The Greatest of All Time – Part 5 of 5

LL Cool J is easily one of the most important rappers around because he’s been active since the early days of hip-hop’s commercial success. Read his thoughts on maturing in the game, what he says is his best work and the keys to his successful marriage.

THAT'S MY JAM: You got a prank call from Eminem on the radio a couple of weeks ago.
LL COOL J: Yeah.

Have you had a chance to get together and watch any of the NBA Finals yet?
Yeah, we’re going to link up and hook up. Em’s a great guy and I have a lot of respect for him, and we’re definitely going to link up.

OK. Are you guys going to collaborate on your new album or even on his new album?
Not sure. Don’t wanna put it on any work. If it happens, anything’s possible, but we’re just hanging, we’re just cool.

So, what’ll be your next move after Exit 13? Do you have any film roles in the works?
I have a drama with CBS. By the grace of God, after this project, I’ll be moving into this drama. I’m doing the deal with Les Moonves and Nina Tasler to do my own dramatic series, so after this project and this run I’ll hopefully just be moving into that.

OK. What’s the show going to be called?
Not sure yet. It was tentatively titled, but then the writer’s strike happened and we re-tooled the show, so we don’t have a title anymore.

OK. What’s the theme of the show?
It’ll be something in the undercover realm, but the key for me is to make sure it’s not predictable. That’s easier said than done, but it’s what I’m going for.

OK. Because you’ve definitely got a viewpoint that nobody else does, what’s your view on the current state of hip-hop music?
I think the South brought a lot of fun back to it. I think it was something that was missing and it’s obvious that the fans wanted it. At the same time, I think that music is a little different now because a lot of times people base the state of hip-hop on what they hear on the radio, but they ignore the fact that a lot of people listen to their music online and they’re choosing and selecting their music that they want to hear. The record that may be in heavy rotation in your iPod may never play on the radio, so I think the state of hip-hop is a little confusing because what they really mean is the state of hip-hop on the radio. That’s kind of how it comes off to me because personally, I’m a guy that loves the Internet and loves to go online. I’m very much a part of that culture and very much a guy that likes to surf, go to the blogs, stream music, listen to music, check out articles, see comments, so I think it’s very healthy. I think there’s a lot of passion out there for the music, I just think that radio is in the process of catching up with what the people are really wanting out there.

OK. Who have you found with your surfing that you’re feeling right now that isn’t getting that mainstream exposure?
Well, you know, I’ve been so focused on my project right now that I haven’t been searching for anyone in particular to discover. I’ve really been listening to my own project and focusing on making this record great. But I have been going out there, listening to some stuff, reading some stuff, checking some stuff out to just get a general feeling. But I’m not paying too much attention to too many other things right now, but not to sound stupid and that I don’t pay attention to the landscape that I’m creating music in, but right now I’m just focusing on my project.

Yeah, definitely. Now, because of your long career, and you’ve been with your wife for the majority of it, how have you guys been able to maintain your relationship in the hip-hop world?
[Laughs] Using some of that stuff I say on records, for real.

[Laughs] Keep it honest.
For real, man, other than that … [laughs]

[Laughs] ‘Nuff said. Alright, is there anything I haven’t asked you that you’d like to say about your record or anything else?
Nah, man, I think it’s great ― oh, I have a great venture that I did online. It’s called Boomdizzle.com. It’s a place for aspiring artists to go and upload their music, there’s an online studio, it’s an incredible thing. We didn’t do a beta yet, it’s still a homepage, but you can get a general idea for what it is and you can put your e-mail in and I’ll send you an invite when it’s time for the beta. But that’s going to be my next musical venture. That’s very exciting. I partnered with the people who started Stamps.com and we did this thing, so it’s very interesting and progressive.

Are you looking to discover the next big rapper?
I think that we will probably end up doing that because there’s just so much great music there and so many people are going to put their music there, and so many people are going to want to be a part of it. So it’s going to be hot.

