~Happy bday LL COOL J!!!

this is when this dude ruled hip hop...i spent many a middle school day carrying a far smaller/inferior boombox around and even more evenings memorizing all his lyrics...

...yes, "i need love" too.

dont hate meh...appreciate meh




LL's GOLDEN YEARS...(no pun intended) =P

from (wiki):
Radio (1985)

Radio was released to critical acclaim, as LL Cool J was one of the first rappers to use conventional song structure to make pop oriented rap.[9] "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells" were successful and helped the album go platinum with 1,500,000 sales.

Bigger and Deffer (1987)

In 1987, he released Bigger and Deffer. The ballad "I Need Love" was one of the first hit pop-rap songs. Also featured on the album was "Go Cut Creator Go," which pays homage to the DJ. The album was met with commercial and critical acclaim going 2x Platinum. The album sold about 2,300,000 albums. In 1998, The Source Magazine named it as one of the top 100 albums ever. At this point LL was on top of the rap world, and was making frequent appearances on television shows and on radio as he was being featured on other Def Jam artists' work.

"I Need Love" was the second single from LL Cool J's second album, Bigger and Deffer. The song is considered the first rap ballad and was released in the fall of 1987. It reached #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop charts and was a well-received single on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, reaching #14, while becoming one of the first rap songs to enjoy mainstream popularity in the UK, reaching #8 in the UK Singles Chart. The single won a Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap - Single in 1987. The song was parodied in 2000 by Brooklyn rapper Necro in his song "I Need Drugs", which alters the lyrics to a narrative of a man's addiction to crack cocaine. The song ranked #13 on the 100 Greatest Rap Songs.

Walking with a Panther (1989)

LL Cool J would return in 1989 with his third album, Walking with a Panther. The album featured the hit singles "Going Back to Cali," "I'm That Type of Guy," "Jingling Baby," and "Big Ole Butt." The album was a commercial success. This album came out during a time that the West Coast hip hop scene was beginning to really become popular and its gangsta themes were dominating radio. Despite this, the album went platinum with 1,100,000 sales.


Be Golden