Songoftheday 8/1/17 - I want a girl with extensions in her hair, bamboo earrings at least two pair...

"Around The Way Girl" - LL Cool J
from the album Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15

Today's song of the day comes from New York rapper LL Cool J, who had scored his third top-40 pop hit in the summer of 1989 with the rock-influenced "I'm That Type Of Guy". A year later, he put out a "diss track", "To Da Break Of Dawn", for the Kid N' Play film House Party, that would appear on his fourth album Mama Said Knock You Out. In August of 1990, the first true single from the set, the underground rap jam "The Boomin' System", arrived, and while it reached the top ten on the R&B and rap charts, it stalled right under the pop top-40 at #48. The second release from the record though, "Around The Way Girl", was ready-made for radio with its smooth production in the "Untouchables" remix, and the "ladykiller" had landed another huge mainstream success, and was a great tribute to the "local ladies" instead of the pin-up models...

"Around The Way Girl" became LL Cool J's first top ten pop hit in March of 1991. The single also climbed to #5 on Billboard's R&B chart, while topping their rap singles list for four weeks. The extended version made it to #7 on the Dance Club Play chart as well. Internationally, the song hit the top-40 in New Zealand (#27) and the UK (#36).

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Here's LL appearing live on the Arsenio Hall show to promote the single...