LL Cool J was relevant in the 80s, 90s, & 00s plus still dropping music in the 10s & 20s. That's 5 decades of albums, hits up there with the biggest and brightest of those eras. The solo rap stars that came after him all used his blueprint. He is absolutely right!
No cool J hit is up there with “Stonger” By Kanye or “ Humble” by Kendrick.Cool J is a cemented legend but you’re acting like he has a Kanye or Em impact.Stop it
@Rationz36 i dont really think you can compare something like that once you get closer to streaming. Especially humble which was firmly in streaming. Momma said knock you out was a gigantic hit. Sure, the artists after him can do it "better" but i don't really think we can quantify the numbers game in the way you're trying to do it. 1985 compared to 2017 and 2009 just doesn't work as well.
I don't like "ever" or "all time" convos, but LL overall does deserve respect for what he's done for the genre, etc. A big issue in rap in my view is some people refuse to do their homework and look back. Not everyone, obviously, but enough people probably don't go beyond what's current.
I don't think people really need to do "homework" for music though. Being a music head is different of course. But I'm sure most people just turn on what they want to hear in the car/house and don't care about the rest. Nothing wrong with that. You don't need to go back to enjoy music. I did my homework and found a clip of KRS on Alex Jones back in the day saying a bunch of dumb ish. Now KRS is a bozo to me. Homework complete 😂
@StevieFromThree Not trying to dismiss you because I get what you're saying. Obviously people don't "need" to do anything. I think they should, but if they don't, it is what it is. It doesn't hurt my enjoyment. And I didn't use the word "homework" as a negative connotation. Is it so bad to learn the complete history of something? If ignorance is bliss to someone then that's on them.
When the mainstream felt rap was merely a fad and would die off in a few years, LL was the flag bearer for the art to be seen as a legitimate leg of the music industry and was marketed as such. He is the first solo rap superstar, brokered outside ventures like fashion and TV & movies (between him, Will Smith and Queen Latifah) and maintained relevancy throughout each decade of rap’s lifespan. He has a legitimate argument.
@ No, if by “pop” you mean target a wider (white) audience… by the mid 90’s, he shifted from being a brash, braggadocios street dude making music to a serenading ladies man and then transitioned to movies (Any Given Sunday, In Too Deep, Deep Blue Sea) and TV shows (In The House ran for like 4 years) and being the co-owner/spokesperson for FUBU
@@youngchief31 So going pop basically coz what the eff did he usher in then 🤣 . LL is mid, never did anything @ no.1 level. Jordan is not the 1st to get a sneaker deal but he did it better & lived up to his legacy. He should go cry to Rakim, KRS-One, Kane, Cube, Rick, Run DMC
@youngchief31 LL went over there & was shit. He didn't do music & film like Cube. Best comparison, Cube will forever be relevant coz of Boyz in the Hood, Friday & Straight outta Compton. Basically, there's touchstone that even the most ignorant rap fan can't ignore. There's endless reason he became not important 🤷 the better peeps to name besides him.
The kids are not saying "I wanna Be Like LL" but the fact is LL was the first Superstar Rappers Starter kit: Battle Raps, Street Songs, Girl Songs, Radio Records, Club Bangers, a Six Pack, a Gold chain and a Clothing deal.
Idk. I think literally forcing your contemporaries to change their flow and update their style is a little more important than signing a clothing deal.
22:00 I agree with the idea that it should be more of a "one of" conversation. It really doesn't need to be this idea that one person did x ,y and z. We really should think broader than that and not let these conversations get so black and white.
LL definitely has a case as the most important, he’s arguably the silhouette of the genre, he was the one out of his class of East Coast artists who had the most longevity compared to Rakim, Kane, KRS. Plus everyone from Drake, Nelly, 50, Fab, Mase you name it all come from him.
