14 Shots To The Dome

For reasons known only to him, LL Cool J felt the need to follow up his most commercially successful and critically acclaimed album with a (mostly) fierce and angry collection of bangers. Half the beats are provided by longtime collaborator Marley Marl, some of which have a surprisingly West Coast feel. “A Little Somethin’”, which samples King Floyd’s “Groove Me,” could have come off the first Cypress Hill album. The bizarre sex jam “Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag Getting Crushed By Buildings” lets his weird sense of humor out to play, while “All We Got Left Is The Beat” and “Crossroads” (the latter an epic with strings, sound effects, and five female backup singers) exhibit some social awareness, even if he was never going to be Chuck D or KRS-One.