Personnel: LL Cool J (rap vocals); Cynde Monet (vocals); Billy "Spaceman" Patterson (guitar); David Tobacmon (keyboards); Tony "Funky Drummer" Walls (drums).

Recorded at Chung King House Of Metal, New York, New York.

lso out of print on cassette on Def Jam (527 356) - D01.

LL Cool J's remarkably consistent success comes from his ability to walk a thin line; his lyrics are accessible, his backbeat catchy enough to earn mass appeal, yet his rhymes are consistently clever enough that it's impossible to dismiss him as simple pop-rapper or poseur. If Run-D.M.C. introduced the masses to rap, LL Cool J kept the form in their faces. 1989's WALKING WITH A PANTHER defines the rapper as a hip-hop icon with staying power.

"I rhyme like Superman/you rap like Jimmy Olsen" from "Clap Your Hands" captures LL's confident swagger in a nutshell. He's a master of the defiant, arms-crossed stance, the original ruler of the reference, hip-hop's ultimate blithe braggart and supreme seducer. WALKING WITH A PANTHER boasts 18 solid tracks, including the dryly anthemic "Going Back to Cali" (a Top 40 hit from the movie LESS THAN ZERO), the likable novelty tune "Big Ole Butt," and a reworking of the dancefloor classic "Jingling Baby." The most intriguing track on the album also happens to be its biggest hit, "I'm That Type of Guy," a disarmingly sexy piece featuring unique plays at arrhythmic rhymes. WALKING WITH A PANTHER deserves its front row seat in the canon of hip-hop.

Q (9/95, p.134) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...[WALKING WITH A PANTHER] stretched the minimalist production style on cannily hooky tunes like `I'm That Type of Guy' and `Goin Back To Cali'..."