Bigger & Deffer

by LL Cool J

Overview

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

Product Details

Release Date:	09/02/2014
Label:	Def Jam
UPC:	0602537875603

Tracks

1. I'm Bad
2. Kanday
3. Get Down
4. The Bristol Hotel
5. My Rhyme Ain't Done
6. .357: Break it on Down
7. Go Cut Creator Go
8. The Breakthrough
9. I Need Love
10. Ahh, Let's Get Ill
11. The Do Wop
12. On the Ill Tip

Album Credits

Performance Credits

LL Cool J   Primary Artist
Break It On Down   Primary Artist
Bobby Erving   Scratching

Technical Credits

Steven Ett   Mixing,Engineer
Bobby Erving   Composer,Producer
Bobby "Bobcat" Ervin   Composer
LL Cool J   Composer,Producer
D. J. Pooh   Composer
Russell Simmons   Production Supervisor
Rod Hui   Engineer
James Todd Smith   Composer
Robert Ervin   Composer
Dwayne Simon   Composer
Steve Ett   Composer
Darryl La Mont Pierce   Composer
DJ Pooh   Composer
Glen E. Friedman   Photography
Darryl Pierce   Composer
Dwayne "Muffla" Simon   Composer
Howie Weinberg   Mastering
Mark Mandelbaum   Engineer
D. Pierce   Composer
Jay Henry   Engineer
Eric Haze   Design
Robert Bradford   Composer
L.A. Posse   Group,Producer
David Pierce   Composer
Chuck Valle   Engineer,Assistant Engineer