Phenomenon [PA] - J, LL Cool (CD 1997)

By the time of "Phenomenon"'s '97 release, LL Cool J had successfully completed yet another comeback. LL seemed to be the Lazarus of rap artists-every time he was marked for death, he made a triumphant return to the front lines. Not only was LL still making records well over a decade after his career began, but he was at the top of his game with over three million records sold of his last studio album, "Mr. Smith". It made perfect sense for LL to align himself with the hottest thing running hip-hop, hell, ALL popular music, at the time-Bad Boy Entertainment. "Phenomenon" is LL's Bad Boy album.

Oh well, at least he has made great records. Phenomenon, LL Cool J s seventh album, should have been named Coastin , because that is precisely what he does here coast. The twenty nine year-old man, now a rap veteran, was possibly beginning to show his age. No longer rocking the mic with the ferocity and exuberance of his youth, he sounds pretty relaxed, mostly content with delivering flaccid raps over slickly-produced pop beats courtesy of people like TrackMasters, L.E.S. and Puff Daddy. And that s why "4, 3, 2, 1" is one of the best songs in here, easily. Erick Sermon provides the simple...

This is my seventh review in my series of appreciating hip hop through my faith in the true hip hop artist and in LL Cool J's longevity as a hip hop icon. It's part of MadTheory's Hip Hop Appreciation Week Write-Off. There were two unique things about LL's seventh solo album (he would count it as his eighth with his greatest hits package All World). One was that he was scribing his life and coming out with his autobiography around the same time he was dropping his album. Phenomenon was supposed to be a soundtrack to I Make My Own Rules, and while there were some definite personal songs, I...

LL Cool J was coming off of a major success in his sixth LP Mr. Smith. The album went triple platinum, and once again made LL a superstar in the mainstream scene. He figured he would keep the momentum going by dropping an album the very next year. LL is well known for changing his style of music to suit what is currently popular. His seventh LP Phenomenon supports this fact. In 1997, Diddy s Bad Boy Entertainment label was the hottest thing around, with their pop oriented hits and samples of previous hit songs. For his new LP, LL would involve himself heavily with Bad Boy. Despite the labels..