Mr. Smith

About

“This was to be my coming-of-age album, something like Janet Jackson’s <i>Control</i>,” said LL Cool J about his sixth album, <i>Mr. Smith</i>. “For the first time I was making my own decisions and making my own rule. But doing it in a spiritual way—allowing others to help.” A multi-platinum smash that came a decade into his recording career, <i>Mr. Smith</i> forges the path that would take the endlessly charismatic rapper into his next decade: Sensuous R&B jams for the chart, and merciless feats of rhyme agility for the streets—all of it constructed by the hottest producers of the day. By 1995, Puff Daddy had finally mastered the once-uneasy marriage between hardcore hip-hop and smoothed-out pop, thanks to Notorious B.I.G.’s <i>Ready to Die</i>, which dominated radio. On <i>Mr. Smith</i>, LL borrows a handful of Biggie’s hitmaking producers—mostly Trackmaster, but also Rashad Smith and Easy Mo Bee—for something similarly rugged and smooth. The Trackmasters and LL Cool J partnership yielded its biggest coup in the Grammy-winning marriage fantasy “Hey Lover,” which had been made in a rush of excitement: Sensing a hit in the sumptuou, Michael Jackson-sampling beat, the producers and LL piled into manager Chris Lighty’s car, and ambushed the members of Boyz II Men in Philadelphia, where they played the track for the mega-selling R&B superstar. As a result, “Hey Lover” promptly became the first and only rap song to boast a feature spot from the classic four-man Boyz II Men lineup. It also became one of <i>Mr. Smith</i>’s three singles to hit the Top 10, along with the legendarily raunchy hit “Doin’ It” and the slightly less steamy “Loungin’,” which would become a breakout thanks to a lush remix with Total. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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