"Going Back to Cali" is a 1988 single by LL Cool J from the ''Less than Zero'' soundtrack album as well as his third album, ''

Walking with a Panther ''Walking with a Panther'' is the third studio album by American hip hop recording artist LL Cool J, released June 9, 1989, on Def Jam Recordings. Background While his previous album ''Bigger and Deffer'' (1987) was produced by The L.A. Posse ...

''. The song was co-written and produced by

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

. It peaked at No. 31 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #12 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

, and was eventually certified gold by the RIAA on May 28, 1991, and platinum on May 30, 2017. The song features LL Cool J vacillating about moving to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, rapping in the chorus, "I'm going back to Cali", followed by "I don't think so". In the verses, he describes a trip to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in which he meets several women but is scared off because they are too sexually aggressive. The basic concept for the song was Rubin's, based on his own ambivalence about possibly moving from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to Los Angeles. The b-side is "Jack The Ripper", a

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (diss – abbr. from ''disrespect'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the ...

aimed at

Kool Moe Dee Mohandas Dewese (born August 8, 1962), better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, is an American rapper, writer and actor. Considered one of the forerunners of the new jack swing sound in hip hop, he gained fame in the 1980s as a member of one ...

, as a response to Moe Dee's "

How Ya Like Me Now How may refer to: * How (greeting), a word used in some misrepresentations of Native American/First Nations speech * How, an interrogative word in English grammar Art and entertainment Literature * ''How'' (book), a 2007 book by Dov Seid ...

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Going Back to Cali" was directed by Ric Menello. It was shot in black and white and was filmed mostly at two Los Angeles landmarks, the

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

neighborhood and the

Griffith Observatory Griffith Observatory is an observatory in Los Angeles, California on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park. It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin including Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the sout ...

, as an homage to two of Menello's favorite films, ''

Touch of Evil ''Touch of Evil'' is a 1958 American film noir written and directed by Orson Welles, who also stars in the film. The screenplay was loosely based on the contemporary Whit Masterson novel ''Badge of Evil'' (1956). The cast included Charlton Hes ...

'' (1958) and ''

Rebel Without a Cause ''Rebel Without a Cause'' is a 1955 American coming-of-age drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social com ...

'' (1955), respectively. It featured apprearences by

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, models Ele Keats, Ally Downs and MTV's veejay Martha Quinn.

Covers

* Rock band

Sevendust Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lo ...

covered the song on the 2000 album '' Take a Bite Outta Rhyme: A Rock Tribute to Rap''. * Record Producer Jonathan Hay released "Going Back to Cali (Reimagined as

Drum & Bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-b ...

)" on January 27, 2023, the 35th anniversary of LL's original single.

Parodies and references

* The 1990 music video "Going Back to Brooklyn", starring

Colin Quinn Colin Edward Quinn (born June 6, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Quinn first gained widespread attention for his work as a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2 ...

and directed by

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known ...

, parodied the song and music video. In the video, Quinn raps about being afraid to return to his home town because he is no longer tough enough. * The 1990 Sonic Youth song " Kool Thing" includes references to "Going Back to Cali" in both the song's lyrics and its music video; the song was intended as an attack on LL Cool J for his perceived misogyny. * The 2008 promotional video "Going Back to Philly", intended to promote the upcoming season of ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Char ...

'', had its music performed by

Jeru the Damaja Kendrick Jeru Davis (born February 14, 1972), known as Jeru the Damaja, is an American rapper and record producer. He is known for his 1993 single " Come Clean" from his debut album, ''The Sun Rises in the East'', ranked as one of the 100 great ...

, with the video featuring the show's cast. * The music video for Eminem's 2013 song " Berzerk" referred to the "Going Back to Cali" video in a scene showing Rick Rubin playing cards. * In 2015, Jimmy Fallon cold-opened an episode of The Tonight Show, with a shortened version of the song and music video, to kick off a week of hosting the show in California. LL Cool J has a cameo appearance in the video.Youtub
"Jimmy Fallon's "Going Back To Cali" Cold Open (with LL Cool J)"
/ref> * The

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

commercial for the Los Angeles Rams August 13 preseason game opener against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

uses the song. *The song was briefly featured in the 2017 movie: '' Transformers: The Last Knight'', one of the live-action movies that are based on the

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...

toyline. *The song was used in the third season of the Netflix series Narcos. The final episode of the season was named Going Back to Cali, a play on words between Cali (short for California) and Cali (the city in Colombia where the show takes place).

Track listing

#"Going Back to Cali" (R. Rubin, J. T. Smith) – 3:57 #"Jack the Ripper" (Rubin, Smith) – 4:50

Charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 1987 songs 1988 singles LL Cool J songs Songs about California Songs written by LL Cool J Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin Songs written by Rick Rubin Def Jam Recordings singles Black-and-white music videos