LL Cool J's second album, "Bigger and Deffer" (1987), became a huge commercial success, selling over two million physical copies domestically, spending three months at number one on the R&B chart and peaking third on the pop chart. Produced entirely by DJ Pooh and LA Posse, the only member of the group available to continue working on the New York rapper's next album was Dwayne Simon, unlike Darryl Pierce and "Bobcat", the latter was considered the mastermind behind most of the Californian production team's beats, as the other two wanted to receive greater compensation for their significant contributions, being disapproved by Def Jam executives. The set was therefore entirely handled by LL Cool J himself, supported by Simon and with additional production from Bryan Philpot, Rick Rubin, and The Bomb Squad, Billy "Spaceman" Patterson on guitar, David Tobacman on keyboards, and Tony "Funky Drummer" Walls on drums. There were no guests.
Third album for LL Cool J, four years after his classic debut that smashed the genre. The young man — who has just passed the age of 21 — finds himself on the street, at night, dressed in a rainbow scheme that's illegal in 142 countries, stopped in an alley with a suitcase next to him, to which open handcuffs are attached, crouched in front of him a black panther wearing a necklace of gold.
But what title would come out, huh? Crouched with a panther... sounds bad. So, «Walking with a panther». Well, that's acceptable. Like the album, acceptable. And it's really a great pity, because on paper it's one of the best records of the year, however, it's seriously mined by three bad landmine-ballads ("You're My Heart", "I'm That Type of Guy", "One Shot at Love") that ruin the atmosphere of the album, lengthen it making it pretty irregular and cripple it: due to these soft-pop rap songs dedicated to the female part of the paying audience, in one fell swoop LL lost credibility on the street and between the true heads.
In any case, he goes platinum, so whateva? The production, made by LL Cool J himself, is funky, minimal and decent, it uses alternative samples that so far no one has used in rap (without giving up on George Clinton and James Brown) by building a variegated and flowing aqueous solution: it uses the classic skinny beat — which in 1989 is a bit out of its time — with a skeletal and minimal drum machine, above which he provides some dissing and braggadocio lyrics, rarely leading to other themes, delivering with a fresh, light-hearted and smooth rapping thanks to which LL proves to know how to do some great hardcore rap, when he's in shape.
Supported by seven singles, most of which charted, including "Going Back to Cali", featured on the soundtrack to "Less Than Zero" (1987), and "I'm That Type of Guy", which topped the rap charts, the album was released by Def Jam and Columbia, climbing to #1 on the rap chart and staying there for a month, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200, becoming one of the best-selling albums in its home country and also doing well in Europe.
Renowned for being considered one of the New York emcee's best efforts and for being one of the first attempts at a crossover album in hip-hop, the project was particularly well-received by critics, especially the less competent ones, while it was received with suspicion by fans and despised by purists due to the high number of ballads it contained — not even The Real Roxanne album released the year before, featured so many. These purists felt that with this release, LL Cool J undermined his credibility as a rapper. He would make up for it with interest on his next album.
Highlights: "Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?", "Going Back to Cali", "Def Jam in the Motherland".
Rating: 7/10.
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