenon but to sell 1.5 mil in '85 is out right f-cking AMAZING! Then he followed up "Radio" with "Bigger and Deffer" (which had everybody wanting to go out and cop a red Audi...come on, I know it wasn't just me) that ended up selling 2.3 million copies. No need to go into how amazing that was (and keep in mind I know these numbers are up to present date which means all of these units weren't moved at the time but the moral is L was mos def moving units and going platinum in the late 80's) and truth be told, I actually like "BAD" better than "Radio." (and I'm sure I'm in the minority with that statement) Plus this dude basically invented the "hip hop love ballad" with "I Need Love" that EVERYONE else went onto bite (my personal faves being Heavy D's "Don't You Know" & Sweet Tee's "Why did It Have To Be Me?") so by his 2nd album, dude is already pioneering things in this hip hop game.
I have two specific memories about that album, #1 is I remember listening to the song "I'm Bad" a MILLION times cause it was the first beats where I knew where the sample was from and #2, I remember copping this vinyl from Cheltenham Mall and being the first on my block with it and my next door neighbor Wayne asking could he borrow it. Now Wayne was 4 years older than me and was the neighborhood Debo, so when he asked could he borrow it and all I heard was "nigga give me your sh-t!" So, I'm like "aiight Wayne you can borrow it but I want it back tomorrow." And he's like "yeah, I'll give it back tomorrow. And ALL night I just kept thinking, this dude is gonna jack my LL album and what am I gonna do about it? I don't even think I slept that night cause at 8am I was up bright and early knocking on his door for the album...and he actually gave it back! Aiight, enough reminiscing...
So, after "BAD" this dude drops "Walking With A Panther" which was wack as hell (but "Droppin' Em was hard) cause dude took the "I Need Love" jawns to whole another level this go 'round. This was around the time L shocked me with what he was dropping cause I remember the "Less Than Zero" soundtrack dropped and Public Enemy and LL were featured on it and PE gave us "Bring the Noise" (which is one of my fave PE tracks) and L gave us..."Going Back to Cali?!?!?!?" I was like "what is this crap?" Money's done. And THAT'S when I wrote LL off. But one thing that I and the rest of the hip hop world would learn is that you can't, or rather shouldn't write off LL. Next up for LL was the classic "Mama Said Knock You Out." (yeah, this jawn gets 5 mics from me) The wild thing is I know a RACK of people who don't like this album which is crazy to me cause this is a PERFECT hip hop album in my eyes. L covered all bases on this album and satisfied everybody without selling out. (and for the record, the title track "Mama Said Knock You Out" ain't no sell out jawn) But again, after droppin' a classic here's comes L with the wack follow up with "14 Shots to The Dome." Yeah, it gave us "Back Seat of My Jeep" and "Pink Cookies in A Plastic Bag" (the remix not the album cut) but outside of those jawns this album was trash. L ain't come with it, Marley ain't come with it...it was just trash. And at this point I realized L was an every other record cat. Money would put out a banger, then a brick, a banger and then another brick. So according to my math, L's next album should be dope right?
Well, "Mr. Smith" was mos def a better album than "14 Shots To The Dome" and even though it was produced by the Trackmasterz and was VERY radio and loop friendly, I could actually tolerate the jawn. Not to mention we got probably one of the dopest posse cuts for a minute with the "I Shot Ya (rmx)" with Keith Murray, Prodigy, Fat Joe and introduced us to Fox Boogie. (who cats thought was Shyheim when we first got the promo in the mail at 88.9) But ya'll know what's coming next, yup another brick. In fact, 6 more bricks to be exact. But I can't even hold those 6 other albums against L. Money moved onto Hollywood and it was like he was just dropping records for either the hell of it or to finish out his contract for Def Jam but what I do know without a shadow of a doubt is that LL is a top 10 MC. And my bad, did I forget to mention the battles? Yeah, battles as in plural. While the average MC doesn't even have any battles under his belt, LL has 3 and money not only won all 3 battles but basically deaded the careers of Kool Moe Dee, Ice T AND Canibus. Now what other MC has that kinda rep under their belt? No one. And the battle that impresses me the most was the Canibus one. With Moe Dee, money was on his way out the door anyway and it's not like anyone REALLY took Ice T serious as a MC (and those 2 comments aren't meant to take ANYTHING away from LL winning those battles) but Canibus was suppose to be the next one. The next Rakim. The next lyrical god. And I know myself along with EVERYBODY else had their money on Canibus to CRUSH LL but what did I tell ya'll earlier...ya'll can't ever count LL out. So anyone who didn't think LL deserved to be this high on this list, prayerfully after reading this 10 page book I just wrote, you've changed your mind but if not it is what it is. Front all you want but LL deserves to be right where he is. Salute.
My Favorite LL Cool J Quotable:
"No rapper can rap quite like I can
I'll take a musclebound man and put his face in the sand
Not the last Mafioso I'm a MC cop
Make you say, go L.L. and do the wop
If you think you can out rhyme me, yeah boy I bet
Cause I ain't met a motherf-cker who can do that yet
Trendsetter I'm better my rhymes are good
I got a gold name plate that says I wish you would
And when rap begin then I gotta join in and
Before my rhyme is over you know I'm a win
Cool J has arrived so you better make way
Ask anybody in the crowd they say the kid don't play
Sparring competition that's my hobby and job
I don't wear a disguise because I don't own the mob
Got a pinpoint rap that makes you feel trapped
So many girls on my jock I think my phone here is tapped
I'm Bad."
"I'm Bad" - LL Cool J
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