I think the presumption of him being the most important and him choosing all the things that they use as iconography of hip hop, To me, it just sounds like he's the first rapper to prove that they can sell us to more than just us at a party. Chains sex appeal. Radio music braggadoccio + when the industry started to become more aggressive in the name of hip hop, he turned that on. Bad boy or not before that point they still undermined his credibility outside of music directly. Which says to me that the people for who hip hop is made for only f*cuked with him but so much. With that being said, he truly is important but the most important? The conversation about the messages in his music, the themes he talks about and the complexity at what she's willing to talk about it. I love this most recent album but of all the music I've listened to from LL Cool J at best. He's giving you love and brag raps but not much else. He's an amazing performer and amazing artist. I just seen him perform with Busta a few months ago and he outshined Busta fr. I don't think his lineage past him as an artist is impactful enough for him to say he's the most important. I do understand that most of my favorite rappers from the era right behind him put him very high on their lists for a reason. But it really just sounds to me like he was the beginning of truly mainstream versus non-mainstream hip hop. He was proof that there was a market for us
Im a millenial and i honestly dont think a lot of people in my generation would put him on "Mt. Rushmore" because we saw more of LL as an actor than as a rapper. We missed most of his impact
I had heard the hits he has when i was younger (around 14,15 and I just hit 30 last month 😅) but I actually listened to his albums last year and this year and he is easliy one of my favorite artists of all time. The dude really had and still has it to this day. Of all the albums I've heard im stuck between Mr. Smith and Mama Said Knock You Out as my favorite albums of his but the dude has something for everybody on every album. Really a 1 of 1 and glad I decided to finally give him a listen.
I think he isn't given flowers for his impact/influence because 80s rap is just a completely different generation for a lot of people. They do bring up Cube, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, Run DMC and Rakim but I notice over time that more people either leave them out or just put them up there for the sake of it. Some of them like Cube and LL had a career in the 90s-early 00s but their impact and longevity hasn't really stood the test of time beyond being one of the first. Even Cube recently got on this saying "I was Kendrick before Kendrick". If your expecting Gen Z or even Millennials to give any 80s rapper their flowers you're gonna come up short.
This is a great convo yall. The debate was interesting & it really had me thinking….. It also made me want to somehow look up LL in rap lyrics to see what comes up to see what folks have said in their bars. Like it or not I think LL needs that respect. Heck even when talking about the best NY rappers ever I rarely hear his name near the top of the list. The only time I think I’ve heard LL name is when folks bring up Drake.
4:43, the difference is LL went there while a lot rappers didn’t try, until the next generation of emcees which was PAC, Treach, NAS, DMX LUDACRIS. LL planted the seeds that most of the next era was trying to go due to the stigma..unless it was a “WHO’S THE MAN” type movie.
Artists may not even know the influence LL has had on their careers because he was the first to lay certain foundations. So they may not say I was inspired by LL but they're benefiting from or mimicking his influence without knowing it. Not mad at him for letting people know, he definitely makes a good case.
Another accolade for LL is that he was 17 when Def Jam signed him. Nowadays rap stars still young enough to be high school is kinda common. He honestly might be one of the roots of the saying “hip hops a young man’s game”
Sorry yall I'm with Ken, Rakim's contribution to hip hop may be singular but it still out weights the many things LL Cool J brought to the game. But both of them are top 3 most important of all time. My question is who would say is the third one?
It’s hard to say who the most important rapper is because so many rappers made great contributions over the years, but LL definitely has to be on that list.
He wore the Jordan's and Remains The Mike Jordan of Hip-Hop. 16 with a hit that started a record label that great artists came off. Battled some of the best Mcs and undefeated. L is correct. Panther of Hip-Hop.
I think a lot of this argument has been the semantic difference between rap and hip-hop. If you separate them and give them equal respect, both these statements can be true at the same time: - Rakim is the most important person in RAP of all time. - LL is the most important person in HIP-HOP of all time.
Because Rakim never really had relevancy passed his first 5 years in Hip Hop with Eric B. Even tho he is still making music to this day, he is not impacting the genre anymore. Unlike Nas and Jay-Z who have stood the test of time since they began in more ways than others. Jay-Z could drop an album tomorrow and it has a strong chance of being number one in the country. Rakim drops an album and he’d be lucky to be in the top 200
LL COOL J, Tupac, Jay-z, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg are the Mt Rushmore of superstar rappers. Whichever 4 you choose, you won't be wrong. Not saying either of them is the greatest, just that they've got the most check marks of the total superstar package.
