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James Todd Smith III (born January 14, 1968), better known as LL Cool J, is an American hip hop artist and actor. He is best known for romantic ballads like "I Need Love" as well as pioneering pop rap like "I Can't Live Without My Radio", "I'm Bad", "Boomin' System", & "Mama Said Knock You Out". He has also appeared in several films. LL Cool J is an important figure within the hip hop community, and is one of a few hip-hop stars of his era to sustain a successful recording career for more than two decades. He has released 12 albums and a greatest hits compilation so far, with his next album, Exit 13, set to be released sometime in May, 2007. The album will be the last for LL's record deal with Def Jam Recordings, a deal which has lasted more than twenty years, making it the longest single hip hop deal to date. He will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame [1] in 2007.
Early yearsBorn in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens in New York City, James Todd Smith grew up in the working-class neighborhood as the only child of James Smith, Jr. and Ondrea Smith. Todd, as he would be known. He would spend his youth singing in the church choir, participating in the Boy Scouts and delivering paper as a paperboy[2].
LL's mother later began dating a man who would also bring much pain into the young rapper's life. The man, who LL named Roscoe in his autobiography, would routinely beat him, often while his mother was at work. These beatings had a profound effect on young LL. He stated that around this time he began compulsively wearing hats. LL found that hip hop music and rapping were ways of escaping his problems. He grew up in a musical family; his grandfather played tenor saxophone, his mother played accordion and his grandmother, Ellen Griffith, sang in the choir. By age 11, LL was rapping, and by the age of 12, he had made his first studio recording. Ilike to go out in poublec with gril close Music careerBuilding Def JamLL Cool J, is not an acronym for Ladies Luv Cool James, has not admitted that he would buy hip hop records to get the label's address so he could send his demo tapes. Afterwards, he then sent a tape to Def Jam. Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys found his tape while hanging out in Rick Rubin's dorm room and convinced Rick & Russell Simmons to sign LL Cool J. He was signed to Def Jam in 1984 and released the underground hit "I Need a Beat" (see 1984 in music). The song was the first hit record for Def Jam, and its success persuaded him to drop out of school to record Radio (1985). The album was released to critical acclaim, as LL Cool J was one of the first rappers to use conventional song structure to make pop oriented rap. "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells" were successful and helped the album go platinum. "Rock the Bells" and another track, "Dear Yvette", both spawned 'answer records' to which L.L. never responded. In 1987, he released Bigger and Deffer. The ballad "I Need Love" was one of the first pop-rap songs to be a hit. Critics generally denounced this direction, and by the release of Walking With a Panther (1989), he was booed at a Harlem rally for slain teenager Yusef Hawkins. "Don't call it a comeback"
Following this, LL released Mama Said Knock You Out generally leaning towards a tough street image. The record reestablished his reputation in the hip hop community. It spawned three hit singles, "The Boomin' System," "Around the Way Girl," and the title track, which received special notice after LL Cool J's dynamic performance of it during an episode of MTV Unplugged. It was also featured in the film The Hard Way. The album included themes of police misconduct, spirituality along with back-to-basics hip-hop party rocking. Mama Said... eventually went on to sell over two million copies. It marked the first of many self-reinventions LL Cool J would undergo to adapt to hip hop's often changing atmosphere. After acting in The Hard Way and Toys, he released 14 Shots To The Dome (1993) to muted sales and mixed reviews, despite producing the small hit "Back Seat of My Jeep." He starred in In the House, an NBC sitcom, before releasing Mr. Smith (1995), which went on to sell over two million copies. Its singles, "Doin' It" and "Loungin", were two of the biggest songs in 1996 and both songs' music videos were hugely successful on MTV. Another of the album's singles, "Hey Lover", featured Boyz II Men sampling Michael Jackson's "Lady of my Life," which eventually became one of the first hip hop music videos to air on American VH1. The song also earned LL a Grammy Award. In 