When I’m alone in my room, sometimes I stare at the walls

LL Cool J is a true legend of the game, there is little doubt about that. A bonafide innovator, in the halls of fame his reputation is secured. But aside from "Radio", "Bigger and Deffer", “Walk Like A Panther” and "Mama Said Knock You Out", aside from the multi-platinum sales and G.O.A.T highlights of a long and stellar career there is another, slightly more unconventional reason to herald Ladies Love. I am referring of course, to his position as the originator and possibly still undisputed king of romantic rap. Come on now, I know you can rap along to “Hey lover” and of course “I Need Love”. Don't front now that everyone is watching! And a recent listen to “Bigger and Deffer”, the massive album that spawned “I Need Love”, I got to thinking about other love songs in rap. And perhaps surprisingly there are some other classics vying for the title of best rap ballad.

You may have your own favourite, but a quick recall throws up some tunes which, while mostly residing in the cheesier echelons of the game, can also claim to be truly great records. “Song Cry” is immense, a song that moved Jay-Z up a notch in my estimations, the hustler with a heart. And as I have stated before on A Story To Tell the version he kicks on his unplugged set, with the mighty Jaguar Wright on vocals, just kills the show. But there are others. I have always been a fan of the transcendental meditations of PM Dawn’s “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss”, using the Spandau Ballet “True” sample to stunning effect, while at the other end of the spectrum is Biggie's “Me And My Bitch”, as strong a gangster's declaration of affection as you are likely to hear.

But others too from rap's exalted canon can also be included. Tribe and “Bonita Applebum”? Ghostface and Mary, “All That I Got Is You? Meth and Mary, “All I Need”? And the mightiest of mighty, Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You”. Perhaps itself not a conventional ballad, or a love song at all, but a tune that brings sentimentality of the highest order to the table and serves it with a delicious soul and credibility. As I say I'm sure that there are others that tug on many a thug's heartstrings, make a b-boy bawl and render many a playa pole axed by emotion, or perhaps it is just me.

But for now let's just pause to give some props to the other side of the game, the side that eschews ho-ism for true emotional flowism. You might not agree, but then you're not the one walking around with Ladies Love in front of your name. After all I believe that it was the king of the romantic story, Shakespeare himself, who said “If rap music be the food of love...play on playa!”. Or something like that anyway.