Radio (First Edition)

iTunes Review

1985 marked a pivotal moment in Hip-Hop’s history. The year saw the release of a brace of essential 12-inches and full lengths by artists like Run DMC, T La Rock, Schooly D, and Steady B, flexing a roaring, 808 based brand of street minimalism that swept away rap’s disco smitten old guard with the boom of a programmed kick drum. Foremost amongst these ferocious young turks was the seventeen-year-old James Todd Smith, known to the world as LL Cool J. His debut release Radio saw the hungry young MC calling out the bloated excesses of the old school on “That’s a Lie” and introducing a new brand of mean mugging party rocking on the instant classic “Rock The Bells”. Though LL’s witty punch lines and uncompromisingly hardcore disposition set him apart from his contemporaries, it is Rick Rubin’s skeletal production that made Radio truly revolutionary. Rubin’s production combined the sonic economy of punk rock with the malevolent bellow of a tricked out ghetto blaster, providing the sonic blueprint for an entire generation of Hip-Hop producers.