Walking with a Panther

From Scratchpad

Walking with a Panther is the third album by high-selling hip-hop artist LL Cool J. Produced in 1989, the album was a commercial success, with several charting singles ("Going Back to Cali," "I'm That Type of Guy", "Jingling Baby," "Big Ole Butt"), however, the album was often criticized by the hip-hop community as being too commercial, materialistic, and "soft" for focusing too much on love ballads albeit with some highly danceable songs. Ironically, critics today consider this album unique in that LL Cool J was one of the first hip-hop artists to display materialistic themes on an album cover: a massive gold chain, or "truck jewelry" as it was then called, on a panther, in addition to scantily clad women surrounding LL, who is holding a cell phone in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other. Many hip-hop albums today portray some such overt materialism on their covers.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Droppin' Em"
2. "Smokin', Dopin'"
3. "Fast Peg"
4. "Clap Your Hands'"
5. "Nitro"
6. "You're My Heart"
7. "I'm That Type of Guy"
8. "Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?"
9. "Going Back to Cali"
10. "It Gets No Rougher"
11. "Big Ole Butt"
12. "One Shot at Love"
13. "1-900 LL Cool J"
14. "Two Different Worlds"
15. "Jealous"
16. "Jingling Baby"
17. "Def Jam in the Motherland"
18. "Change Your Ways"

[edit] Samples

• The song "Nitro" interpolated some parts from "(Not Just) Knee Deep" by Funkadelic.

• The song "I'm That Type of Guy" interpolated some movie quotes from The Wizard of Oz.

• The song "Def Jam in the Motherland" sampled portions of "Love Is The Message" by M.F.S.B..

• The song "Going Back to Cali" was sampled in "Hey Baby (Jump Off)" produced by Rick Rubin.