These are songs by, at least in the case of LL Cool J, rich men portraying the role of bums. LL plays himself gone broke; he has the Cheesy Rat Blues; while Masta Ace simply goes by the name of Joe; a student slash panhandler from The Other Side Of Town. Both songs were released in 1990. Both are produced by Marley Marl. That means he made the music.

The beats are damn funky, but Town’s, with its splendid bassline and organ breaks, sounds a little better to my ears. Masta Ace’s raps are also more poignant and better composed technically, but LL Cool J is funnier and thus more entertaining, especially during the second half. His “back of the bus”, “who this” and “know how to get busy” lines are classic.

my vote : ?