Marley Marl returns to produce most of this after the success that was LL's previous album, 'Mama Said Knock You Out', but a larger number of other producers lend a hand. DJ Bobcat, who co-produced LL's best song, 'Mama Said Knock You Out', produces four songs and Andrew Zenable, Chris Forte and QD3 also add their creativity, so as was the trend in hip hop, artists were getting more people on their production team. LL was criticised when this dropped for jumping on the gangster rap trend by acting harder, but he had hardcore hip hop on his previous albums, so I think that was unfair.
As all of his albums had leading up to this, the first song is a banger, but 'How I'm Comin'' is better than what he's had before. If you're a fan of '80s/really early '90s beats, then you may disagree, but for me, despite LL being a great MC, his earlier albums don't have great enough production to be considered great albums. With this dropping at a time when beats were in many ways the best they have ever been, it gives this album more of a chance to be great.
As mentioned, the opener here is fire, as is the following 'Buckin' Em Down'. LL follows on from 'Around the Way Girl' to continue to make good pop rap with 'Stand by Your Man'. Then, while every song isn't amazing, the quality is consistently at a high level and it is before LL started going more and more towards pop rap. I have to give a shout out to the closing track, 'Crossroads' that is quite striking and monumental. There are a couple of slow moments though with 'A Little Somethin'' and 'Straight From Queens' dragging on.
A lot of of this project is just LL spiting hard rhymes, over mostly hard beats, and as vocally LL is one of my favs on the mic, this is my pick from his discography. Some of the production, particularly on 'Buckin' Em Down', reminds me of early Naughty by Nature, who are another favourite, lead by the inventive and ahead of his time, DJ KayGee. While I'm mentioning KayGee, 'Funkadelic Relic' is a dope jazz rap influenced song and LL's flow on it reminds me of Treach from Naughty by Nature. Come to think of it, LL would have sounded great over Naughty production. It's a shame they never collaborated.
Beats: ★★★★
Rapping/Bars: ★★★★☆
Hooks: ★★★★
Best Tracks: How I'm Comin', Buckin' Em Down, Pink Cookies, Funkadelic Relic, All We Got Left Is the Beat, Crossroads
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