The Rakim slander is crazy. Money generation isn’t the most important part of the culture. Gotta give more respect to furthering the art and the message
I was with Feefo the entire time until he said Master P did more for hip hop than Rakim. But I definitely get what he was saying lmao. I would say the reason why LL probably doesn't get brought up in GOAT convo's is mostly because his classic albums and songs probably didn't age well overtime. When I listen to "Bigger and Deffer" or "Mama Said Knock You Out" I definitely feel like it's super outdated compared to Rakim's or Big Daddy Kane's classics. But I do agree with Feefo for the most part. I don't know if he's the most important of all time, but he for sure laid the foundation for hip hop to be brought into mainstream society. And contrary to what Kinge thinks, I 100% believe that there are rappers from the 90's and 2000's that grew up listening to LL thinking he was one of the best rappers in the 80's.
It's not so much that they are weighing it so heavily but it's what sets him apart from his contemporaries, LL has influence on the music side as well as the business side where someone like Rakim was only influential in terms of his rapping.
LL has a point bc it's like Jackie Robinson is the most important black baseball player bc he was the first and he endured the most and he WAS SUCCESSFUL, see Rakim really didn't have world wide success, and remember Rakim went on LL's tour, put them on the same card, and LL is going after him bc LL has way more hits man! And Puff told Biggie, we need radio hits, without hits , he will be mistake rappers, LL is elite only Jay can match him hit for hit!
14:52, I understand what you’re trying to say but LL didn’t sound like RUN DMC or KURTIS BLOW. His clothes wasn’t GRANDMASTER CAZ and Melle Mel. Today, he’s hired SCORPIO Grandmaster CAZ. SHA-ROC, ROXANNE, COOL V, DJ EPPS, PAPOOSE, DJ SCRATCH…R.I.P. TO MR. CEE, BIZ MARKIE and PRINCE MARKIE DEE. Rakim was on HIS TOUR, his festival, his CRUISE. What emcee is doing all of that today ? To be the BIG EGOTISTICAL EMCEE Niggas claim he is, he’s very respectful to the genre and his peers. Put together not 1 but 2 GRAMMY SHOWS for HIP HOP. Able to sit and convo with past beef rappers.
yall sleep on rakim influence.. it's like if you had 1 guy in basketball that invented the 3pt, and the dunk - sure dudes started doing 360's and wearing better uniforms, but rakim made the game... like Rodney Mullen for skateboarding kinda ??
This episode exemplifies the exact reason I never listen to Ken. He always misses the forest for a single tree and won’t look past it to see the bigger picture.
Rakim is the most important mc. He changed how mc rapped going forward. LL did usher in a new breed of mcs after Ahos battle with Kool Moe Dee. But Rakim came and made LL change how he began to rhyme lol. But LL, Kool Moe Dee, G Rap, & Ultramagmetic Mcs all have a case AFTER Rakim. Every mc from the 90s - present are Rakim or G Rap babies. And Future is going to he on that list as time goes by. Ken just made bad arguments lol. All of the points everyone else made had nothing to do with being an mc lol. LL was the most important product for the industry. And I think Rakim has the 1st million deal in hip-hop
This is where the nerd in me comes out. There's a couple of things Cool J got right, but some of those claims were WRONG. The first rappers to introduce rebellion? Run-D.M.C.. The first rapper to introduce love songs? Kurtis Blow. The first solo rap artist to take his career globally? Kurtis Blow. As a matter of fact, Kurtis Blow's influence is written all over Cool J. Although he deserves respect, I'm not subscribing to revisionist history. Although, it's quite interesting to see him and Drake have the same problem and share similar sentiments. Commercialization does not quite equal cultural significance/cache nor the pioneer title. It just means you're popular. Nothing wrong with that, and not saying you can't help usher in or introduce new ideas, but you have to accept that you may be a little outside of the nucleus of a cultural phenomenon. Don't shoot the messenger, it's just what it is.
