Back in the mid to late 80’s, a young artist named LL Cool J was making his stamp on hip-hop music. The loud and boastful rapped with the fury of a tornado and burst his way into the scene under the direction of Russell Simmons and his upstart label Def Jam Records. His first album “Radio” kicked down the doors for his career as he had to come up under the red hot act of Run-DMC which was no easy task as they were the reigning kings of the genre. But “Radio”was able to let the world know that LL was here to stay and that he was coming for the crown. That’s when a little known secret in hip-hop happened and it would propel LL to the top of the rap game.

After “Radio”, Russell Simmons reached out to a Los Angeles producing collective who were later dubbed “The L.A. Posse” consisting of Dwayne “Muffla” Simon, DJ Pooh, Daryl “Big Dad” Pierce and DJ Bobcat. The foursome worked on LL’s sophomore album “Bigger and Deffer” and a statement had to be made on this album because Run-DMC had just kicked some serious ass in the game with Raising Hell. If LL wanted the crown, “Bigger and Deffer” had to be a monster album – and it was. Thanks to the The L.A. Posse, LL was able to make classics like “I’m Bad”, “Kanday”, “Get Down” and the cut that turned him into an international star and changed the entire genre, “I Need Love”, the blueprint for love R&B type rap that stars like Drake use today. A lot of people don’t know that four DJ’s turned producers from the West Coast went to New York and revolutionized hip-hop. DJ Bobcat and DJ Pooh have gone on to great fame while Muffla and Big Dad have remained more behind the scenes. However, WestCoastStyles was able to catch up with Dwayne “Muffla” Simon and get the full untold story of the group. In this exclusive podcast-style interview, learn how the group came together, how Russell Simmons brought them out to New York, the songs on Bigger and Deffer”, and how Muffla would go on to produce one of my favorite LL songs; “Big Ole Butt”. Muffla also introduces us to the new artists that he is working with under his company Covert Entertainment who just released their collective project “Suspicious Packages 2.5” out now on streaming platforms.

Listen to the interview below: