LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ Turns 35 | Album Anniversary

September 12, 2025 Jesse Ducker

LL Cool J Mama Said Knock You Out Turns 35

Uncle L’s fantastic fourth studio affair reinforced his penchant for bouncing back and giving the people what they want, while never overtly pretending to be something that he’s not.

Marley Marl’s ‘In Control, Volume 1’ Turns 35 | Album Anniversary

September 16, 2023 Jesse Ducker

The first high-profile, producer-driven compilation in hip-hop, ‘In Control, Volume 1’ features an incredulously stunning crop of iconic emcees, all propelled by Marley Marl’s memorable beats.

LEST WE FORGET: Revisiting Intelligent Hoodlum’s Eponymous Debut Album ‘Intelligent Hoodlum’ (1990)

June 23, 2018 Daryl McIntosh

Our recurring ‘Lest We Forget’ series is devoted to celebrating albums that have been unfairly overlooked and warrant revisiting.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Debut Album ‘Read My Lips’ Turns 25 | Album Anniversary

With her debut solo affair, Ellis-Bextor made the dancefloor feel elegant and faintly surreal, a place where heartbreak could wear lipstick and emotional catastrophe could arrive with a four-on-the-floor beat.

Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ Turns 40 | Album Anniversary

Four decades later, ‘Graceland’ remains true to what it was from the start—a beautiful, tangled, genuinely collaborative album that changed what pop music could sound like.

The Rolling Stones’ ‘Tattoo You’ Turns 45 | Album Anniversary

When listening to ‘Tattoo You,’ you would never know that it is this Frankenstein's monster of an album that was pieced together with songs that came from their most creatively fertile period.