LL Cool J Returns With a Strong Verse on the Smooth Tip (Audio)

The last five years of LL Cool J’s music career have been, in large part, a search. The MC icon and self-proclaimed “GOAT” has tried Country collaborations, he’s tried mash-up boom-bap, and he’s further delved with a R&B sound. With 2013’s Authentic coming as the lowest charting album since LL’s debut, it’s been a process of regrowth. Not without his rhyme successes, the last LP featured “Whaddup,” a call-back to his early, aggressive sound. However, LL has been praised for demonstrating growth alongside the renaissance.

Maybe LL has found his next frontier. “I Can Tell You” is a smooth song, a lane LL Cool J made famous and popular. Produced by Audible Doctor (Brown Bag AllStars), this song features a nodding beat, enhanced by heavy keys and background vocals. The MC does his part, spitting those raunchy descriptives not unlike “Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag…” This time, LL uses mushrooms and water-parks to emphasize his point. However, the flow is tighter and finds LL back in his comfort zone. In other words, for LL Heads who know what they’re getting, this works.

As LL Cool J has called up The-Dream, Tricky Stewart, Streetrunner and others, as well as revisited chemistry with Marley Marl and Trackmasters, maybe Audible Doc’ should be a recurring collaborator? The producer (and MC) who’s previously worked with Chaundon, Elzhi, and Tragedy Khadafi blends just as nicely with a multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning act. The master of career endurance and reinvention, LL aims to turn the page. “I Can Tell You” licks the finger to do so…

Spotted at ego trip!.

Related: LL Cool J’s Album Mama Said Knock You Out Turns 25. Here’s How It Re-Defined His Career