Ken, why are you trying to be willingly obtuse on this? We're in the same age bracket. And maybe because I'm from NYC, I see exactly why LL said that. And he's not lying. He is the most important rapper checkingall boxes. He already broke it down. Why did this go one for 30 plus minutes. 😒
To say LL Cool J isn’t relevant… doesn’t apply per definition cause he’s closely connected to rap.. from past and present work. If he was a Jazz musician, you could say he isn’t relevant but he’s a rap artist. Atleast try to make your babbling make sense.
I see the point you're trying to make, but buy that same measurement. Jazz would still technically be more relevant than hip hop, even if it's not charting like pop music is. If you was a jazz musician, he'd probably be heralded way more for being present. The way modern jazz musicians are. Most of them have a wider reach than LL does.
The problem is he didn't beat canibus only in popularity the streets will never forget that diva treatment plus LL is to sexually aggressive see his videos
LL Cool J was relevant in the 80s, 90s, & 00s plus still dropping music in the 10s & 20s. That's 5 decades of albums, hits up there with the biggest and brightest of those eras.
The solo rap stars that came after him all used his blueprint. He is absolutely right!
No cool J hit is up there with “Stonger” By Kanye or “ Humble” by Kendrick.Cool J is a cemented legend but you’re acting like he has a Kanye or Em impact.Stop it
@@Rationz36you don't get either of those artist without LL.
@@JamesEllisLives It’s not who did it first,It’s who did it better.Respect to LL but He’s not the end all be all of important rap artists.
@Rationz36 i dont really think you can compare something like that once you get closer to streaming. Especially humble which was firmly in streaming.
Momma said knock you out was a gigantic hit. Sure, the artists after him can do it "better" but i don't really think we can quantify the numbers game in the way you're trying to do it. 1985 compared to 2017 and 2009 just doesn't work as well.
@@Rationz36not to mention, anyone aside from very young kids knows who LL cool J is.
I don't like "ever" or "all time" convos, but LL overall does deserve respect for what he's done for the genre, etc. A big issue in rap in my view is some people refuse to do their homework and look back. Not everyone, obviously, but enough people probably don't go beyond what's current.
I don't think people really need to do "homework" for music though. Being a music head is different of course.
But I'm sure most people just turn on what they want to hear in the car/house and don't care about the rest. Nothing wrong with that. You don't need to go back to enjoy music.
I did my homework and found a clip of KRS on Alex Jones back in the day saying a bunch of dumb ish. Now KRS is a bozo to me. Homework complete 😂
@StevieFromThree Not trying to dismiss you because I get what you're saying. Obviously people don't "need" to do anything. I think they should, but if they don't, it is what it is. It doesn't hurt my enjoyment. And I didn't use the word "homework" as a negative connotation. Is it so bad to learn the complete history of something? If ignorance is bliss to someone then that's on them.
When the mainstream felt rap was merely a fad and would die off in a few years, LL was the flag bearer for the art to be seen as a legitimate leg of the music industry and was marketed as such. He is the first solo rap superstar, brokered outside ventures like fashion and TV & movies (between him, Will Smith and Queen Latifah) and maintained relevancy throughout each decade of rap’s lifespan. He has a legitimate argument.
So going pop basically
@ No, if by “pop” you mean target a wider (white) audience… by the mid 90’s, he shifted from being a brash, braggadocios street dude making music to a serenading ladies man and then transitioned to movies (Any Given Sunday, In Too Deep, Deep Blue Sea) and TV shows (In The House ran for like 4 years) and being the co-owner/spokesperson for FUBU
@@youngchief31 So going pop basically coz what the eff did he usher in then 🤣 . LL is mid, never did anything @ no.1 level.
Jordan is not the 1st to get a sneaker deal but he did it better & lived up to his legacy.
He should go cry to Rakim, KRS-One, Kane, Cube, Rick, Run DMC
@@Star-hg1kt good talk, champ
@youngchief31 LL went over there & was shit. He didn't do music & film like Cube. Best comparison, Cube will forever be relevant coz of Boyz in the Hood, Friday & Straight outta Compton.