OK. Would this signal an interest in being a producer in your next career life span?
Well, when you say producer, a lot of the records I’ve done I made a lot of the beats, and produced and arranged a lot of them, you know? A lot of them.

Check out LL's article, "Doin' It Well," in the August issue of 944 magazine, available now in San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Orange County, Miami and Los Angeles.

The Greatest of All Time – Part 5 of 5

The Greatest of All Time – Part 4 of 5

LL Cool J is easily one of the most important rappers around because he’s been active since the early days of hip-hop’s commercial success. Read his thoughts on maturing in the game, what he says is his best work and the keys to his successful marriage.

THAT'S MY JAM: Now you’ve worked with a ton of different artists over your career and we’re wondering who’s been your favorite and if there is anybody that you haven’t worked with yet that you want to?
LL COOL J: Favorite collaboration ― wow. I had a lot of fun working with Marley Marl. That was a long, long time ago, but it was significant and we did have a good time. I had a lot of fun working on the Mr. Smith album and I had a lot of fun working on this record. There’s no particular artist in general, but I think Marley, we had a good time on that. Making my second album was fun, too. And this record. Like, some albums I had a lot of fun on. This album I had a lot of fun on. First album I was just so happy to be in the game that it was fun by default [laughs]. I’m Bad album I had a great time making, Mama I had a great time making, Mr. Smith I had a great time making and this record I had a great time making. I think the music sounds better when I’m having fun, when I’m not taking it too seriously, when I’m not trying to prove I’m better than anyone in terms of my heart of hearts. Not that I’m not competitive, if you understand what I mean, when I’m just focused on making great music.

OK, that makes sense. You recently announced that you were going to have a new clothing line coming out at Sears and I was wondering why there and not a more high-end retailer?
I’m so glad you asked me that. See, what people have to understand is me making a pair of LL Cool J jeans that cost $5,000 isn’t going to do anything but impress my rich friends, and we can stand in the club and we can drink $500 bottles of champagne and talk about my clothing line that appears to be so sexy and hot because it’s $5,000 for a pair of jeans. But the reality is that growing up in America, people are not making $10 million a month, you know what I’m saying? People are not ― the average American, less than 10 percent of America, has ever spent over $100 for jeans. So for me, to create a line called LL Cool J for the whole family ― men, women, boys and girls ― and then take that brand and present that brand to real people who are looking for something that’s a little bit more fashion forward, who are looking for the type of styles that me and my friends wear when we’re in those expensive, high-end V.I.P. rooms, but giving it to them at affordable prices, is the coolest thing in the world to me because there are a lot of people in America whose tax return is the biggest check they’ll see all year and who are at the gas pump pulling their hair out. So, when LL Cool J does a deal with Sears, I’m giving it for the people who recognize that brand, a brand that they can trust at a price that’s affordable, and I can’t think of anything cooler than that. With all due respect, I’m not Ralph Lauren, my name is LL Cool J. I don’t have to take on ― and this is not to say that he does ― but I don’t have to try be elitist in order to be accepted by a certain circle of people who just want to put me on a pedestal financially in terms of how I carry myself and say that I’m not supposed to hobnob or be associated with normal people. I just don’t have a problem with it, you know what I’m saying? And I think that we kind of have to get our minds right because a lot of people who are in the entertainment business, who are in the cutting-edge journalism business, who are a little bit more into marketing and all that, I think they get a little caught up in the fantasy and forget that there are people out there that live real lives. There are people that work in the post office. Like, people forget that there are guys that work at Dunkin Donuts, that’s their main job, that’s how they support their family, they shop at Sears ― they’re alive, they exist. So, just because I’m LL Cool J and I have Grammys and platinum albums and fancy cars doesn’t mean I have to do a joint venture with Gucci or else I’m not cool. I’m making this cool. I’m saying it’s cool because I think it’s cool to service the real people out there.

