Feb. 15, 2026
The Essential Jacksons Playlist: Epic Hits and Solo Standouts

You can separate Michael Jackson's career into a few different buckets. There's the Jackson 5 portion of his career. Then, with the move away from Motown, the Jacksons part of his career. But that part of his career also coincides with his adult solo career, even though there are solo Michael Jackson albums before "Off The Wall." And then of course, anything post-"Thriller" is sometimes put into a different bucket. And so on.
This playlist, put together by the mix tape master himself Mike Joseph, features the post-Motown Jacksons era with some Randy Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, and Marlon Jackson sprinkled in. It also features all of the songs in our top 5.
LL Cool J’s ‘The FORCE’ Review: A Definitive Return to Form
Is there a precedent for 55-year-old rappers making good albums?No?Well, of course, count on LL Cool J to break the mold. It’s something he’s been doing for four decades. He was the first solo rapper to have a Gold album. The first s…
The Ultimate LL Cool J Mixtape: Essential Tracks for the G.O.A.T. | The Playlist
Trying to condense LL Cool J's career into a podcast was hard, but I think Mike and I did a great job at telling our story as it relates to our LL fandom alongside his journey.What was also hard was putting together a list of our favorite LL songs…



