LL COOL J — I'm That Type Of Guy

JUL 01 1989 · 12:00

LL COOL J — I'm That Type Of Guy (1989) Director: Scott Kalvert Era: Golden Age Hip-Hop (1989) - Peak Def Jam era; transitional moment between old-school rap showmanship and emerging music video production values on MTV This video is a high-value archival artifact representing the maturation of hip-hop's MTV presence in 1989. Directed by Scott Kalvert at the start of his defining run of genre-shaping videos, it documents both LL Cool J's peak early-career bravado aesthetic and the visual conventions of Def Jam's crossover strategy. Its confirmed chart performance and gold certification give it measurable cultural weight, making it essential for any Golden Age Hip-Hop preservation collection. Context: Released in 1989 at the peak of the Golden Age of Hip-Hop, this video represents LL Cool J's crossover moment on MTV—demonstrating that rap artists could command high-rotation visual real estate. Def Jam Recordings had by this point established a visual language for hip-hop videos: street-credible settings, bold fashion, and charismatic direct-address performance. The warm-toned, moderately saturated palette (saturation: 153.46) and the moderate editing pace (avg shot: 5.10s) reflect a production approach balancing performance spectacle with nascent narrative construction—characteristic of the transitional moment between early rap videos and the more cinematic treatments that would emerge in the early 1990s. Scott Kalvert was then establishing himself as the go-to director for hip-hop's MTV crossover. Director notes: Directed in 1989 for Def Jam Recordings. Produced by David Horgan (per IMVDb). The video was made in support of the second single from LL Cool J's third album, Walking with a Panther. The song samples 'The March of the Winkies' from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. This video was part of Kalvert's early run of hip-hop video work that established his reputation as a premier director at the intersection of hip-hop and MTV culture. The single was certified gold by the RIAA on July 24, 1989, and reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart.