Songoftheday 2/20/21 - If your plane crashed in the water and everybody died, would you drown on purpose or try to survive?

 

 

"Father" - LL Cool J

from the album Phenomenon (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 8

 

Today's song of the day comes from rap artist LL Cool J, who had a very successful year in 1996, reaching Billboard magazine's pop top ten four times with his own "Hey Lover", "Doin' It", and "Loungin'", as well as a featured artist on Babyface's "This Is For The Lover In You".  He also had two songs on movie soundtracks that got some attention, with "Ain't Nobody" from Beavis & Butthead Do America nearly making the US pop top-40 at #46, topping the British chart, and being nominated for a Grammy Award, and then as one of the all-star rappers on "Hit 'Em High" from Space Jam, which reached the top ten in the UK at the beginning of 1997. Later that year, LL (aka James Smith) returned with his seventh studio album Phenomenon. The track "Candy", which sampled New Edition's "Candy Girl" and featured that group's Ricky Bell and Ralph Tresvant, was promoted to urban radio first and spent a couple weeks on Billboard's R&B Airplay chart at #62. The title track "Phenomenon", produced with the help of Sean "Puff Daddy Combs", was released as the first commercial "single" from the set, but while it climbed to #16 on Billboard's R&B chart and had Combs' clout behind it, stalled down at #55 on the pop Hot 100 (it did much better in Britain, cresting at #9). That was quickly followed by "4,3,2,1", which had rappers Method Man, Redman, DMX, Canibus, and Master P backing him up; it peaked at #24 at R&B, but only got to #75 on the Hot 100. But there's nothing like a sample of a mainstream pop record to perk up radio programmers' ears, and that's what happened with the third single and fourth track promoted to stations. "Father", written by Smith with producing team the Trackmasters (Sam Barnes and Jean-Claude Olivier), anchored itself on a prominent sample of George Michael's #1 pop hit "Father Figure". However, unlike Michael's carnal references in the title, LL Cool J uses the beat to go off on his abusive father and stepfather and the true horrid circumstances of his growing up. Its a deeply personal record, more of a catharsis for the rapper than any attempt at mainstream popularity. Which made the warm reception of the single surprising in a good way; it showed a side of the genre that told a clear, dark, and thoughtful story without relying on drugs and sex. The gentle-sounding sample definitely was the sugar that helped the medicine go down, but it was a milestone for Smith in his baring of his soul as not a larger than life superhuman, as well as proving how strong his mother was...

 

 "Father" returned LL Cool J to the American Top-40 in February of 1998. The song also climbed to #12 on Billboard's R&B chart, and spent three weeks at #1 on the Rap Singles tally. Internationally, the single peaked at #10 in the UK, and made the top-40 in New Zealand at #27. The Phenomenon album, released in October of 1997 after the promotion of "Candy", rose to #4 on the Billboard 200 sales chart, going on to move over a million copies. 

Another cut from Phenomenon, "Hot Hot Hot", sampled the Tom Tom Club, and got to #13 in New Zealand and was a minor hit in Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands. 

(9/10)

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There was an extended cut of the music video...

 

 Next up is LL Cool J appearing on TV with the track...

And lastly live at the Apollo ( I think)...

Up tomorrow: A double shot of Babyface's protege exposing ignorance.