By 1990 L.L. Cool J was only twenty-two years old, but fading from the radar. The rapper had debuted at sixteen with I Need a Beat and enjoyed mainstream success three years later with the ballad I Need Love. However, many agreed that since his first album, 1985’s Radio, his work had taken a downturn.

I do not have a sense of much of L.L.’s music beyond this album. But if Mama Said Knock You Out was a return to relevancy, it has to be one of the greatest comeback albums ever made. And yet the most famous lyric from the album is, “Don’t call it a comeback!”

Clearly L.L. was aware of his waning acclaim, fame and relevance. But beyond the title track, Mama Said Knock You Out’s lyrics do not sound like he is anxious about it. This is because he’s rapping about what he knows about - himself, his life and his ladies. Lyrically this record does not cover any new ground - which is not a problem - but Marley Marl’s production clearly was experimental for L.L.; otherwise, if he’d continued rapping the same way with few changes in his music, he would not have been able to stay relevant.

Marley’s beats and backing tracks enhance the album; this is a far less spare production than that of many previous hip-hop records, but it does not feel overly bombastic on the more aggressive tracks. The range of songs is also noteworthy. The first two alone - the gritty, somewhat minimalist The Boomin’ System and the more lush and poppy Around the Way Girl - illustrate just part of the album’s scope.

However, what helps give this record both cohesion and diversity is L.L.’s delivery, which is always inviting while using different approaches to make the album work. His voice is by turns forceful (Eat ‘Em Up L Chill), fun (the MCs’ reunion party Farmers Blvd. [Our Anthem]), smooth (Mr. Good Bar), fierce (Murdergram and the title track), and romantic (Around the Way Girl).

For an hour-length rap album, Mama Said Knock You Out is relentless: each track lasts between 3:40 and 5:10, so there is no room for breath or a skit’s quick comic relief. This can irritate a short attention span, but illustrates what an album should accomplish - a cohesive experience with little interruption.

Out of fourteen tracks, not one is terrible, but the overly slick hooks on To Da Break of Dawn and 6 Minutes of Pleasure, which are sequenced next to each other, drain some momentum near the end of the set. These are the rare instances when the album’s relentlessness works against itself, where the listener could use a rest, or a different background track instead of the cheesy saxophone.

With that said, Mama Said Knock You Out’s non-stop nature generally works very well because of the album’s variety and overall consistency. Whether this was an innovative or important record when it was released is beside the point; this is not the kind of album that you had to be around for its release to appreciate. What matters is that it sounds enjoyable and focused today.

Release date: 01/08/1990
Artist website: www6.defjam.com/site/artist_home.php?artist_id=202
Label: Def Jam

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