After turning heads with last year’s “Ill Bomb” on Funkmaster Flex’s The Tunnel, LL hopes to regain his spot in the sunshine with his forthcoming release G.O.A.T. “Imagine That” gives us the usual player shit that we?ve grown to expect from Cool J, but this one takes it back to the “Big Ol’ Butt” / “I’m That Type Of Guy” LL, who’s a little more freaky and a little bit more of an asshole. Sounds like Rockwilder got his mits on this one, but his beats are quickly landing in the realm of repetition, using a lot of the same effects that appeared on Method Man & Redman’s “Da Rockwilder”. Not my thing, but it will blaze up the charts regardless.

The b-side, “LL Cool J”, flips the Notorious B.I.G. / DJ Premier sample used on “Kick In The Door”, but L’s lyrics will grab your attention so fast that you won’t even realize it. Once again using the rugged-yet-smooth style he re-introduced on “Ill Bomb”, on this one Cool J becomes even more of a cocky bastard, emulating the new super-egos of Dr. Dre and Jay-Z. Yet in this case, his bragging almost gets annoying. It could be the anti-critic lines he spit in the song that shut me off, but more than anything, it doesn’t seem as admissible as Dre’s or Jay’s, simply because he’s already made too many questionable moves (and songs) throughout the course of his career. Regardless, it looks like Canibus helped bring out the panther in LL, and it’s nice to see him back on that tip. In short, this “broke ass critic” says: “It’s aiight.”