This is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
I am aware of the fact that many rock 'n' roll fans don't think hip hop artists belong in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I would like to ask those who hold that view to explain to me why and how LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" isn't rock.
On second thought, save the explanation, because we're not going to agree. Man, the first time I heard "Mama Said Knock You Out," my immediate raised-fist reaction was that I'd just encountered rap's rippin' 'n' rampagin' anarchy-for-the-DJ equivalent of the Sex Pistols.
Granted, rap and punk share an attitude and a DIY ethic more than they share a sound. But the comparison of hip hop culture to punk rock culture is not made lightly. Aside from the Sugarhill Gang's 1979 hit "Rappers Delight" (which struck my ears at the time as a tangent to disco), much of my early exposure to rap came through a new wave perspective. In 1981, CBGB-bred pop group Blondie (with guest Fab 5 Freddy) had a # 1 hit with "Rapture," and in the mid '80s Buffalo, NY's aggressive and adventurous New Music Radio format station WBNY-FM programmed the likes of Run-DMC and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five right alongside X, the Ramones, Echo and the Bunnymen, and other left-of-the-dial luminaries. NEW music radio. Dinosaurs should seek quarter elsewhere.
My own interest in hip hop was casual. I loved hearing Run-DMC's "Rockbox" and Grandmaster and Melle Mel's "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" on BNY, but rap was never my main jam. As rap migrated from the margins to the mainstream, I was okay with some of the genre's big smashes while still not regarding any of it as the largest part of my own day-to-day soundtrack. Not until 1991.
Don't call it a comeback.
The ladies love Cool James. Born James Todd Smith, LL Cool J first hit the rap world with his debut single "I Need A Beat" in 1984. I was aware of LL Cool J when I worked record retail in the '80s, and our store sold its fair share of his first album Radio, but I don't recall taking any real notice of his music until "Mama Said Knock You Out" exploded into my airspace in '91. Where did I hear it? It must have been on MTV, accompanying the stark image of Cool James himself terrorizing a microphone with his furious vow to knock you out. I was sold. I bought the single, and it remains one of the very few rap records I’ve ever owned.
The song's pulse is a groove sampled from Sly and the Family Stone's 1967 non-hit "Trip To Your Heart," a song I didn't know until many years later. LL Cool J's (authorized) appropriation of that riff is the only known example of anyone ever improving on something Sly Stone created. Driven by that repeated sample, "Mama Said Knock You Out" seethes and simmers, bobbing and weaving like the battle-ready pugilist LL Cool J portrays in the song's video, ropin' the dopes as it floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. Just like Muhammad Ali.
And he's just getting warm.
There’s no plausible set of circumstances that would result in me becoming a big hip hop fan. I’m a suburban white Baby Boomer, and in the words of the great philosopher Popeye, I yam what I yam. But rock 'n' roll is a big, big tent, and hip hop is one of the many disparate genres, styles, and sovereign mojos that comprise rock's vast and glorious vistas.
Some things rock more than others. I say LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" rocks pretty damned hard, and it's closer in spirit and vibe to original rockers like Chuck Berry and Little Richard than anything most prog groups could noodle up on their best day.
So play it loud, and make the tears rain down like a monsoon. A comeback? It's been here for years, rockin' its peers, puttin' suckers in fear. Fast. Furious. ROCK.
You can disagree. But don't say you weren't warned about how Mama told us to respond.
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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.
