Album · 1987

Bigger and Deffer

by LL Cool J

Bigger and Deffer is a 1987 hip-hop album by LL Cool J. It runs 12 tracks across 45 minutes on Def Jam Recordings.

Hip-Hop · East Coast Hip-Hop · Hardcore Hip-Hop

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66 /100
6 critics: 12
Tracks: 45 min
Runtime: 102 bpm
Tempo: A# major
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Tracklist

12 tracks · 45 min

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About

LL Cool J rocketed to the top of the hip-hop world in 1985 with Radio, his astonishing debut, but he lost his footing a bit with Bigger and Deffer, his mildly disappointing follow-up that proved to be a commercial breakthrough all the same. It's a powerful album that gets underway with a bang, as LL raps, "No rapper can rap quite like I can," and makes his case throughout the album-opening "I'm Bad," a ferocious hardcore rap with a great DJ-scratched hook. While that song ranks among LL's best (and most popular) ever, Bigger and Deffer doesn't boast too many other standout moments, with the exception of "I Need Love." Its balladic tenderness comes as a late-album surprise, considering how ferocious LL sounds elsewhere here. Nonetheless, like it or loathe it, the song set the template for a number of such lovers raps that would bring LL much crossover success in the years to come. "I Need Love" aside, Bigger and Deffer is consistently solid, produced entirely by the L.A. Posse (Darryl Pierce, Dwayne Simon, and Bobby Erving) and filled with the sort of hard-hitting hip-hop that was Def Jam's staple at the time.

But while the album is mostly solid, it does lack the creative spark that had made Radio such an invigorating release only a couple years prior (the absence of Rick Rubin here is unfortunate). In those couple years since LL had put out Radio, rap music had taken big strides. Now, in 1987, LL had to contend with the likes of Eric B. & Rakim, Kool Moe Dee, Public Enemy, and Boogie Down Productions, with others like EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T, and N.W.A on the horizon. When put in such a context, Bigger and Deffer pales a bit; in the years since LL's Radio rocked the streets of New York, rap had taken leaps and bounds while LL hadn't. So it was no surprise when LL suddenly came under attack by his rivals and a few fans, sending him back to the drawing board for his next effort, the whopping 18-track Walking with a Panther (1989).

In brief

When was Bigger and Deffer released?: Bigger and Deffer was released in 1987 on Def Jam Recordings.
How many tracks are on Bigger and Deffer?: Bigger and Deffer has 12 tracks, with a runtime of 45 minutes.
What genre is Bigger and Deffer?: Bigger and Deffer is catalogued under Hip-Hop, East Coast Hip-Hop, Hardcore Hip-Hop.
What BPM is Bigger and Deffer?: Bigger and Deffer runs at a median tempo of 102 BPM across its tracks, most often in A# major, measured from audio analysis.
What albums are similar to Bigger and Deffer?: Listeners of Bigger and Deffer also rate Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim, Long Live the Kane by Big Daddy Kane, Business Never Personal by EPMD.