LL Cool J "How I'm Comin"

Hip-hop is notorious for short-lived careers, but LL Cool J is the inevitable exception that proves the rule. Releasing his first hit, "I Can't Live Without My Radio," in 1985 when he was just 17 years old, LL initially was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy with spare beats and ballistic rhymes. He quickly developed an alternate style, a romantic -- and occasionally sappy -- lover's rap epitomized by his mainstream breakthrough single, "I Need Love." LL's first two albums, Radio and Bigger and Deffer, made him a star, but he strived for pop stardom a little too much on 1989's Walking With a Panther. By 1990, his audience had declined somewhat, since his ballads and party raps were the opposite of the chaotic, edgy political hip-hop of Public Enemy or the gangsta rap of N.W.A, but he shot back to the top of the charts with Mama Said Knock You Out, which established him as one of hip-hop's genuine superstars. By the mid-'90s, he had starred in his own television sitcom, In the House, appeared in several films, and had racked up two of his biggest singles with "Hey Lover" and "Doin' It." In short, he had proven that rappers could have long-term careers.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• LL
• Cool
• bvmtv
• music
• videos
• old
• school
• hip-hop
• gangsta
• rap
• g-funk
• soul
• R&B

[5pinkapple]

LL killed this song! If you had any doubt about ryhme skills or falling off, this song kept it all the way live! Peace to all old schoolers!

[IcecreamLeGenD]

real hip-hop not fake shit like lil wayne!

[TRUKNOWLEDGE1]

you know who gets slept on Da Youngstaz! they were poppin

[PATHH88]

@DREDAY717 no doubt Eric B is street certified, he has real ties with the streets ( original 50 cent Paid In Full back cover etc) and Rakim was God body and you know they got ties in the street, although i believe Rakim ain't built like that....but LL was never considerd gangster in any shape form or fashion

[djmcStanford]

@AGErapperCZ LL with "Bucking em Down"

[AGErapperCZ]

what is that song in 0:00-0:28???

[DREDAY717]

@PATHH88 Eric B and Rakim was more hardcore than L.L.

[sheek973]

i got this cd i bump the hell outta this song everytime

[craigvaukins]

this has to be in the top ten of ll tunes yup

[LILCBOY15]

14 shots to the dome...a MUST for a real hip hop fan !

[bigconquer]

who mad the beat the horn break is dangerous?

[PATHH88]

@da13thsun

LOL YOU KIDDING RIGHT ??? LL was the only one considered HARCORE GANGSTA BEFORE NWA LMFAO

Unless Hip Hop History has been rewritten then you are fabricating that shit.......

LL was never considered that and has never been hardcore gangsta....you obviously know nothing about Hip Hop - Schoolly D, Just Ice, Ice T amongst others were known as the original "gangster" rappers.....

and MJ was a kiddie fiddler, are you inferring that James Todd Smith does the same ?