Mr Smith (Audio Cassette) [Import]

Opener "Make it hot" samples Debarges "I like it". Though this song has been used before and after 1000 times, LL Makes good use of it, telling about his way with the ladies. Not far behind is "Hip Hop" where he pays ode to the rappers who laid the groundwork for him. He is on-point lyrically here. The chorus is pleasant as well. He even mentions West Coast Artists Snoop Dogg, N.W.A, Dr. Dre and Eazy E. That was a nice touch, and definitely gains points with me.

The hits are pretty strong. "Hey Lover" is smooth with Boyz II Men crooning the hook. "Doin it" ranks up there with Positive K's "I gotta man" as classic male-female dialog raps. And who can forget the video? Sleazy, sassy, and nasty, me likes!

The Trackmasters produced "Loungin" features Total. The lyrics are great LL fare, giving his wisdom on relationships. He says "The moral of the story is that women need love/The kind you so-called Playas never dreamed of/What? You've got to try love, can't buy love/And if you lay your hand then it's bye-bye love."

Now onto the weaker moments, and I'll give a slight backstory. By late 1995 Veteran Rappers were seen by some members of the younger crowd as archaic and passe. To combat this you had to either evolve or become extinct.

Too $hort made a seamless transition, finding respect with mainstream rap fans as well as the top Gangstas in the Rap Scene.

MC Hammer, his 1994 album "The Funky HeadHunter", though it was writen off and largely panned by critics, it was a fine offering of (Not to sound redundant) Gangsta Rap and is vastly underrated.

LL Cool J, However, didn't fare as well. In an effort to court a more youthful audience round the 'hood, he decided to increase the amount of profanity he used ten fold. This is evidenced by the track "No airplay", which screams "Filler" Loud and clear. In 4 minutes it goes nowhere. His rhymes are redundant, he used the word "Piranha" on a few other songs, which shows un-creativeness, and only bolsters the opinion of many that LL is at his best rapping ladies jams. Other times he's hit-or-miss.

Both versions of "I shot ya" are macho-thug posturing with LL giving his "I'm this, I'm that, I crushed Kool Moe Dee, Ice T's wife, and Hammer", which is of course debatable.
The remix features Prodigy from Mobb Deep, Keith Murray, Fat Joe, and Foxy Brown. The beat is simple, identical on both versions, twined with high-note piano and a whiny organ. It's alright. I'm not saying LL Cool J is bad at boasting, it's just that he's done it much better in the past (i.e "I'm Bad" and "Mama said knock you out"). Also, it's rumored that LL's verse was a diss to 2Pac. Now Pac is my favorite rapper of all time, so I can't say I applaud that.

Oddly enough LL Cool J's career path up to that point is actually quite similar to Hammer's (Whom he dissed). In that they both tried their hands at Gangsta Rap. And, Both Rappers true image - that of nice-guys - showed through their respective Gangsta-Work, and, finally, both eventually abandoned the style.

It's true, talk about Six degrees of separation.

Overall, "Mr. Smith" is nowhere near the quality of his 2 masterpieces "Radio" and "Mama said Knock you out", which belong in everyone's collection. If you don't own any LL Cool J, "Mr. Smith" is not the place to start.