It was his fourth album, Mama Said Knock You Out (1990), however, that became his biggest seller to date. Projecting a tougher, more "street" persona, LL Cool J won over new fans with the title track. The song uses samples from James Brown's "Funky Drummer", the Chicago Gangsters' "Gangster Boogie", Sly & The Family Stone's "Trip to Your Heart", the drum break from Sly and the Family Stone's Sing a Simple Song, and LL Cool J's own "Rock the Bells" (from his debut album Radio). The music video features LL Cool J in a boxing ring, rapping into the announcer's microphone. Intercut with this are clips of boxing matches and LL Cool J exercising.
LL Cool J said in his autobiography that the idea for the song came from a discussion with his grandmother. He had said to his grandmother that he felt that he couldn't survive as a rapper now that gangsta rap was popular and he was being dissed by several up-and-coming rappers. LL's grandmother responded, "Oh baby, just knock them out!" She is featured in the closing scene of the music video, saying: "Todd! Todd! Get upstairs and take out that garbage." The single was as popular in middle America as it was in the urban environs of his youth. For the song, LL won his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Read more about LL Cool J here.
