There are no radical departures from anything on Exit 13 — which means that at least something is well and good in the hip-hop universe. The lead single, “Baby (ft. The-Dream),” with its sunny warmth and electronic fuzz, is a second-rate “Good Life.” But it will float happily through the warm evening air at your post–Labor Day barbecues, and isn’t that enough? LL Cool J will always be there, I imagine, just a hair behind the times, knowing better than most that it’s entertaining to be entertaining.
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