Bigger and Deffer

• Artist: LL Cool J
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1987
• Total Time: 45:13
• Type: Contains explicit content
• Genre: Rap

Review

LL Cool J rocketed to the top of the hip-hop world in 1985 with Radio, his astonishing debut, but he lost his footing a bit with Bigger and Deffer, his mildly disappointing follow-up that proved to be a commercial breakthrough all the same. It's a powerful album that gets underway with a bang, as LL raps, "No rapper can rap quite like I can," and makes his case throughout the album-opening "I'm Bad," a ferocious hardcore rap with a great DJ-scratched hook. While that song ranks among LL's best (and most popular) ever, Bigger and Deffer doesn't boast too many other standout moments, with the exception of "I Need Love." Its balladic tenderness comes as a late-album surprise, considering how ferocious LL sounds elsewhere here. Nonetheless, like it or loathe it, the song set the template for a number of such lovers raps that would bring LL much crossover success in the years to come. "I Need Love" aside, Bigger and Deffer is consistently solid, produced entirely by the L.A. Posse (Darryl Pierce, Dwayne Simon, and Bobby Erving) and filled with the sort of hard-hitting hip-hop that was Def Jam's staple at the time. But while the album is mostly solid, it does lack the creative spark that had made Radio such an invigorating release only a couple years prior (the absence of Rick Rubin here is unfortunate). In those couple years since LL had put out Radio, rap music had taken big strides. Now, in 1987, LL had to contend with the likes of Eric B. & Rakim, Kool Moe Dee, Public Enemy, and Boogie Down Productions, with others like EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T, and N.W.A on the horizon. When put in such a context, Bigger and Deffer pales a bit; in the years since LL's Radio rocked the streets of New York, rap had taken leaps and bounds while LL hadn't. So it was no surprise when LL suddenly came under attack by his rivals and a few fans, sending him back to the drawing board for his next effort, the whopping 18-track Walking with a Panther (1989). ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
I'm Bad (Lyrics)	David Pierce, Bobby Erving, James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(4:39)
Kanday (Lyrics)	Bobby Erving, James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(3:59)
Get Down (Lyrics)	LL Cool J, Dwayne "Muffla" Simon, Bobby Erving	LL Cool J	(3:23)
The Bristol Hotel	Bobby Erving, James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(2:43)
My Rhyme Ain't Done (Lyrics)	Bobby Erving, James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(3:45)
.357 - Break It on Down	James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(4:05)
Go Cut Creator Go (Lyrics)	Bobby Erving, James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(3:57)
The Breakthrough	LL Cool J, Dwayne "Muffla" Simon, Bobby Erving	LL Cool J	(4:04)
I Need Love (Lyrics)	David Pierce, Dwayne "Muffla" Simon, Robert Ervin, James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(5:23)
Ahh, Let's Get Ill (Lyrics)	Bobby Erving, James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(3:45)
The Do Wop	Bobby Erving, James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(4:59)
On the Ill Tip	James Todd Smith	LL Cool J	(:31)

Credits

L.A. Posse (Group), L.A. Posse (Producer), Steven Ett (Engineer), Steven Ett (Mixing), Glen E. Friedman (Photography), Jay Henry (Engineer), Rod Hui (Engineer), LL Cool J (Producer), LL Cool J (Main Performer), Mark Mandelbaum (Engineer), Russell Simmons (Production Supervisor), Chuck Valle (Engineer), Chuck Valle (Assistant Engineer), Howie Weinberg (Mastering), Bobby Erving (Scratching), Bobby Erving (Producer), Eric Haze (Design)

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