I saw the trailer to this movie a couple of times in the cinemas and it didn't look good. I'm a good judge. I was bored with this. Maybe some lines were lost on me as I haven't seen Nic's whole filmography, but lots of what was meant to be funny fell fairly flat. Surely they could have come up a more interesting idea for Nicolas Cage playing himself than this plot that is basically every action movie ever.

Despite his success as an actor, LL still feels the need to keep hip hopping, releasing his 13th album. When I heard the title of this album, I thought that maybe LL would be returning to his roots, creating an album of hardcore classic hip hop. This thought was quickly put to bed when 'Ratchet' dropped. It isn't great. It improved from there though with 'Take It', that isn't a bad pop rap track, in a similar vein of 'Closer' from the standard version of this album. Of those tracks, 'Take It' only made the bonus tracks, with the final track list being reworked. Original Track List 1. Something About U (FTW) 2. Where Ya At (BOSS) 3. Take It (feat. Joe) 4. Closer (feat. Monica) 5. Too Late 6. New Love 7. Dream With Me 8. Girl So Bad 9. Ratchet 10. Bartender Please 11. Bath Salt 12. Getting Paper 13. Jump On It 14. Hell Yeah 15. Whaddup Overall from this album, of the sixteen tracks that have made the cut, many are pop-rap centered around the ladies such as: 'Between the Sheetz', 'Closer', 'Give Me Love', 'Live For You', 'Not Leaving You Tonight', 'Something About You (Love the World)', 'Take It', and 'Waiting on You'. There are others that are funky, treading the line of pop-rap such as: 'Bartender Please', 'Remember Me', and 'New Love', where Charlie Wilson kills the chorus making it one of the best songs on the disc. The production is great too. Then there are the hardcore hip hop songs that include 'Bath Salt' ("hand on my nuts, that's product placement"), 'We Came to Party', 'We’re the Greatest', 'Whaddup' and 'Jump on It'. I feel like I've said this before on recent LL album reviews, but the pop-rap works better here than the songs closer to hardcore hip hop. His beat selection isn't as crisp on the harder songs. 'Bath Salt' isn't bad, but the others leave something to be desired, with 'We Came to Party' being the worst of these featuring 2003-esque Fatman Scoop shouts. Overall from LL in 2013, I'm not left disappointed. It's an alright listen, with a couple of songs to keep in the playlist, and only a couple of really poor songs. 3-2.5 Best Tracks: New Love, Closer, Take It, Remember Me

Original Review: I can understand fans of early LL material being really disappointed with this, with its half poppy stuff (compared to his last album though you could call some of it NWAish), but apart from loving the track 'Mama Said Knock You Out' and enjoying '14 Shots to the Dome', I have never been a massive fan of his albums as a whole let alone his supposed 'classic' earlier stuff. As a vocalist and rapper though I have always rated him highly on the mic. For me, Exit 13 ain't a terrible album and has enough tracks I like to have some replay value. The track 'Ringtone Murder' though is perhaps a bit contradictory given some of the material he has created is the past. The hardest tracks though, such as 'It's Time for War' and 'Speedin' on da Highway' are quite well done. Best Tracks: It's Time for War, Old School New School, Baby, Baby (Rock Remix), I Fall in Love, Mr. President, Speedin' on da Highway / Exit 13. --------------- 2022 Revisit Review: The beginning of this reminds me of '14 Shots to the Dome'. The first song is dope and the second isn't far off. It's a shame he never quite made an album just full of hardcore hip hop. The hook of 'Get Over Here' ruins it. 'Baby' has a contagious hook but will be too poppy for many hip hop fans. The production aside from the hook is average though. Marley Marl returns for the first time in ages to produce 'You Better Watch Me' that takes us back to a harder hip hop feel for the first time since the start of the album. 'Like a Radio' is very Ryan Leslie. He always had a unique sound. He was everywhere for a minute then never quite seemed to pop. 'Speedin' on da Highway / Exit 13' is the song I have listened to most from this album over the years. It's high energy with LL's rapping great on the verses. There is more of an ol' school feel to some of the production on here compared to his previous albums. There isn't as much pop rap either as a number of his albums. This has a better balance but there isn't enough great stuff. So the thoughts in my original review haven't changed much with this one. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★ Best Tracks: It's Time for War, Old School New School, Baby (Rock Remix), I Fall in Love, Mr. President, Speedin' on da Highway / Exit 13, New York

Original Review This is probably LL's most pop rap influenced album. There are a couple of genuine harder tracks here like, 'It's LL and Santana' and 'What You Want', and 'Control Myself' and 'We're Gonna Make It' are kind of in between pop rap and being harder tunes, but as you can probably infer by looking at the list of featuring artists, the rest is quite poppy. Some of it works though. 112 kill the chorus of 'Down the Aisle' making it a good song, 'Preserve the Sexy' has a weak chorus, but I like the verses, 'I've Changed' has a bangin' beat, and again the chorus is good from an artist who I've never of before, and then a remix of Ne-Yo's hit 'So Sick' is attached to the end of this album. The second half is definitely stronger than the beginning, and if you like some R&B/pop rap this isn't quite as poor as the consensus suggests in my opinion. *Written in 2013 Best Tracks: What You Want, I've Changed, Down the Aisle, So Sick Remix ----- 2022 Revisit Review The opener goes for a hard hip hop feel, but it falls pretty flat. This hasn't grown on me at all. They should've kicked the album off with 'Control Myself'. I can't believe I didn't have it listed amongst the best tracks previously. Jermaine Dupri creates a contagious danceable track with LL and the writers making a catchy hook and bars. 'Favorite Flavor' is a decent pop rap song. I've written that sentence a lot the past week as I've been revisiting all of LL's albums. 'Freeze' was surprisingly the third single. It's quite slow and for me a skip. 'Best Dress' is a little better but again, nothing to keep for later. 'Preserve the Sexy' is a step up. It's got some more bounce, the chorus stands out from the verses and the trading bars that LL does with Teairra Mari, and did on a number of his songs, and that doesn't happen enough in hip hop, works well. LL also rhymes with some great bars. Speaking of trading bars, 'What You Want', also does this with Freeway and LL rapping over the hardest and best pure hip hop song here. I still love 'I've Changed' for the reason in the original review. Scott Storch, one of the legends of the '00s, provides the production for 'Ooh Wee'. It's not his best and this is more like the weaker pop rap songs at the start of the album than the better ones. I remember liking '#1 Fan' and 'Down the Aisle' more. I agree with what I wrote above about 112 doing a good job on the chorus, but I don't think I'd list it with the best tracks. 'We're Gonna Make It' has that epic final track to an album vibe. The production reminds me of a Saigon song from 'The Greatest Story Never Told'. Overall, I remembered this fairly well. There wasn't anything that surprised me upon revisiting it. My original 2.5/5 is probably fair for this. I get an urge to hit skip a few times, but there isn't anything I truly dislike, and there are a handful of good songs that I've been happy to go back to. Beats: ★★★ Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆ Hooks: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: Control Myself, Preserve the Sexy, What You Want, I've Changed, So Sick Remix

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 --------------------------------------------------- 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: ★★★☆