Basically, there's touchstone that even the most ignorant rap fan can't ignore. There's endless reason he became not important 🤷 the better peeps to name besides him.
Feefo is making some amazing points. Especially with the 50 Cent 21 Questions part
The kids are not saying "I wanna Be Like LL" but the fact is LL was the first Superstar Rappers Starter kit: Battle Raps, Street Songs, Girl Songs, Radio Records, Club Bangers, a Six Pack, a Gold chain and a Clothing deal.
Why does Ken always end up fighting for his life on these debates!!😂
lol, we need this.
Idk. I think literally forcing your contemporaries to change their flow and update their style is a little more important than signing a clothing deal.
In terms of a modern rap commercial super star, he's definitely the blueprint. The predecessor to Drake, 50 etc
LL was the first leading man in hip hop period
22:00 I agree with the idea that it should be more of a "one of" conversation. It really doesn't need to be this idea that one person did x ,y and z. We really should think broader than that and not let these conversations get so black and white.
To make hip hop global ..yes lyrically ...rakim
Listen to LL’s DANGEROUS !! It’s not anything different from RAKIM’s PAID IN FULL. That was 85 !!
LL definitely has a case as the most important, he’s arguably the silhouette of the genre, he was the one out of his class of East Coast artists who had the most longevity compared to Rakim, Kane, KRS. Plus everyone from Drake, Nelly, 50, Fab, Mase you name it all come from him.
He’s the original anomaly
I think the presumption of him being the most important and him choosing all the things that they use as iconography of hip hop, To me, it just sounds like he's the first rapper to prove that they can sell us to more than just us at a party. Chains sex appeal. Radio music braggadoccio + when the industry started to become more aggressive in the name of hip hop, he turned that on. Bad boy or not before that point they still undermined his credibility outside of music directly. Which says to me that the people for who hip hop is made for only f*cuked with him but so much. With that being said, he truly is important but the most important? The conversation about the messages in his music, the themes he talks about and the complexity at what she's willing to talk about it. I love this most recent album but of all the music I've listened to from LL Cool J at best. He's giving you love and brag raps but not much else. He's an amazing performer and amazing artist. I just seen him perform with Busta a few months ago and he outshined Busta fr. I don't think his lineage past him as an artist is impactful enough for him to say he's the most important. I do understand that most of my favorite rappers from the era right behind him put him very high on their lists for a reason. But it really just sounds to me like he was the beginning of truly mainstream versus non-mainstream hip hop. He was proof that there was a market for us
i really enjoyed this discussion. great video, fellas
Feefo put up 60 in this episode! He made a lot great and nuanced points on favor of LL
Im a millenial and i honestly dont think a lot of people in my generation would put him on "Mt. Rushmore" because we saw more of LL as an actor than as a rapper. We missed most of his impact
Feefo really said “Ain’t nobody coming to see you Otis.” 😂😂😂
29:35 damn he caught a pocket
He did lmaoooo
I had heard the hits he has when i was younger (around 14,15 and I just hit 30 last month 😅) but I actually listened to his albums last year and this year and he is easliy one of my favorite artists of all time. The dude really had and still has it to this day. Of all the albums I've heard im stuck between Mr. Smith and Mama Said Knock You Out as my favorite albums of his but the dude has something for everybody on every album. Really a 1 of 1 and glad I decided to finally give him a listen.
Yes, yes, & Yes!!L.L. Cool J Is Hard As Hell!!
This why I love y’all. Balanced overall opinion.
I think he isn't given flowers for his impact/influence because 80s rap is just a completely different generation for a lot of people. They do bring up Cube, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, Run DMC and Rakim but I notice over time that more people either leave them out or just put them up there for the sake of it. Some of them like Cube and LL had a career in the 90s-early 00s but their impact and longevity hasn't really stood the test of time beyond being one of the first. Even Cube recently got on this saying "I was Kendrick before Kendrick". If your expecting Gen Z or even Millennials to give any 80s rapper their flowers you're gonna come up short.
You nailed it!!
