Mama Said Knock You Out

really liked Milky Cereal lmao but the rest was kinda whatever

Hilarious time capsule.

Mmmm rap de los 90 que no había escuchado!!! Entretenido, pero no me ha impactado. Solo me he guardado Mr Good Bar.

I’m at a 4.5, and I wish I could leave it there, but I’m gonna be that guy who goes up to a 5.

This album feels like a very distinct bridge between the 80s and the 90s – I’ve mentioned before that Run-DMC made commercially viable hip-hop possible, N.W.A. gave rap the blueprint to have the amount of edge you’d find in albums to come, and A Tribe Called Quest provided the perfect melding of both. This album feels like the bridge between N.W.A. and A Tribe Called Quest – not necessarily in terms of subject matter (though some of it overlaps), but mainly in its production. A lot of these tracks feel blended between the late 80s style (heavily sampling just the drums, more stunted and less melodic flows, long verses without a break) and the early 90s style of production (effective use of pauses, more melodic flows, more diverse sample use).

It’s a really interesting listen for that alone, but what drives this album for me is how effective it is at managing to blend the two in a way that still feels classic and fresh – stuff like Mama Said Knock You Out and Around The Way Girl are the two foremost examples for me, though I’ll throw a quick shout to “6 Minutes of Pleasure” as well.

I don’t think there’s a bad track here, just a few that aren’t as melodic and more driven by wordplay, and to each their own when it comes to that sort of thing, but I tend to enjoy both. I think LL Cool J’s flow is great on most of these tracks, and when it’s not as good, the lyrics do carry it (save for that godawful "I sure wouldn't rape you" line). The beats are relatively diverse, but a few of them sort of fall into that “mainly sampling just the drums” thing.

I just really enjoyed it – I really wish I could keep it a 4.5, because in spite of how much I enjoyed this, I don’t think it’s quite at a 5, but it definitely feels like it should be higher than a 4. I don’t mind going up to a 5, but I can see this falling on any subsequent listens; for now, though, I liked it enough to give it a 5. Someone will probably give this a 3 to balance me out.

Here's my story with this album. My wife gave birth to twins the day after I received this album and I had not finished it. We listened to some of it in the car together the day before and both of us felt like it wasn't that great. I didn't want to abandon it so I tried relistening after my babies were born (in the 3 hours between feeding sessions) but I was so tired I passed out to it. Then I tried again, but damn this is just not that great in my opinion. The lyrics don't have any punch or humor. The beats and loops are boring for the most part. I only liked a few songs and wanted to move on.

This just feels very dated now, so
Much so you could happily skip this album before you did.

It was fine - I have no burning desire to re-listen, but I liked the instrumental side of things, and can see why it would be seen as someone's favourite :)

I’m sure this was what the cool kids at school were listening to in 1990 to prove just how cool they were. I wasn’t a college kid so I didn’t listen to it at school. Perhaps I should have so I could have been cool as well.

Favourite songs: Mama Said Knock You Out, Murdergram, Cheesy Rat Blues, Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem), The Boomin' System, Illegal Search, Milky Cereal, Around the Way Girl

Least favourite songs: Eat Em Up L Chill

4/5

This released closer to The Doors' "Morrison Hotel" than to today. Enjoy.

Ja, bei diesem Album handelt es sich Musik.Ja es werden Probleme besungen und sich einen Rap reinziehen war auch 1990 besser als andere Drogen. Leider finde ich nichts interessantes auf dem Doppelalbum. Es hört sich gleich nervig an. Lieber App Programmierer .. Danke für die Skip-Taste

Classic 90s rnb vibes

Really cool 90s rap. A little too long, but still solid

There’s some good stuff on here - the title track is a masterpiece - but overall, it’s too long and a bit one note.

3/5

Var lidt bange for den her plade for coveret ligner virkelig noget jeg ikke kan lide. Det voksede ret hurtigt på mig, men hold nu op det er en lang plade.....

This didn’t stand the test of time. There were better and more influential hip hop albums that came out at the same time/before this. I’m not saying LL wasn’t influential. I’m just saying for a list of albums you must hear this one doesn’t pass the bar. The beats are dope though.

It's on the crossroads of 80's and 90's rap and kinda misses the boat on both.
I like my rap, but LL Cool J just never sparked any interest

Ooooooof, LL. How do you feel about some of these lyrics looking back?

This wasn’t great. Even the inoffensive lines were …bad. This seemed pretty generic

Feels repetitive. Mama Gonna Knock you Out is enjoyable. The rest not so much, Milky Cereal got on my nerves especially.

This album is long, a little too long. But it's fine. The popular tracks are good, some of it is fairly forgettable.