As an 8 year old living in Germany at the time, this was my first real exposure to hip-hop as we didn't get an onslaught of media back in the day from home. I saw the video for "Bad" on the late night music show that had a hodge podge of country, rock, etc... and for days after viewing it I would jump around the house emulating LL's movements and yelling out the raps. My favorite line at the time "So forget Oreo's eat Cool J cookies I'm bad". Shit had a little nigga hype.

Illmatic, 14 years old coming back to the states for the first time in several years and this along with My Life were the first purchases I made in a stateside record store. Illmatic at the time was the most complex rap album I had ever heard and shit just amazed me how he rhymed and the things he said. I almost share a similar nostalgic love for My Life.