The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project

Joe Mac said:
Yeah I used to have a flatmate who’d watch every single shit US show involving law enforcement. I hated them all but the nadir is Crominal Minds. Torture porn and the FBI agents we’re supposed to empathise with are a bunch of fucking kill happy sociopaths that gun down every motherfucking suspect.
Click to expand...

Which I suppose makes it unintentionally true to life but equally I think they think they’re portraying the FBI sociopaths in a positive light.
 
Lee Newman said:
4/5/23
62e93559b61732d8d0f5e091bdacd3eea5510858

LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out



Allmusic Review:
www.allmusic.com

Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J | Album | AllMusic

Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J released in 1990. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
Click to expand...

Things seem a bit lightweight.

I know this one!

('Mama Said Knock You Out')

What the fuck is going on here?!

Boring.

2 / 5 stars.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The first movie I remember him acting in was that spectacular Robin Williams turd, Toys. I don’t know if I can think of a film that was as bad tonally and plot wise while also being very visually stunning. It’s a weird mess but LL doing a bunch of cool camouflage was pretty entertaining.
Click to expand...

Lee Newman said:
TOYS is great.
Click to expand...
I second that Toys is great. I love that movie.
 
avecigrec said:
If Will Smith is the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I'd say LL Cool J is the Fresh Prince of Gold's Gym.
Click to expand...
There's a fantastic documentary called Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes that focuses on the masculinity, homophobia, and sexism in hip hop, and it talks about how homoerotic the pictures of LL were on Source back then because they were so focused on his body. And how they weren't marketing this to women but to men. The interviews on it in the film were great. His workout book was legit good when I was lifting weights in my younger days.
 
Last edited:
Hemotep said:
There a fantastic documentary called Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes that focuses on the masculinity, homophobia, and sexism in hip hop, and it talks about how homoerotic the pictures of LL were on Source back then because they were so focused on his body. And how they weren't marketing this to women but to men. The interviews on it in the film were great. His workout book was legit good when I was lifting weights in my younger days.
Click to expand...

That sounds super cool. Gonna have to track it down.

LL Cool J as a brand/image was is a genius. LL Cool J as an emcee, for me, is lacking. Especially 1990 forward.
 
Lest I be seen as to negative and harsh here, I do not begrudge LL his success at all and do believe be is an icon and am comfortable calling him such but to me, he's an entertainer not an emcee. He came out hot and played business and trends well to stay so in the industry but his style never really evolved and most of his Rhymes are incredibly basic. But he played great in the mainstream because he was a "safe" rapper to like who sounded more edgy and "street" without being "scary." Meanwhile a lot of those "scary" cats could and would rap circles around him, but they didn't move as many units. Plus he had mad sex appeal. He was easily the most objectified male in the hip hop industry and that worked on a lot of levels too.

As far as this album goes, it's alright. I'd say his first two or classics his second two are good/decent and after this it starts to plummet fast.

2/5
 
I haven't listened to LL Cool J since college, when my friend Josh - yes, he called himself LL Cool Josh - was obsessed with him and played him incessantly. Really wish I'd stayed in touch with him to get his take on this album today.

My only notes are that Mama Said Knock You Out is a great single, and the MTV unplugged version of it is iconic. Jingling Baby has a great bass line and groove. Everything else is ok but not memorable imo. And why is 6 Minutes of Pleasure only 4:35? 2/5.
 
Lee Newman said:
4/5/23
62e93559b61732d8d0f5e091bdacd3eea5510858

LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out



Allmusic Review:
www.allmusic.com

Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J | Album | AllMusic

Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J released in 1990. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
Click to expand...

I had to listen to this two weeks ago in the other thread and wasn't looking forward to listening to it again so soon. Same as others, the nostalgia means less than two weeks ago when it had been a long time since I'd heard it. 2/5 now
 
My first time listening to "Mama Said Knock You Out" in full despite having the CD since I was a teenager... yeah, I really liked it! 4/5
favs: Around the Way Girl, The Boomin' System, Mama Said Knock You Out, Eat Em Up L Chill, To Da Break of Dawn
least fav: …I guess Cheesy Rat Blues
 
Last edited:
Thread Business question, with the first list post full, I am thinking about management. We are clearly going to run out of space well before 1000, which is fine. I'll at some point move the lists and have a list link post in the first 11.

The real question is what to do with them now. My concern is how to keep a reader from coming into the thread and having to scroll through the whole list before getting to the current record which could certainly stop folks from coming on board now if they wanted to.

There are two thoughts that I have...
  1. move the first list behind the second. Would have to do a lot of shuffling every 50 or so records, but that is fine
  2. somewhere near the top, possibly the very first line of the first post, put the album of the day and link to the post like I do in the list.
I am leaning towards #2, but welcome input from you guys.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top