Every artist goes through rough patches. Whether it’s writer’s block, or a bad producer, or some other unexpected force… some albums just don’t take off like you hope.
This happened to LL Cool J back in the 80s, after his third album was a relative failure. The rapper decided, however, that he could wallow in self-pity, or he could learn from it and put it in the past. He chose the latter.
Back in 1990, LL sat down for a chat with journalist Andrew Smith for Melody Maker Magazine. The conversation was centered around LL’s new album at the time, Mama Said Knock You Out. While that album would go on to be considered one of the greatest rap albums of all time, it was the album prior, Walking With A Panther (1989), that became the topic of conversation.
LL Cool J’s 1989 album, ‘Walking With A Panther’, was not met with acclaim
Following the formal interview, Smith and LL were chatting casually when Smith asked the rapper about getting embarrassed. “Sure, I get embarrassed,” LL replied. But what types of things would embarrass LLCool J? “I don’t know… who knows,” he offered. “I don’t know, but everybody can get embarrassed.”
Smith then asked if “it hurt” when Walking With A Panther was poorly received by critics and subsequently did not sell well. “Nah, man. When you do good you’re arrogant, and when you do mediocre, you’re passé,” LL offered. “Seeing something in the press saying I done bad don’t hurt me. The press didn’t make me or break me, they just been there. Call it how you see it, that’s what I say — cos I would.”
Attempting to get LL to give his true feelings on the album, Smith asked him if he was “agreeing that Panther was mediocre.” The rapper responded, “Nobody’s perfect, you know what I’m saying? Not even LL! I never believe all the bullshit that’s said about me, anyway, whether it’s good or bad.
LL Cool J would not let the press make or break his career
“That’s why this year I’m just gonna sit back and listen to all these people telling me how they like this album, and I’m gonna laugh,” he exclaimed. “All I’m gonna do is be thankful if people like my work, and that’s it. Period. No more feeling glorified and lookin’ in the mirror and thinking I’m so happy I gotta splash myself in the face with cold water. F*** that!”
“I’m an anti-commercial underground dweller,” LL added. “You either hate me or you love me, and that’s it. I don’t need the gold and the glitter.”
Since he didn’t really answer the question, Smith tried again. This time, the rapper was more transparent. “All right, it wasn’t that good,” LL confessed. “I’m a man about it. But that’s in the past now, I’m just keeping busy. Music is waves and you just gotta ride ’em.”
Mama Said Knock You Out is certified double platinum in the U.S.
“I’m here now and I don’t do drugs, I don’t get high, I don’t cloud my mind and pollute it with that nonsense, and I feel real good about this new album,” he added. “I keep thinking, keep my mind sharp, so when people want to write me off, I’m busy writin’ myself in. You know what I’m sayin’? It’s simple.”
Finally, when asked if Panther’s failure made him “more cautious,” LL asserted, “Naw. I’m even hungrier than I was before, cos I know what I’m up against.”
The post ‘It’s in the Past Now’: The LL Cool J Album That Ended in Relative Failure (and What He Learned From It) appeared first on VICE.
