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Exit 13 – LL Cool J

It wouldn’t be incorrect to call LL Cool J a living legend within the hip hop music industry. After all, which musician can brag of a career which has spanned more than two decades and fairly successfully at that? The ride hasn’t always been uphill, with the last release ‘Todd Smith’ not faring well enough when compared to its predecessors, although we can always refer to ‘Bigger and Deffer’ and ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ in times of doubt like these. ‘Exit 13’ symbolizes the thirteenth studio album and the last one as part of LL’s record deal with Def Jam, and it looks like he has tried putting in effort to good effect to make the departure with a bang with the holler on the first track ‘It’s Time for War’. Quite a few pop-ish moments which come through fairly well, specially ‘Baby’ assisted by six string finesse of Richie Sambora and the hard hitting ‘Mr. President’ with Wyclef Jean sharing the duties, while R&B influences permeate through on ‘Cry’ and ‘I Fall in Love’, something which the ladies should like. Overall, not really as spectacular as what we have seen in the past, but then what the heck, it’s all Cool when its J.