14 Shots To The Dome

About

The grimy fifth album from LL Cool J, 1993’s <i>14 Shots to the Dome</i> arrived during a transitional time for New York hip-hop. As Los Angeles gangsta rap began to dominate the conversation, East Coasters like Black Moon, Onyx, Lords of the Underground, Trends of Culture, and a teenage Mobb Deep were countering with a gritty hardcore sound that reeked of sewer smoke and subway grease. Among them was LL Cool J, a veteran with four platinum albums to his name—and whose <i>14 Shots to the Dome</i> proved to be the roughest and most rugged release of his career. Though he’d experienced no shortage of crossover succe, on the opening track “How I’m Comin’,” LL made it clear, well, how he was coming: “You can call me R&B, that’s only if it stands for ‘rough brother’/Word to my grandmother.” Tracks like “Buckin’ Em Down,” “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Thi,” and the steely “Straight From Queens”—featuring the dancehall stylings of Lieutenant Stitchie—stomp like Timbaland boot, with LL at his most gun-crazy and bloodthirsty. And he teams with New Jersey’s Lords of the Underground on “(NFA) No Frontin’ Allowed,” which finds LL leaning a little more violent than usual, but no less dexterous: “Soul survivor of a thousand beats/Sendin’ funeral wreaths to all you used-to-be chief.” .

via Apple Music

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