Fr when I think of rap I don't think of those from the 80's but I'm also not Gen Z
Ll had more impact on hip hop culture, and Rakim had more impact on the art form.
Close it off with few words 👌
Well said.
Great show he is the most inportant
This is a great convo yall. The debate was interesting & it really had me thinking…..
It also made me want to somehow look up LL in rap lyrics to see what comes up to see what folks have said in their bars. Like it or not I think LL needs that respect. Heck even when talking about the best NY rappers ever I rarely hear his name near the top of the list. The only time I think I’ve heard LL name is when folks bring up Drake.
17:48, ROYCE AND Em Say it all the time, same with BUSTA and LUDA
DEHH stay putting out quality videos 🔥
4:43, the difference is LL went there while a lot rappers didn’t try, until the next generation of emcees which was PAC, Treach, NAS, DMX LUDACRIS. LL planted the seeds that most of the next era was trying to go due to the stigma..unless it was a “WHO’S THE MAN” type movie.
Artists may not even know the influence LL has had on their careers because he was the first to lay certain foundations. So they may not say I was inspired by LL but they're benefiting from or mimicking his influence without knowing it. Not mad at him for letting people know, he definitely makes a good case.
That boy said Rahkim 😂
Another accolade for LL is that he was 17 when Def Jam signed him. Nowadays rap stars still young enough to be high school is kinda common. He honestly might be one of the roots of the saying “hip hops a young man’s game”
LL Cool J is the most important Hip Hop artist-rapper-rap superstar and The GOAT.
🤣🤣🤣
This is interesting , honestly depends on Criteria but I agree w/ Ken .
Sorry yall I'm with Ken, Rakim's contribution to hip hop may be singular but it still out weights the many things LL Cool J brought to the game. But both of them are top 3 most important of all time. My question is who would say is the third one?
Yeah I say LL Cool J & Rakim
LL is correct.
Yes, He Is Definitely One Of Them🔥
It’s hard to say who the most important rapper is because so many rappers made great contributions over the years, but LL definitely has to be on that list.
The closet to LL with the trifecta was HEAVY D.
LL Cool J, Rakim, KRS-One and Chuck D should be the Founding Fathers Mt. Rushmore of Hip Hop
One of his most underrated songs people don't bring up is ILL Bomb. That beat is one of them one's... and alot of people did freestyle's on it too
He wore the Jordan's and Remains The Mike Jordan of Hip-Hop. 16 with a hit that started a record label that great artists came off. Battled some of the best Mcs and undefeated. L is correct. Panther of Hip-Hop.
LL was the #1 rapper for like 2 years. As soon as 88-89 came in he had fell off (not all the way). Rakim, Kane, and Cube had taken the throne by then.
I agree with LL. He was the first solo Hip Hop superstar. Kurtis Blow was the first star. LL the first superstar.
Drunk asl in a Waffle House with one AirPod in. Am I the only one having MAD trouble hearing these mfs clearly lmaoo. Mf muffled asf
Sounds good on phone speakers though
Oh yeah...he crushed HAMMER, MO DEE AND ICT T CURLS ..LOL. Also killed Canabis!!!!
Maybe the second in terms of appeal but Rakim as a MC is just as important
I think a lot of this argument has been the semantic difference between rap and hip-hop. If you separate them and give them equal respect, both these statements can be true at the same time:
- Rakim is the most important person in RAP of all time.
- LL is the most important person in HIP-HOP of all time.
He's got a point
How can Feefo say Rakim ushered in the modern era of hip hop but it’s not enough?
Because Rakim never really had relevancy passed his first 5 years in Hip Hop with Eric B.
Even tho he is still making music to this day, he is not impacting the genre anymore. Unlike Nas and Jay-Z who have stood the test of time since they began in more ways than others. Jay-Z could drop an album tomorrow and it has a strong chance of being number one in the country. Rakim drops an album and he’d be lucky to be in the top 200
LL COOL J, Tupac, Jay-z, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg are the Mt Rushmore of superstar rappers. Whichever 4 you choose, you won't be wrong. Not saying either of them is the greatest, just that they've got the most check marks of the total superstar package.
