No one was listening. Run-DMC's "It's Like That" and "Sucker MC's" were still enjoying their well deserved dominance over the airwaves and the streets, and their full length album had just dropped with overwhelming approval from fans.

By no means was I in the minority as far as hearing this new hungry MC. His 1984 debut single "I Need A Beat" was drawing comparisons to T La Rock's "It's Yours", which dropped earlier that year. "I Need A Beat" was popular on tapes and late night radio mix shows, but my contemporaries needed to hear more before they crowned him as the next thing, as I had already done.

Enter the seminal film Krush Groove, the semi-autobiographical account of Def Jam Recordings co-founder Russell Simmons (named Russell Walker in the movie), which was released on October 25, 1985. Krush Groove chronicles Rick Rubin and Simmons' rise to fame from a promoter and manager to record label mogul.

The film features several established artists (many managed by Simmons) such as Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, New Edition and Sheila E., as well as upcoming artists such as The Disco 3 (later The Fat Boys), and The Beastie Boys.

A young LL COOL J (who was Def Jam's first signed artist) made a cameo in Krush Groove as a hungry artist auditioning for Krush Groove Records. In the scene Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde,Scratch On Galaxy, Run, DMC, Jam Master Jay, and Rick Rubin have just ended auditions after Fever Records recording artist Naomi finishes her song.

LL, Cut Creator, and-E Love bogart their way onto the audition space as the trio is told that auditions have ended. Jam Master Jay even reaches for a weapon after LL and company ignore Rubin's request to come back at a later date. LL yells BOX!, and his career starts at that moment. His declaration that he couldn't live without his boom box was delivered in a performance that encapsulates the energy, passion, and signature growl that has defined LL as one of Hip-Hop's most dynamic performers.

Krush Groove takes place a decade before the internet and social media exist, but LL's performance was definitely a viral moment. For teenage Hip-Hop fans across the country this new cat (most of us didn't know what LL looked like prior to Krush Groove) was water cooler talk for weeks. We needed to hear more.

LL's next single, "I Can't Live Without My Radio" would give us the opportunity to hear the full song, and also place LL on Soul Train, American Bandstand, and on daytime FM radio, the trifecta that success was measured by in 1985. "I Can't Live Without My Radio" was an anthem for myself and legions of Hip-Hop fans. The love of the boom box, which was as much an element of Hip-Hop as DJing,B-Boying, MCing, and Graf in the mid 1980's resonated with us. "Wearin' light blue Puma's, a whole lotta gold" he yelled to an unsuspecting American Bandstand audience.

That was me. I owned those clothing items. For our generation this marked one of the first times that we saw ourselves speaking to Dick Clark and Don Cornelius. This connection that we felt to LL and what he represented translated at the record store. When Radio, LL's debut album dropped on November 18, 1985 we responded, eventually purchasing over 500,000 copies - Gold status, which was huge for a rap album at the time.

In a conversation with Alonzo Brown, aka Mr. Hyde, he shared with me the genius of Russell Simmons as a marketer in general, but specifically concerning Krush Groove. "The whole idea of Krush Groove was two cats from Hollywood, Doug McHenry and the late George Jackson,"he explained.

"They were Harvard educated, but had made movies in Hollywood, and understood what this culture was about to be. They convinced Warner Brothers to make this movie, and when they approached Russell, he was like 'Ok, this is a two hour commercial, for me.' Every rap group he [managed] was in it."

LL had released two singles when Krush Groove was filmed, but he had no videos. In fact, as successful as Radio was as a debut album, it produced no videos (LL's first video was "I'm Bad" from his sophomore album, Bigger And Deffer).

The Krush Groove performance served as the video for "I Can't Live Without My Radio". In fact it was better than a video. There were limited outlets for Rap videos on a national level prior to MTV launching YO! MTV Raps in 1988. Krush Groove was viewed by a much wider audience than a mere video would have been.

The fact that we only received the first verse of "I Can't Live Without My Radio" in the movie served as a teaser, and just enough of a sneak peek to build anticipation for Radio, which catapulted LL into success. As a youth, I was an "I told you so" guy. As the water cooler talk of this "new" LL COOL J emerged in the days after Krush Groove, I had to use that phrase.

Pre order THE FORCE, LL's new album here.