LL Cool J - Kool Moe Dee battle

The LL Cool J-Kool Moe Dee battle was a renowned long standing hip hop rivalry between the two well known rappers.

It began with Kool Moe Dee responding to LL for some apparent offenses that had occurred in the past.

The cover of Kool Moe Dee's 1987 album How Ya Like Me Now features a red Kangol hat (LL Cool J's trademark) being crushed under the wheel of a Jeep.

In the title track, while not mentioning LL by name, refers to another MC, who had copied his style and apparently questioned his ability to sell records. He also evokes the title of LL's recent album Bigger and Deffer with the line “I'm Bigger and Better, forget about Deffer!”,
In the rhyme, he relays some of what his "beef" is:

:How you think I feel to see another MC
:Gettin' paid , usin' my rap style
:And I'm playin' the background meanwhile
:I ain't with that; You can forget that
:You took my style, I'm takin' it back
:I'm coming back like "Return of the Jedi"
:Sucker MC's in the place that said I
:Could only rock rhymes
:Only rock crowds
:But never rock records

:How ya like me now?

He also continued with:

:I'm the real king. Rap is a jungle
:I never understood how one could go
:To a party watch me, stand around and jock me
:Become a rapper; then try to rock me
:Scheming like a demon, you're screamin' and dreamin'
:I'm from the old school, I used to see men
:Die for less; but I'm not living that way
:I'll let my mic do the talkin'
:And let the music play

He also mentions along the way that he's "talking about battles, and never had a battle yet". Interestingly, both this as well as copying someone's beat were the same criticisms MC Shan had leveled at him in his earlier record "Beat Biter".

LL responded on the Walking With a Panther album with "Jack the Ripper" where he, not mentioning Moe Dee by name, nevertheless derides a "washed up rapper", and "old school sucker punk" and then twice makes a direct jab at the title of the first record, saying "How ya like me now, punk?", and at the climax of the rap, "How ya like me now? I'm gettin' busier'; I'm double platinum, watching you get dizzier...". "Jingling Baby", also contained shots at Moe Dee, without any direct references.

Kool Moe Dee fired back with an even more aggressive response entitle "Let's Go"; where he now mentions LL, by making an alliteration of pejoratives beginning with the letter "L", ("lower level, last, least, etc.") and concludes by saying "Just usin' your name, I took those 'L's; hung 'em on your head and rocked your bells!" (Referring to the big LL hit "Rock the Bells")

At the same time, several other MC's were dissing LL; notably Ice T, whose "I'm Your Rap Pusherman" cleverly snuck in attack by having the pusherman he was playing offer the buyer (also played by him) several rappers (the premise was to "get high" off of their lyrics instead of dope), whom he cheered as "good stuff"; but when he got to LL Cool J, he said "aw no, I don't want none of that; you can keep that!". MC Hammer also took a shot at him, (along with DJ Run, and Doug E Fresh). LL responded on the "Mama Said Knock You Out" album with "To Da Break of Dawn"; where he makes fun of all three, with such statements as "Star Trek shades" (referring to Kool Moe Dee's characteristic eyeglasses), "Jheri curl juice" (aimed at Hammer), and "hip hop raccoon", aimed at Ice T.
While this song was not one of the bigger hits on the album, the hit " the title track", again threw back the line "how ya like me now".

Kool Moe Dee fired back on Funke, Funke Wisdom with "Death Blow", where he calls To Da Break of Dawn "another dumb move", and mocks "'Star Trek shades'? Man, cut the joke!" He also in the same track answers the other singles: "If Mama said knock me out; come do it! You can't win and that ------ knew it", and a reference to "your jingling ho's", and also "And Marley Marl can't save you from fallin". This refers to the fact that LL had begun being produced by DJ Marley Marl, of Juice Crew fame, who had produced several other acts. By this time, the insults had gotten really nasty, and the rap is also filled with several violent and phallic references. These "jock" references had begun in "Let's Go", and LL added a couple of his own in "Mama Said Knock You Out", and now Moe Dee would go even further with it. He concludes with another alliteration of negative "L" words (with a different rhythm, so it does not sound like a repeat of the one in his last response), and
:"And now you're down to a broken L
:Your records ain't hot and you're shows don't sell.
:Yo, tell 'em how you fell L,
:hard as hell",
with the last three words being a direct sample of LL himself. He also openly challenges LL to a live battle.

After this, the battle started to die down. LL's next album 14 Shots to the Dome
contained the track, "(NFA) No Frontin Allowed" which begins "Mad madness trashy brother from way back. We're blowin mics since the days of 8-track"; and even mocks Kool Moe Dee's use of the "alphabet", and "Mr. Funky" (referring to the title of his previous album) and adds "Rippin' on that old school kid". There were also increasingly more references to guns in the lyrics. Kool Moe Dee had one other studio album after that, ' and then his career waned. Clearly, Moe Dee's attacks were more hard-hitting; but it was LL who still managed to come out with a successful career; basically winning by default. He would later gloat on this on "I Shot Ya Remix"; "..Crushed Moe Dee, Hammer and Ice-T's girl".

Kool Moe Dee had commented
:"I always said that the reason LL can never win a battle is because he talks so much about himself , that he cant talk about anything else . He used his charisma , energy and vocabulary - which is basically a combination of my style , T la Rock & Run but in battling its more . Like when I hit him with the Ls (lower level, lackluster etc) it wasn't just insulting, but it had poetic value to it".

He also continued that part of his issue with LL (as well as Run) were that ....he felt like "nothing that came before them mattered , and that his money could validate that."
(The FOUNDATION MOE DEE INTERVIEW)

LL Cool J - Kool Moe Dee battle
LL Cool J - Kool Moe Dee battle

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