still has yet to match his first, now-classic songs “Radio” and “Rock the Bells.” Like many pop stars who taste large success early, L.L. As delicious as 14 is, it could have been an important album were it not Mama Said, Part II.Īnd as delicious as 14 is, L.L. That’s inexcusable for a veteran rapper whose career is longer in years than many artists’ are in months. captured so well in “Radio” and “The Boomin’ System” and of women in “Dear Yvette” and “Around the Way Girl.” And something’s missing when an artist’s evolution between albums is this minimal. There’s a lot to like on 14, including “A Little Somethin'” and its huge hook of a sample from King Floyd’s soul classic “Groove Me.” But something’s missing without the B-boy snapshots of hip-hop celebration L.L. describing Armageddon in the chilling “Crossroads,” which ends with the lines “All your life like so many played the game/Never realized that there’s a flame.” does branch out to voice concern about black male-female relationships in “Stand by Your Man” and all the world’s ills in “Diggy Down,” which sounds like a street version of a Michael Jackson save-the-world ballad. Also, the lightheartedly sexual “Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings” (a euphemism for sex) and “Back Seat” are less focused and less successful versions of “6 Minutes of Pleasure.” flexes his muscles and KO’s his competition and critics. For instance, the mildly autobiographical brag-laden power jams “Ain’t No Stoppin This” and “How I’m Comin’,” both among 14‘s best songs, recall the single “Mama Said Knock You Out,” as L.L. The triple-platinum success of his last album, Mama Said Knock You Out (1990), must have persuaded L.L. If you’ve heard him before, you know L.L., because the man who once called himself “the future of the funk” has been trapped by his past. Now the rapper and actor shares his workout secrets in his new book, ‘LL Cool J’s Platinum Workout. CAPTION: For years LL Cool J has been making women swoon and men envious of his rock hard body. So his fifth album, 14 Shots to the Dome, won’t surprise. HEADLINE: LL Cool J shares workout secrets. fans still love the predictable package of machismo, seductive funk, light humor and urban spirituality he consistently delivers. L.L.’s tension-filled performance was so breath-takingly powerful and sexy that few rappers have ever equaled it. Ever since “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” floated into the Zeitgeist in 1985, L.L.
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