OK. Good answer. Maybe you could make a high-end chapstick, though, I mean ―
[Laughs] A high-end chapstick would be good and all that. I’m charging $95.

And there are people that would buy that, too.
You said most people would buy it? [laughs]

I mean, I go by some high schools ― I see those little boys licking their lips like you trying to get those little girls.
[Laughs] But you know what, man, like the Todd Smith brand, which is separate from the LL Cool J brand, it will be a little more upscale and it’ll go a little more upscale. But the reality for me is that I can make ― look, let’s keep it real. The Sears deal I did is a huge deal, it’s 450 doors, expanding to 600. It’s not about overcharging people, I just don’t want to do that, unless it’s something exclusive with Todd Smith and I decide I want to make some $1,000 jeans for my rich friends to go and buy, then we can rub shoulders in the club, but other than that, I want to keep it real on another level, that’s just me.

Come back tomorrow for part five of "The Greatest of All Time."

The Greatest of All Time – Part 4 of 5

The Greatest of All Time – Part 3 of 5

LL Cool J is easily one of the most important rappers around because he’s been active since the early days of hip-hop’s commercial success. Hear his thoughts on maturing in the game, what he says is his best work and the keys to his successful marriage.

THAT'S MY JAM: One thing I also wanted to ask you was how do you personally challenge yourself to stay competitive and relevant in hip-hop? I mean it’s a pretty finicky market in terms of the styles that come and go.
LL COOL J: You know what? I just love what I do, man. When you do something for 24 years, I mean finicky is not even ― it doesn’t even matter anymore, you know, it’s just about making great music and delivering. I don’t take it for granted, I don’t approach it in a cocky way, you know what I’m saying? I approach it with humility, but I just do what I do and love what I do, so I don’t have that fear and that discomfort that comes with maturing in the game. I feel like I’m always relevant, you know, even when people say I’m not relevant, as soon as I’m about to put a project out, they want to talk about it, you know what I’m saying? So, I think it’s one of those things where I’ve earned my position, but the position that I’ve earned doesn’t give me the right to put out bad records, so I try not to, but it doesn’t mean I’m not going to because when you do 13 albums, you’re going to do a few bad ones. Like, guys that do three, four, five albums, that’s one thing, but when you start getting over those years ― It’s not even so much the amount of records I’ve done, it’s the amount of eras I’ve done them in, you know what I’m saying? So it’s not just the amount of records, like, to have 10 or 12 or 13 albums is a feat, what’s challenging is to do that amount of records as the chapters keep turning in this genre, you know what I’m saying? It’s easy to squeeze them all in a certain period. If you do them all in one era, you’ll strike while the iron is hot, but to be able to do ’em ― you know what I mean.

Definitely.
So, yeah, I just love what I do, man, I love it. I approach it with humility, have fun doing it and like to do it. It’s fun.

OK. Now, when you look back at your catalog of work, do you see your albums as progressively getting better or when you really look back, do you think, “Wow, blank album was my favorite, that was the best I was.”
The albums definitely don’t progressively get better. I mean, you know, it’s kind of like it’s a matter of taste. As much as you would tell me that you like “Doin’ It,” and you appreciated it in high school and maybe that album with “Hey Lover” and “Loungin” and all that, I could find somebody who would tell you that “Rock the Bells” and the album that had [that] on it and “I Need a Beat” and “Radio” was the real album, and then as soon as you tell somebody that’s the real album, somebody could tell you Mama Said Knock You Out with “The Boomin’ System” and all that is the real album, so it’s kind of like it’s a generational thing. But that being said there are a few stand out albums. There’s just some albums where I think I hit the mark, just touched it right, but that’s just a part of having a career, like being in the NBA or NFL: you don’t win the championship every year, you know what I’m saying? Even though you play on a professional level. Nah, I don’t think they get progressively better. I think the last couple, a case could be made that they got weaker, know what I’m saying? But what I don’t think people understand is that it’s not that they got weaker because of my lack of talent or ability or capability, it’s because I was doing TV, movies and a billion other things, so I wasn’t spending my life in the music like I was on those other records. So when you have a guy giving 50 percent of his energy, but 100 percent of his heart to a project, it affects it, you know what I’m saying? I was always giving my heart, but not all of my energy.

