Original review: From a purely vocal point of view, LL is one of my favourites. He just has a good voice to listen to over a beat. Generally though, recently LL beats are disappointing either because he goes for overly poppy stuff too often, or they are just fairly generic. This album, largely produced by Timbaland though, has some reasonable stuff. I have always loved the opener, 'Headsprung', which is a good banger. 'Rub My Back' is also enjoyable and may remind you a bit of some of Timberlake's Timbaland produced beats. 'I'm About to Get Her' is one of the worst tracks on the album, it's more poppy and fairly boring, likewise with 'Every Sip' a few tracks later. Then 'Move Somethin'' takes it back to the opening two tracks mood with some more quick drums and could almost fit into the banger category. It isn't as good as the first two songs though.
'Hush' is one I enjoy, I heard it long before I got this album and have enjoyed it since then. LL has a good flow on this beat and it's a good pop rap track. From there, 'Shake It Baby' is okay, 'Can't Explain It' is average with a more slow seductive beat created by Timbaland, and 'Feel the Beat' again ain't too bad, but I don't think it'll have people coming back for repeated listens as the beat is a little monotonous. In the remaining two tracks it heats up a bit again after a few average tracks. 'Apple Cobbler' is one of the better tracks but still nothing outstanding, and '1 in the Morning' is likewise. On the whole, there ain't a lot to get excited about on LL's eleventh album. It falls down in the middle way too much and with only eleven tracks it should be much more consistent. Some nice stuff as mentioned that elevates the overall rating, but there's nothing sensational. I'm torn between a 2.5 and 3 for this but given I wouldn't play half of it again and the best stuff ain't great a 2.5/5 is fair.
Best Tracks: Headsprung, Rub My Back, Move Somethin', Hush, Apple Cobbler, 1 in the Morning
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2022 Revisiting review: From memory, this was the first collection of songs I heard from LL Cool J. As I revisit this album, I think I was a little harsh on it when I listened years ago. The first thing I noticed is that the album starts off how a hip hop album should. The opener for '10' was poor, but here we have the much better banging 'Headsprung'. Timbaland produces more than half of these tracks and begins it in a great way. I don't like 'Headsprung' as much as I used to, but it's still a pretty great tune. Like '10' though, (Diddy aside), this also doesn't have any rap features. Considering he was on a major label and just as it's rare in general, it is odd. LL can hold an album down though. Plus, this is a short one at only 44 minutes.
Aside from the opener, 'Hush' is the other standout here. I remember first hearing it and loving it. I also listened to the version with Xavier Aeon and loving that too. The production and hook, both by 7 Aurelius, works fantastically well.
I agree with my original review that there isn't amazing material here, but it's a consistent collection of 11 songs. I don't dislike 'I'm About to Get Her' as much as my previous review makes it sound and I enjoy songs like '1 in the Morning' more too. The album is mostly pop rap, but like I said on 'G.O.A.T.' when comparing it to 'Phenomenon', the balance is better between between the poppy production but still maintaining a hip hop feel to the production on most songs. This has better hooks than some of his previous albums too.
I'll up this to a 3/5.
Beats: ★★★☆
Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆
Hooks: ★★★☆
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