LL Cool J
The DEFinition
Most rappers have only a few albums in them. LL Cool J’s nearly 20-year run, then, is virtually unparalleled in the world of hip-hop, especially since with each album the former James Todd Smith has shown enough savvy to stay relevant. But LL seems a little overwhelmed by the typically inventive production of Timbaland, his principal collaborator on his 11th album, “The DEFinition.” LL, of course, oozes confidence on the likes of “Move Somethin’ ” and “Shake It Baby,” and he downshifts nicely with the loverman ballads “Can’t Explain It” and “Hush.” But elsewhere, the predictably off-kilter Timbaland soundscapes of “Headsprung” and “Apple Cobbler” all but swallow up the MC. It takes the smart reimagining of old-school hip-hop in “Feel the Beat” for LL’s flow to break free of the conspicuously contemporary rhythms, lethally confident in their own right and LL’s greatest adversary on the album.
Take away: Timba’s rules
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])