LL Cool J

Aesthetically speaking, L.L. Cool J probably couldn't have picked a worse time to release
Walking With a Panther, his long-awaited third album. In 1987, the rapper's brash Bigger and
Deffer set new standards for rap music. Before then, who would have thought rap could
incorporate doo-wop, lush balladry ("I Need Love"), even a rewrite of "Johnny B. Goode"?
In the two years since, the rules have changed drastically. Rap now encompass... More >

From self-centered teenager to man with a mission: "I hope to prove to the world that I can reach all materialistic goals and be young, black and legal." On the cover he and his panther wear gold while his three women sport tight dresses and Moet, with not an Africa medallion in sight, but call it part of a larger strategy: justifying conspicuous consumption with conspicuous production. His output totals 16 tracks for 68 minutes on a single vinyl LP, with three extra on CD and the superhard B-side "Jack the Ripper" completing an 85-minute, 20-track cassette. Though one of the ballads is a killer, the other two are, well, changes of pace; the (vinyl) side-closers make "Jack the Ripper" sound slow; the arrogant sense of humor comes with a snide, irritating, completely original laugh. My standard response to such overkill is to wish someone had boiled it down to the great album it contains, but with this egocentric, hedonistic, workaholic materialist, I'll take it all--definitely including the nonvinyl "Change Your Ways," which preaches compassion to the young, black, and legal competition. (Grade - A-)