Release Date: 1983

Impressions:  Before he was doing the NCIS thing or battling sharks, L.L. (along with Run DMC) was one of the first big crossover rap stars that moved hip-hop from the secret mix tapes and 12″ records we passed around at school to the mainstream. I haven’t listened to this album since way back when. Let’s take it for a spin… From the get-go, the sound is classic boom-bap minimal Rick Rubin production. “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” has lots of the prototypical old-school “lemon to the lime/lime to the lemon rhyming” style. Enjoyably nostalgic, and heavily sampled, but sometimes LL seems kind of boring as a rhyme artist. I guess that’s the problem with seminal works, they tend to…WAIT, HE WAS 17 YEARS OLD WHEN HE DID THIS? Holy shit!! I take back everything I just said. I mean, I couldn’t even do my own laundry when I was 17. My Kangol hat is off to you, Young Cool James. Seriously though, I think my ears are little worn out from LL’s basic rhyming style due to all the imitiations and bad rap parodies in the ’80s aping this record. (Remember this number from “3 Men and a Little Lady?”)  Regardless, “Rock the Bells” is still as thrilling as the day it came out and and between the Yes sample and diss lyrics, “That’s A Lie” made me laugh out loud.