Usually I don't like greatest hits albums but this is probably the one exception right here. I bought the tape version of this album back in the summer of '97 and then 2 years later I gave it away in school. Looking back on it, I regret giving it away now. Oh well CDs are better than tapes. Any ways all 16 of these songs are easily 80% of LL's top 20 of all-time. It starts out great with Radio and ends great with Hey Lover with plenty of songs in between like I'm Bad, Mama Said Knock You Out, Round The Way Girl, Boomin System, Who You Love, and Doin' It. A great album to listen to on a Monday afternoon. A must get for the true rap fan!

...mainly because i think less of LL as a person now, not necessarily as a rapper...

what a letdown. i ordered this for 75 cents (no joke) off half.com after watching ll cool j preach his way through deep blue sea. i got it because i remembered "mama said knock you out" and "going back to cali", and i remember liking them, but jeez, man, those are the only two tracks worth listening to on this entire friggin' cd. and this is the greatest hits? most upsetting of all is that j comes off as a huge jerk...the lyrics here are even more chauvinistic and disrespectful than i would have expected from a more typical street-rapper. some of the songs are scarcely listenable the message is so embarrassing. the good news is, of course, that "knock you out" is even more badass than i remember.

THIS ALBUM IS A CLASSIC FROM LL'S HITS FROM THE 80'S AND 90'S
EVERY SONG FROM''CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT MY RADIO'', TO ''HEY LOVER'', IS ALL HOT. HE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST RAPPERS OF ALL TIME ,AND THIS ALBUM PROVES IT.

One of LL's strongest suits is that he could take on all comers in the rap game, step his game up whenever and crush 'em (see Canibus). However, one diss record in particular got left of this compilation which was more deserving than "Jack The Ripper", and that was "Till The Break of Dawn" originally on the House Party 2 soundtrack. That record pretty muched sealed Kool Moe Dee's fate and put Ice-T in his place for even thinking he had enough lyrical skill to battle LL. Of course, since this LP came out in '97, I guess we'll have to wait for the song 4,3,2,1 as well as the ultimate diss that ruined Canibus's brief career on his G.O.A.T. LP. However, the remix for "Rock the Bells" is one of the most vicious singles ever released in hip hop and should have been put on this cd as well as the remix for "Doin it". I guess you can't have everything I suppose. But it's an okay compilation.

I went and got this album when it came out in '96! Very dynamic album of his hits! He was RUN-D.M.C's stiff competition from 1985-1988, but he had his own agenda in rap. The '85 songs are still raw, the '87 music is still mesmerizing, the one '88 offering is still blistering, the '90s songs were all unique. He proved that rappers could do ballads and still keep their uptempo hardness with I Need Love. I saw him in concert last year and he really tore it up. Excellent revolving lights swirling behind him and his DJ was hot. He had the crowd on its feet too! He is a testament to longevity in rap and most of today's competition needs to use him as a model for their ongoing success. His songs are diverse and he's always challenging himself too with his songs. This is a dynamite album for its 73 minutes--he selected the right and best songs for this collection!!!!!