His previous effort is undoubtedly one of the few hardcore records of the first half of the nineties not to have been appreciated by critics and fans. Two years later, LL Cool J decides to give up and move on to pop rap, soft rap, his rap, the most authentic one for him, the one for girls. For his fifth studio album, the rapper recruits Trackmasterz, Rashad Smith, Easy Mo Bee, Chyskillz and Chad Eliott into production. Guests are Boyz II Men, LeShaun, Terri & Monica, Keith Murray, Prodigy, Fat Joe and Foxy Brown.
The album opens with a tribute to Ennio Morricone's theme for the western masterpiece "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", then it's all for the ladies. "Hey Lover" and "Doin It" are the two main singles, both certified platinum, the cut with Boyz II Men is a slow and light-hearted pop rap song, which wins the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1997, while the one with LeShaun is a vicious rnb track performed back n forth with melodic samples. There are some dark touches in the disk, and LL proves he still knows how to rap especially in the middle section. "No Airplay" stands out among the best pieces thanks to a solid soundscape, dusty dry midtempo drum, good melodic sample from The Emotion, confident energetic rap by the MC. The track is followed by "Loungin", dark and modern production, Rashad Smith's glossy boom bap, consisting of drum uptempo and dark touches, inspired rap by Mr. Smith, hook pop soul, lush by Terri & Monica, lounge vibes.
The music carpet sewn largely by Trackmasterz is faithful to the rapper's tradition: jazzy, rnb, soul and melodic samples, scarce and hard downtempo drums, minimal boom bap rhythms. LL is no longer as forced as before, here he's comfortable, relaxed, paradoxically, there are some better hardcore performances than in his fourth effort. Although, he understood that his career is over: in the intro he laughs wistfully, knowing that this will be his last real LP, and on the cover he's sitting, looking down, hands on head, as if to say, "it's over, I know, incredible right?!? My name was Smith, for the uninitiated", and the title is placed at the bottom with a faded font, is disappearing into the background, is about to be deleted and replaced with "That's All, Folks!" or something like that, he never had much imagination for the titles.
The whole album maintains its reputation thanks to a cut that is so good that it seems to have been dropped from the sessions of "Mama Said", "I Shot Ya". Pearl of Trackmasterz. Poke & Tone take Lyn Collins' "Put It on the Line" sample and highlight the piano keys and place a simply louder drum on it. End. The sample is excellent, the drum machine sounds dusty, dirty, midtempo, flawless, the rhythm is a masterpiece, it can go by itself. LL Cool J enters hardcore with his slow rap and he's not wrong, he's not too tight, he doesn't have the same style as five years ago and this allows the rhythm to breathe smoothly.
The remix that closes the album is even better. The Trackmasterz don't touch the rhythm, unchanged from the original, with elegant piano and NY drum. Intro by Keith Murray, dropping hard bars with a hardcore, inspired, slow, regular style. It follows Prodigy; the Mobb Deep rapper at the time had a beef with Keith Murray: he kills the cut with a sharp, smoothness, dope flow, and is credited with being the first MC to rap about the Illuminati in this verse. The third rapper is Fat Joe, who enters in a powerful and energetic way, with the hunger of those who want to arrive and brings out one of his top performances ever. He delivers with a great flow, has a verse that's awesome. Too good, the fact that he never follows his usual rhyming pattern, even once, makes you doubt that he wrote his own verse in his own hand. Foxy Brown goes on, flow lush, regular, velvety, is in The Firm mode, mafia click, clearly inspired, then LL closes the remix, tight, hardcore. Dope cut.
Released by Def Jam, the album is an international success, ranking on three continents, ripping certifications in the UK and Canada, achieving platinum in two months and double platinum in less than a year. It reaches the top 20 of the pop chart and the top five among rnb records. Welcomed by critics, the project is seen as the last good album of LL Cool J's career and his latest as a notable rap artist in the scene: it's a sort of second comeback album in a five-year span. Can I call it a comeback this time?
Rating: 6.5/10.
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