I Need Love

This article is about the song by LL Cool J. For other songs with the same title, see I Need Love (disambiguation).

"I Need Love" is the second single from LL Cool J's second album, Bigger and Deffer. The single reached number 1 on the Hot Black Singles and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 while becoming one of the first rap songs to enjoy mainstream popularity in the UK, rising to number 8 in the UK Singles Chart. The single won a Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Single in 1988 Soul Train Music Awards. The song was listed as number 13 on About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs.^[1]

"I Need Love"
Single by LL Cool J
from the album Bigger and Deffer
B-side	"My Rhyme Ain't Done"
Released	July 13, 1987
Recorded	1987
Genre	Hip hop soul
Length	5:23
Label	Def Jam Columbia CBS
Songwriter(s)	James Smith L.A. Posse
Producer(s)	LL Cool J L.A. Posse
LL Cool J singles chronology
"I'm Bad" (1987) "I Need Love" (1987) "Going Back to Cali" (1988)
Music video
"I Need Love" on YouTube

Track listing

A-side

1. "I Need Love" – 5:23

B-side

1. "I Need Love" (edit) – 4:15
2. "My Rhyme Ain't Done" – 3:45

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for "I Need Love" Chart (1987) Peak position Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[2] 13 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[3] 6 Ireland (IRMA)[4] 10 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[5] 3 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[6] 3 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[7] 6 UK Singles (OCC)[8] 8 US Billboard Hot 100[9] 14 US Billboard Hot Black Singles[10] 1 West Germany (GfK)[11] 6

Year-end charts 1987 year-end chart performance for "I Need Love" Chart (1987) Position Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)[12] 63 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[13] 33 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[14] 29 UK Singles (OCC)[15] 97 US Hot Crossover Singles (Billboard)[16] 17

Covers and samples

The music, both melody and beats, were lifted from an instrumental by Brooklyn songwriter Jayson Dyall entitled "Zoraida's Heartbeat" which was written and recorded in 1984.^[17] This song, along with other songs on a cassette tape of several raw recordings by Jayson Dyall, was presented to LL Cool J by an associate, who met Dyall through a music classifieds ad in early 1986 and told him he could get LL to listen to his music. Dyall never received any acknowledgment from LL Cool J or Def Jam Records for originally writing the music for this song.

• Irish singer-songwriter Luka Bloom recorded a cover version of the song on his 1992 album The Acoustic Motorbike.
• R&B group Blaque sampled the song on their track "Don't Go Looking for Love", which originally appeared on their 1999 self-titled debut album.
• Rapper Necro used the beat on his song "I Need Drugs", which was released on his 2000 album, I Need Drugs.
• Master P sampled this song on his single "I Need Dubs", featuring son Romeo, on his 2005 album Ghetto Bill.
• Amanda Blank sampled the song on "A Love Song" from her 2009 album I Love You.
• Krizz Kaliko copied lyrics of the song for the first few lines of his song "Anxiety", on his debut album Vitiligo by saying, "When I'm alone in my room, sometimes I stare at the wall/And in the back of my mind, I hear my conscious call/Telling me I need a gun."
• Yo Gotti sampled the song on his single "Let's Vibe" featuring Pleasure P.
• Rick Ross interpolated the lyrics on the single "Aston Martin Music" featuring Drake and Chrisette Michele from his 2010 album Teflon Don.