OK. When you do look back at your catalog, which albums do you think you hit the mark on?
I think my first album [Radio], I think the Mama Said Knock You Out album, the Mr. Smith album, [Bigger and Deffer] album, obviously All World [a greatest hits compilation] ― yeah, definitely Mr. Smith, Bigger and Deffer, Mama Said Knock You Out and Radio. To me, those four are the best ones and I think that this album that I’m working on now will ultimately be in that category because it’s that much better than those other records in between there like The DEFinition, and Todd Smith, which was an album that I did for a different reason, but Todd Smith and The DEFinition and those records, I don’t think ― even though I had “Headsprung” ― I don’t think I really found my voice because I was just doing so much that I was kind of ― not coasting out of arrogance, but coasting because I was just busy, you know what I’m saying?

Come back tomorrow for part four of "The Greatest of All Time."

The Greatest of All Time – Part 3 of 5

The Greatest of All Time – Part 2 of 5

LL Cool J is easily one of the most important rappers around because he’s been active since the early days of hip-hop’s commercial success. Read his thoughts on maturing in the game, what he says is his best work and the keys to his successful marriage.

THAT'S MY JAM: Speaking of the hip-hop community, I know a lot of people like to say, “Oh, LL, he always makes stuff for the ladies.” Will there be something for the fellas this time around on this album?
LL COOL J: Well there’s a lot of stuff for the fellas, you know what I’m saying? There definitely is and there’s definitely a balance. I think those statements are more prevalent with guys that are probably under 25 or 26 because they’ve been exposed to certain singles like “Luv U Better” and they don’t really know like a lot of my catalog or my history. Even younger than that, maybe even 23. So a lot of times, because they don’t know my history, they kind of assume that’s all I do because they base it on a single, so they don’t know about “Rock the Bells” and they don’t know about “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “I’m Bad” and just all those ― and “Going Back to Cali” and “Jack the Ripper” and “To Da Break of Dawn” and “Illegal Search” and “Jingling [Baby] ― like, all these different songs that I’ve done, you know what I’m saying? They think that “Hey Lover” and “Doin' It” and “Loungin’” are the ― and “Luv U Better” and the records I did with J.Lo ― are all I have to say as an artist.

OK.
But I take responsibility for that because those were the formulaic records that I was creating while I was making movies, TV and all the other things, so I didn’t educate them properly ― I don’t think ― on what I’m capable of doing beyond that. So this album definitely touches that, addresses all of that as well.

And additionally with that you’ve got a mixtape coming out, too.
Yeah, I have a mixtape that dropped about four or five days ago. It’s doing real well, it’s called Return of the G.O.A.T. It kind of addresses a lot of those issues. It definitely addresses the haters, all the different things that people say and I’m touchin’ ’em, you know what I’m sayin’? You gotta check it out.

OK. One of the things I heard about that mixtape is that you have a song called “Laptop Gangsters” and I was wondering if you could elaborate on your inspiration for that song.
Yeah, it’s very simple, it is what it is. You know, I even have a line in there that says “Laptop gangsters wanna see me gone/Need to get off the site and click back to the child porn” because you have a lot of these guys that go on ― they go on the Internet and leave comments, and just overly criticize and degrade everybody’s work without knowing where it’s emanating from or without really taking the time to understand what the artist is doing. People have a right to say what they want, but I also have a right to call them laptop gangsters, so we’re even.

Makes sense.
And that’s just the bottom line to it, you know what I’m saying? I’m being as blunt with some of the people that leave comments on the Internet as they are with me. I love it, it’s fine, they’re not going to stop and neither am I, so we can just take it to the top. I’ll see you at the top, baby.

