When the calender reads Thursday you know it's time for one thing, no not The Footy Show or the Trading Post, it's time for another edition of everyone's favourite weekly segment Throwback Thursday! This week we have reached a small milestone, edition #10. Yes that's right 10, and I think it's quite an achievement. Even I didn't think that we would reach 10 week's of bringing classic music to the people. Anyway enough with the celebrations lets get onto some actual music. This week's Throwback selection is one of my personal favourites from that golden era of hip-hop. The track that I am speaking of is none other than "Mama Said Knock You Out" by "James Todd Smith" AKA "Ladies Love Cool James" AKA "LL Cool J" AKA "Special Agent Sam Hanna". To me this is a very intresting track for a number of reasons but it was an easy choice for this week's Throwback. I'm sure a lot of people out there don't really give LL a great deal of respect when it comes to rapping because they only know his later release or know him more as an actor (I suppose the NCIS gig doesn't help this). However it goes without saying that he's a hip-hop legend and his albums are some of the greatest hip-hop records to ever be released. As a teenager he helped transform Def Jam Recordings into the powerhouse that it is today and his longevity is unquestioned.
Mama Said Knock You Out in particlaur is a great song to me as this is LL at his most aggressive, thumbing his nose at the critics who doubted him. LL had experienced great success with the release of his first couple of albums however after his third studio album Walking with a Panther dropped many critics felt that LL's career was waning and he was losing his touch. The story goes that LL's grandmother (who raised him) and obviously still believed in his ability to be the best famously told him to "knock out" all the critics, hence the title "Mama Said Knock You Out". This song has it all really, that classic boom-bap sound that was synonymous with late 80's hip-hop and some of LL's most pointed and fiery lyrics to date. This is LL rapping with chest puffed out, proclaiming that he's the best, the undefeated champion. There's just smething about this track that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I hear it. You initially hear those sampled chants wailing in the background and then with a sudden abruptness everything goes silent....... but it ain't over LL kicks in acappella and hits the critics with a lyrical barb "Don't call it a comeback / I've been here for years". The instrumental loops back in, LL tells you what time it is and the rest is history. Well that's enough of a rant from me, you can probably tell that this is one of my favourite hip-hop tracks of that era. So check out Mama Said Knock You Out below with stream/download of the track, and a stack of other bonus content after the jump.
DOWNLOAD: LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
Mama Said Knock You Out appeared on LL Cool J's fourth studio album of the same name. This album was a true return to form for LL and it has a myriad of other classic tracks on it. It was also produced entirely by Marley Marl who is one of the most revered producers from the golden era of hip-hop. I highly reccommend picking up Mama Said Knock You Out or one of LL's compilation records if you want all the hits on one disc. Click the image or link below to go through to iTunes and purchase yourself a copy of this seminal LL Cool J album.
BUY: LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out (Album)
Now what would an edition of Throwback Thursday be without a few extra musical surprises? Well this week I've got another smorgasboard of extra content for you readers. First up I've got a little remix/mashup from DJ Nick Catchdubs. The track takes Kanye West's acappella from his hit song Champion and throws a whole bunch of samples underneath it to create the instrumental, most notably the beat from LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out. A really cool mashup, which you can stream/download below.
Kanye West "Champion (Nick Catchdubs Jeep Mix)" by Nick Catchdubs
Now there's no way I could do an edtion of Throwback Thursday dedicated to LL Cool J without having one of my other favourite LL songs "Jingling Baby" in there. Even though this track appeared on one of LL's lesser albums "Walking With a Panther" it's a bonfide hip-hop classic. Plus the songs bass line is one of the best you're ever likely to hear. The video clip is also another selling point with LL rocking a party in a crazy yellow ensemble, this is a perfect example of 90's excess. Check out the video for Jingling Baby below.
Finally I'm going to leave you with the video's for a couple of other awesome LL Cool J tracks. There are a tonne of LL tracks I could have chosen because there are so many good one's but these are two of my other favourites. Firstly we have "I'm Bad" which was the first single released from LL's sophomore album Bigger and Deffer. I love this track because again it's got that classic 80's boom bap sound and an even more classic video clip with LL showing us some of his smooth dance moves.
While the final video is for the song "Doin' It". LL was known for his romatic ballads so I couldn't leave you without giving you at least one. Doin' It is a real slow burner which has a classic porn groove that I dare anyone to resist. When you compare this song to Mama Said Knock You Out it shows the versatility that LL had. Enjoy both of these LL gems for yourself below.
Once again that brings us to the end of another edition of Throwback Thursday. Don't worry though as edition #10 doesn't signal the end forever, just for this week. Throwback Thursday will return next week with another musical gem. As it the tradition I suppose I should give you a clue on who or what will be featured in next week's Throwback. I can tell you that next week I'm going to keep the theme of golden era hip-hop going before I move onto some other genre's in the following week's. So next week's artists is a rapper who hails from Brooklyn, New York and was very popular during the 1990's. In 2006 MTV ranked him at #3 on their list of The Greatest MC's of All Time. He released two solo studio albums before he was tragically shot dead in a drive-by shooting. The track of his that I have chosen is not one of his most well known songs but it appeared on his debut album and was produced by "Norman & Digga" and "The Bluez Brothers". Now that should definitely be enough to work out the artist, so all you've really got to do is try and work out the song. As per usual if you think you know who it is, post your answer in the comments section below. Otherwise I'll see you all back here next week for another installment of Throwback Thursday!
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