G.O.A.T. commercially sank under the pressure of high expectations. Sure, there was the pre-album buzz of the street-popular “Ill Bomb,” as well as the skittery bliss of “Shut ‘Em Down,” which was a single from the soundtrack of the 1999 sports drama film Any Given Sunday. But with a subtitle like “Greatest of All Time,” the album had to deliver on as many fronts as possible. “Imagine That,” G.O.A.T.’s first single, underperformed. The next single, the Kelly Price-featuring “You and Me,” fared worse. Def Jam must have felt that the album cycle was not worth any additional singles, which meant that G.O.A.T. lacked enough push to make up for the less-than-200,000 copies it needed to achieve Platinum status. And this happened in a year that saw multi-platinum releases from relative newcomers such as Ja Rule, Ludacris … and Jay-Z.
Plus, the album did little to resurrect LL Cool J’s “hard-as-hell” status. G.O.A.T. turned out to be the most vulgar album he ever made, and he didn’t have much apart from a Gold plaque—only the second one in nine albums overall—to show for it. That’s why it’s not surprising that Canibus—who had gone from being perhaps the greatest rap prospect since Nas to being the main author of two consecutive failed albums on a major record label—still had the audacity to hurl more lyrical blows from the deep, dark hole to which he was banished. The temerity of the disgraced wordsmith made it brazenly clear that if the Lyrical Warrior in LL was not yet dead, he was too darn weak to do much at all.
So how did LL Cool J respond to this situation? He dumped the foul-mouthed emcee that tarnished G.O.A.T.’s listening experience, and he got chiseled. He teamed up with The Neptunes, now the hottest producing unit around, and brought back the TrackMasters, who now referred to themselves as Poke & Tone, to get back some of the sonic sheen that had propelled Mr. Smith and, at least commercially, Phenomenon. And he polished his Ladies’ Lover persona.
He sure wasn’t rocking the bells anymore.
Listening to LL speak in the “Intro” with Free—then host of BET’s 106 & Park, and who subsequently shows up as LL’s interviewer via integrated interludes—one would think that 10 is some great, never-before-achieved “milestone.” 10 is a bit of a misnomer, though; it’s his ninth studio album, not his tenth. If going by the number of total albums in his Def Jam deal, then yes, it would have been. With that said, though, All World does not count because it’s his greatest-hits compilation, not a studio album. Moreover, 10 is not quite the symbol of his longevity that he makes the public believe throughout the album. Too Short, for instance, had hit that landmark six years earlier—coincidentally, in the same year LL had released All World. Add his Boogie Down Productions albums, including a live album, and KRS-One had achieved it the year before.
But then again, since when did anyone think of comparing Too Short with LL Cool J in terms of overall impact and achievement? And when did KRS-One ever achieve LL’s level of mainstream success?
It’s just too bad that 10, which was released on October 15th, 2002, is regrettably yet another middling album in LL’s catalog. Again, there are a few good songs scattered all over the place. “Luv You Better” is unlike most of the stuff the Neptunes were producing at the time—with warm, fluctuating synthesizers, steady claps, and hesitant kicks to provide this ultra-sunny atmosphere for LL to call for another chance from his ex-girl. The track right after that, “Paradise,” is yet another number geared toward the ladies. For once, the TrackMa–, sorry, Poke & Tone go left field by sampling a different part of Keni Burke’s classic bassline in 1982’s “Rising to the Top”; it’s a melodious, piano-driven track that has Amerie’s sweet vocals for the chorus while LL proves to be the ultimate gentleman:
I lay the mink down, let you walk over a puddle
True love is so rare
But don't you worry, I ain't going nowhere
LL’s girlfriends are not the only women getting the Lover’s treatment – a whole different type of love is manifested in “Big Mama (Unconditional Love)” where, over an organ-heavy Spinners sample and Dru Hill’s choral duties, LL spills his heart and soul about Mrs. “Knock Them Out” herself: his grandmother, Ellen Griffith, who passed away less than a month after 10 was released.
That’s the very best stuff. LL Cool J tries to be tough again, but he does not quite succeed. Granted, LL has the benefit of the Fame-sampled disco beat in “10 Million Stars” from Amen-Ra and K1 Million (formerly known as Kwame). But “Mirror Mirror” is slow, narcissistic boredom, and “Niggy Nuts” is greatly hampered by a juvenile chorus and verses so forced, LL is initially unrecognizable. “Fa Ha” would have been a lot more intriguing with its freeflowing lyric structure if LL’s bars of random topics were more cohesive and the Neptunes beat had not been just a stomping loop. “U Should” and “All I Have”—the latter which features Jennifer Lopez and was included in later versions of 10—are lackluster in comparison to the two other ballads. “Born to Love You,” “Amazin’,” (which turned out to be 10’s last single), and “Clockin’ Gs” are nothing more than generic requisites of bling rap. To think that LL, with lines like…
I know a honey named Millie, raised out in Philly
Body so illy, she make a grown man silly
…actually stoops to Puff Da-, I mean, P. Diddy’s level of rapping expertise over the trite acoustic-driven beat of “After School” is indeed disturbing. Y’all need detention. Speaking of school, LL partly rhymes like he’s in some nursery school over the saccharine beat of “Lollipop.” Someone had obviously been reading too much Dr. Seuss. And thank God for Lil’ Wayne.
Well, there’s good news and bad news about 10. Let’s start with the bad news.
The bad news is, what could have been at least a worthy commemorative event instead ends up being arguably the weakest album outing in LL Cool J’s career at that point, due to his declining rhyming skills. LL sounds older than his 34 years, relaxed to the extent that he can’t even be bothered to always rhyme at least two syllables within each couplet.
The good news is, thanks primarily to his updated rolodex of producers, 10 extended the commercial viability of LL into the 21st century. 10 sold about 150,000 more copies than G.O.A.T., getting closer to the Platinum certification than its immediate predecessor. Two of 10’s singles, “Luv You Better” and “Paradise,” peaked at #4 and #36, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, “All I Have,” which initially was released as a single for J.Lo’s own album, This Is Me…Then, would mark LL Cool J’s first—and only—number-one pop hit.
Meanwhile, even some of the rappers who had emerged in the 1990s had faded. And yes, that includes Canibus.
, was touted as his career epoch, an achievement rarely equaled in the world of hip hop. The question, though, was whether people were still going to listen to the rap veteran.){kind=link}