I'm Bad

Less than two years after LL COOL J's Krush Groove performance of "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and his subsequent debut album Radio, there was still a lot to learn about the Queens MC.

After all, his debut album, which spawned four singles, peaked at #6 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and sold over one million copies, contained no music videos. Those who witnessed LL visually did so via Soul Train, American Bandstand or in concert.

The LA Posse-produced "I'm Bad" and its incredibly effective video would not only help Bigger And Deffer spend 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop albums chart, but helped it to sell in excess of two million copies in the U.S. alone. LL's personality, style of dress, and what would become his most memorable image was established with the Rolando Hudson directed video for "I'm Bad."

The B side of the "I'm Bad" single was "Get Down," a high energy song with the chanted "Go LL" hook that was a staple on Hip- Hop radio mix shows and boomboxes around the country.

Bigger And Deffer

On May 29, 1987, LL COOL J released his sophomore album Bigger And Deffer (B.A.D.), which proved to be just what the title suggested. With production handled by the LA Posse, this marked one of the first times that a major label rap release by a New York artist was produced by non New Yorkers.

The west coast was a few years away from establishing their own sound, and B.A.D was released between the "drum machine era" and the game changing era of sampling. The resulting album was one containing hard beats, samples and dope cuts via The LA Posse's Bobcat. Songs like ".357 Break It On Down," "Go Cut Creator Go," "The Do Wop" and "Get Down" contained various funk, rock and R&B samples over some of the best drum machine programming and scratches of the time.

These high energy tracks allowed LL expand on the style that he introduced three years earlier with his debut, "I Need A Beat." The barebones, Isaac Hayes-inspired "The Breakthrough" even gave a rare example of LL responding to his many detractors, though not by name, with lines like, "Can't get a decent contract/beats ain't workin'/dogged out Puma's plus ya' managers jerkin."

I Need Love

Rap ballads were not new to rap music or to LL, but he created the first commercially successful one with "I Need Love," the second single from B.A.D. On earlier singles such as "I Want You" and "I Can Give You More," LL showed vulnerability by serenading love interests, an angle that had been attempted by Spoonie Gee, The Harlem World Crew and others before him. What those songs lacked were hooks and melodies that connected the songs to broader audiences. "I Need Love" checked all of those boxes reaching number 1 on the Hot Black Singles chart, number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 8 on the U.K. singles chart. The song and video further helped to push B.A.D. to its double platinum status.

B.A.D. is an album with no fast forward moments — it stands the test of time and remains among LL's best pieces of work.