I disagree about Mr Smith being a mid album
Ice T was still doing music, he was doing a different genre was all. Look into Body Count. That was his band since like the 80's early 90's.
The Rakim slander is crazy. Money generation isn’t the most important part of the culture. Gotta give more respect to furthering the art and the message
He is one of them
LL Cool J is on his Soulja Boy timing.
I was with Feefo the entire time until he said Master P did more for hip hop than Rakim. But I definitely get what he was saying lmao.
I would say the reason why LL probably doesn't get brought up in GOAT convo's is mostly because his classic albums and songs probably didn't age well overtime. When I listen to "Bigger and Deffer" or "Mama Said Knock You Out" I definitely feel like it's super outdated compared to Rakim's or Big Daddy Kane's classics. But I do agree with Feefo for the most part. I don't know if he's the most important of all time, but he for sure laid the foundation for hip hop to be brought into mainstream society. And contrary to what Kinge thinks, I 100% believe that there are rappers from the 90's and 2000's that grew up listening to LL thinking he was one of the best rappers in the 80's.
I'm w Ken on this. Impactful/seminal sure, I'm just not a huge fan of the marketable/commercialization being weighted so heavily.
I can’t lie. I’m with Ken too
It's not so much that they are weighing it so heavily but it's what sets him apart from his contemporaries, LL has influence on the music side as well as the business side where someone like Rakim was only influential in terms of his rapping.
LL has a point bc it's like Jackie Robinson is the most important black baseball player bc he was the first and he endured the most and he WAS SUCCESSFUL, see Rakim really didn't have world wide success, and remember Rakim went on LL's tour, put them on the same card, and LL is going after him bc LL has way more hits man! And Puff told Biggie, we need radio hits, without hits , he will be mistake rappers, LL is elite only Jay can match him hit for hit!
LL ain't Rakim, STOP the B.S even Jay-Z, Nas , Biggie rate a lot of peeps above LL.
So don't get me started with the next generations
I think the main point to take away for me is that LL probably was a jack of all trades, but master of none. While Rakim was really on it lyrically.
if 4,3,2,1 is getting brought up, how his verse came about for that record should be discussed too.
All that extra curricular stuff has nothing to do with hiphop. Its about flow, lyrics and content. Im with Ken.
Mc Hammer Had More Deals Then Anybody
Prime example of someone inspired is Drake, and he himself has even acknowledged and given LL his flowers
I'm sure peeps respect that LOL
So y’all going to review Snoop new album?
He’s on the shortlist for sure
You guys also forgot to mention the GAP ad that LL did, while wearing a FUBU hat and sneaking the line " FOR US BY US"...LL was ill!!!!
Master P doing more than Rakim is crazy😂😂
Ice T had hella albums before he fully transitioned to acting, hell, he had like 6 classics while he was acting
Mr. Smith was not mid! Mr Smith was one of LLs best albums that's a fact
14:52, I understand what you’re trying to say but LL didn’t sound like RUN DMC or KURTIS BLOW. His clothes wasn’t GRANDMASTER CAZ and Melle Mel. Today, he’s hired SCORPIO Grandmaster CAZ. SHA-ROC, ROXANNE, COOL V, DJ EPPS, PAPOOSE, DJ SCRATCH…R.I.P. TO MR. CEE, BIZ MARKIE and PRINCE MARKIE DEE. Rakim was on HIS TOUR, his festival, his CRUISE. What emcee is doing all of that today ? To be the BIG EGOTISTICAL EMCEE Niggas claim he is, he’s very respectful to the genre and his peers. Put together not 1 but 2 GRAMMY SHOWS for HIP HOP. Able to sit and convo with past beef rappers.
20:36 …KEEPING HIP HOP ALIVE ? In 87 ? The same year BIGGER AND DEFFER DROPPED ?
He is not wrong, he should be on Mt rushmore
LL is your favorite rapper's favorite rapper, Meth, Big, Pac, Jay and listen to DMX "Born Loser" who he sound like?