Sounds good. Going along with that, you’ve had some pretty famous beefs over the time that you’ve been in the game. Do you currently have any that we don’t know about yet?
Nah, I don’t have any beefs.

OK. How do you maintain that?
Just make great music. I don’t have any beefs. My biggest beef is with myself and challenging myself to make something better and greater and touch the people, and show them that I’m capable of going to the next level musically. But nah, I don’t have any beefs.

Come back tomorrow for part three of "The Greatest of All Time."

The Greatest of All Time – Part 2 of 5

The Greatest of All Time – Part 1 of 5

LL Cool J is easily one of the most important rappers around because he’s been active since the early days of hip-hop’s commercial success. Read his thoughts on maturing in the game, what he says is his best work and the keys to his successful marriage.

THAT’S MY JAM: I actually had a chance to hear one of the songs that’s coming out, I think it’s called “Baby” with The-Dream?
LL COOL J: Yeah.

Cool. Who else do you have collaborating with you on the album this time around?
Well, I went from everybody, I went from The-Dream to — like, me and The-Dream made a real light-hearted, whimsical record that’s a story about this crazy night I had with this girl, all the way to really conscious records with Wyclef about the state of America and the elections, all the way back to another really light-hearted record I made with Ryan Leslie called “Radio,” you know what I’m saying? It’s a very fun record, you know, it also goes harder with records like “Rockin’ with the G.O.A.T.” that I did with DJ Scratch, I mean it’s just a very fun record, you know what I’m sayin’? I mean I didn’t take it too seriously, I didn’t, like, overthink it. I wanted to have a good time with it, you know what I’m sayin’?

OK. I was also doing some reading and found out that this was going to be your last album with Def Jam. I was wondering why you were parting ways with the label?
Well, it’s just my last album under the contract. Contractually it’s my last album. There’s no rule that says we can’t continue in the future working together, and we might, it’s possible, but it’s just the end of my contractual obligation, thus the Exit 13.

OK. Do you think that you would re-sign with them or are you looking elsewhere?
I think that it’s definitely possible for us to do business moving forward, it would just have to be, you know, a deal that reflects the digital age we’re in, you know what I’m sayin’?

OK.
On all levels, but at the same time still recognizes who I am as an artist. So, yeah, it’s definitely possible. I have a great relationship with them now and we’ve straightened out a lot of the things that went off here and there. So yeah, we can definitely do it, it’s possible.

OK. Kind of going along with what you said about being an artist and doing a lot of different kinds of stuff with this album, and even flashing back to your older albums, you’ve given us some very different stuff. We’ve got some love songs from you, we’ve also got some really freaky songs from you, like “Doin’ It” ― which rocked my world in high school, I’ll let you know that now, that was my song ― but, what kind of material do you like to do? Do you like to diversify or do you have anything specific that you really enjoy doing on each album?
I like having a lot of fun. I think the last couple of albums I wasn’t ― I didn’t focus as much because I was doing so many different things. But, like with this new record that I’m working on, I really like doing all kinds of music and just going in all different directions emotionally and showing all different sides. I definitely was showing people the full range of what I feel, you know what I’m saying? And the record “Radio” is definitely a freaky song, you know what I’m saying? There are some crazy songs on this album. It’s definitely diverse in terms of subject matter and topically, and even if I do approach a subject matter, like me and a young lady, it’ll be a different type of approach all the time. I always like to do things differently. So, it’s hot, it’s definitely hot, you know, I feel good about this one. But I also like to, you know, express where I’m at, address the mind state that I’m in at that time and if hip-hop says something about me or if the hip-hop community feels something about me, I like to address that as well. So, I’m addressing a lot of those things on the album as well.

Come back tomorrow for part two of "The Greatest of All Time."

The Greatest of All Time – Part 1 of 5