Stick around for the interview with Don Cornelius for bonus comedic antics…
6 thoughts on “Video: LL Cool J’s First Performance on Soul Train”
This is a true classic performance,what always stood out to me about this appearance on Soul Train,was the amount of resistance to the”rise”of HipHop music.LL was definitely feeling his sucess
but…he was young and on top of HipHop,Don like
most of the music shows,(radio)included,were not
ready for HipHop’s reign.This is a gem,thanks Robbie.
love that dude pogoing in the front… ah def jam was the shit back in the day– radio was one of the first tapes i ever bought classic material robbie nice post
Crazy, man… it’s stuff like this that really puts it in perspective how serious and crucial LL was in his day. Just to be a kid and pretty much showing up the majority of the older dudes in the game, and having fans male and female reciting your every word, and inspiring upcoming rappers to sound like you- it’s not a lotta MCs who can say they were able to do all that at once. He’s one of that crowd, and I think a lot of people forget that because it’s like hey think of LL and ‘Phenomenon’ pops in their head or some shit. I remember a quote from L that really tells his story- he was saying something about how he wasn’t really concerned with being the hottest thing on the streets or the top MC in the game anymore, because he’d done all of that already, YEARS before a lot of the new cats were even rapping… he was like “I don’t care about these cats with their chains and shit… I done crashed more cars than they bought”. It’s vintage arrogant L, but true at the same time.
-D!
There’s a couple videos up from the soultrain user on YouTube of Kurtis Blow doing “The Breaks” and being interviewed afterward.
You know L the Biz and Ghostface are some funny dudes. Lol
This is a true classic performance,what always stood out to me about this appearance on Soul Train,was the amount of resistance to the”rise”of HipHop music.LL was definitely feeling his sucess
but…he was young and on top of HipHop,Don like
most of the music shows,(radio)included,were not
ready for HipHop’s reign.This is a gem,thanks Robbie.
love that dude pogoing in the front… ah def jam was the shit back in the day– radio was one of the first tapes i ever bought classic material robbie nice post
Crazy, man… it’s stuff like this that really puts it in perspective how serious and crucial LL was in his day. Just to be a kid and pretty much showing up the majority of the older dudes in the game, and having fans male and female reciting your every word, and inspiring upcoming rappers to sound like you- it’s not a lotta MCs who can say they were able to do all that at once. He’s one of that crowd, and I think a lot of people forget that because it’s like hey think of LL and ‘Phenomenon’ pops in their head or some shit. I remember a quote from L that really tells his story- he was saying something about how he wasn’t really concerned with being the hottest thing on the streets or the top MC in the game anymore, because he’d done all of that already, YEARS before a lot of the new cats were even rapping… he was like “I don’t care about these cats with their chains and shit… I done crashed more cars than they bought”. It’s vintage arrogant L, but true at the same time.
-D!
There’s a couple videos up from the soultrain user on YouTube of Kurtis Blow doing “The Breaks” and being interviewed afterward.
You know L the Biz and Ghostface are some funny dudes. Lol
…Cuz I Love Ladies…