Eye don't agree 💯
yall sleep on rakim influence.. it's like if you had 1 guy in basketball that invented the 3pt, and the dunk - sure dudes started doing 360's and wearing better uniforms, but rakim made the game... like Rodney Mullen for skateboarding kinda ??
The most commercially successful rapper, Eminem, lists LL as an influence.
This episode exemplifies the exact reason I never listen to Ken. He always misses the forest for a single tree and won’t look past it to see the bigger picture.
2pac Gave It Up To LL Cool J In His Song Old School
Pac said a lot of shit
@@StevieFromThree🤣 for real FOH
Feefo thinks hip hop album of the year is the Forbes rich list.
The origins of this thing called hip hop is the innovations of working class people.
And don't forget he did In The House with fine ass Maia Campbell before the crack
I'll take Todd Shaw AKA TOO $HORT he crawled so y'all can walk & run
That’s a good one. Short had hits in the 80s 90s and 00s. And showed how to do the indy grind
Kool Moe Dee is the most important rapper ever.
No It's Rakim
Rakim is the most important mc. He changed how mc rapped going forward. LL did usher in a new breed of mcs after Ahos battle with Kool Moe Dee. But Rakim came and made LL change how he began to rhyme lol. But LL, Kool Moe Dee, G Rap, & Ultramagmetic Mcs all have a case AFTER Rakim. Every mc from the 90s - present are Rakim or G Rap babies. And Future is going to he on that list as time goes by.
Ken just made bad arguments lol. All of the points everyone else made had nothing to do with being an mc lol. LL was the most important product for the industry. And I think Rakim has the 1st million deal in hip-hop
If he said most important figure in HIP HOP i would be behind it, but LL was more than his rhymes and I dont see his rapping as the most influential
This is where the nerd in me comes out. There's a couple of things Cool J got right, but some of those claims were WRONG.
The first rappers to introduce rebellion? Run-D.M.C.. The first rapper to introduce love songs? Kurtis Blow. The first solo rap artist to take his career globally? Kurtis Blow. As a matter of fact, Kurtis Blow's influence is written all over Cool J.
Although he deserves respect, I'm not subscribing to revisionist history. Although, it's quite interesting to see him and Drake have the same problem and share similar sentiments.
Commercialization does not quite equal cultural significance/cache nor the pioneer title. It just means you're popular. Nothing wrong with that, and not saying you can't help usher in or introduce new ideas, but you have to accept that you may be a little outside of the nucleus of a cultural phenomenon.
Don't shoot the messenger, it's just what it is.
Sometimes, I feel like Ken just needs to be contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.
No.
Thanks for your time.
I thought this was an obvious thing or something you shouldnt be mad at.
Ken, why are you trying to be willingly obtuse on this? We're in the same age bracket. And maybe because I'm from NYC, I see exactly why LL said that. And he's not lying. He is the most important rapper checkingall boxes. He already broke it down. Why did this go one for 30 plus minutes. 😒
Melle Mel is the most important.
I think Rakim is the most important MC o all Time.
The mainstream audience isn't loyal even their main superstars guys/girls. I doubt Drake, Future, Nicki think this is all coz of LL.
Ken is hating on LL. Ken is not a real hip hop fan talking like that
There's the 99% energy 💅
This is so disrespectful to run and jay
To say LL Cool J isn’t relevant… doesn’t apply per definition cause he’s closely connected to rap.. from past and present work. If he was a Jazz musician, you could say he isn’t relevant but he’s a rap artist. Atleast try to make your babbling make sense.
I see the point you're trying to make, but buy that same measurement. Jazz would still technically be more relevant than hip hop, even if it's not charting like pop music is. If you was a jazz musician, he'd probably be heralded way more for being present. The way modern jazz musicians are. Most of them have a wider reach than LL does.
The problem is he didn't beat canibus only in popularity the streets will never forget that diva treatment plus LL is to sexually aggressive see his videos
LL is Forever Top 10
The correct answer is "Yes". and I'm not an LL fan.
Why are you not a LL fan?
I like some of his songs, some I don't like. Not a fanatic. He's not one of my favs
Nope. The most important rapper in history is Tupac Shakur.