1996, LL also helped to launch a clothing line named FUBU — an acronym for "For Us, By Us", meaning the clothes were made for, and marketed to, African-Americans by African-Americans. Around this time he became partially involved in the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry when 2Pac dissed him, apparently in response to LL Cool J's "I Shot Ya" and its remix, both of which were featured on his "Mr. Smith" album. Neither of the songs however mention 2Pac or the simmering East Coast-West Coast conflict. Life after "Mr. Smith"After the double platinum status of "Mr. Smith", LL's albums have not been able to regain the same levels of success. In 1997, he released the album Phenomenon. The first single, "Phenomenon" was a minor hit but the autobiographical single "Father" was a major hit. The other single off the album, "I Shot Ya Remix", provided the opportunity for an upcoming rapper Foxy Brown to start her career. The second single from Phenomenon was "4, 3, 2, 1" which featured Method Man, Redman, DMX and Canibus. In the original version of the song, Canibus rapped "Yo L, is that a mic on your arm? Lemme borrow that", referring to LL's tattoo of a microphone. LL heard the verse and responded to it with his own verse. This essentially created a battle between two MC's in the same song. In an attempt to calm tension, LL later called Canibus to say he saw the line as disrespect, and asked him to change it, to which Canibus complied. LL did not remove his verse, believing that with Canibus' verse gone no one would know who he was referring to in his verse. However, the original version of the song was leaked to the public. This would set up a rivalry. Canibus released his single "Second Round K.O.", containing lyrics dissing LL, who later responded with "Ripper Strikes Back". In this song he not only dissed Wyclef, Canibus' producer, but went on to berate ex-friend Mike Tyson for appearing on "Second Round K.O.". LL did another diss, with "Back Where I Belong". Canibus replied to both tracks with his "Rip the Jacker" using LL's "I'm Bad" backing track. In 2000, he released the album G.O.A.T., which stood for the "greatest of all time." The critically acclaimed album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, giving him his first chart-topper on that chart. Nonetheless, the album failed to produce the numbers of LL's previous releases. LL Cool J's next album 10 from 2002, which denoted LL's 10th studio album, did not fare much better than his 9th. Although it included the popular singles "Paradise" (featuring Amerie), "Luv U Better," and the hit 2003 Jennifer Lopez duet, "All I Have", the album also failed to reach platinum status. His 11th album, The DEFinition (2004), saw some hits but ultimately went unheralded. LL's latest studio album, Todd Smith, was released on April 11, 2006. It includes collaborations with 112, Ginuwine, Juelz Santana, Teairra Mari and Freeway. The first single was the Jermaine Dupri produced "Control Myself", another song with singer Jennifer "J-Lo" Lopez. LL and J.Lo shot the video for "Control Myself" on January 2, 2006 at Sony Studios, New York. The second video, directed by Hype Williams, was "Freeze" featuring Lyfe Jennings. In July 2006, LL announced details about his final album with Def Jam recordings, the only label he has ever been signed to. The album is titled Exit 13. The album will reportedly be executively produced by fellow Queens rapper 50 Cent. The duo have worked together previously on the remix to the single "Freeze" from the Todd Smith LP, which was titled "Bump This". Exit 13 had been slated for a fall 2006 release, however, the album did not emerge and now seems likely to surface in 2007 instead. It will be LL's final Def Jam Album, and he's rumored to sign with Columbia Records.[3] Other works and venturesFashionLL launched a clothing line (also called Todd Smith), which is aimed towards the higher end of the market while a less expensive range will be released called "T.S". Consultancy work by Dolce & Gabbana and Marks & Spencer is an influence on the designs. LL partnered with fashion executives, Ronald and William Gallo to form a company called Standard Fashion, where Ronald & Smith are both co-managing directors. The aim of marketing for the clothes line is to be oriented towards the clothing rather than LL Cool J. Smith had previously dabbled in fashion, having worked behind the scenes with the mid-eighties Hip-Hop sportswear line TROOP[4] and, as mentioned earlier, he helped launch the Hip-Hop fashion line FUBU in the 1990s. The future face of Todd Smith fashion line is rumored to be Sean John/Ralph Lauren model Kevin Navayne. BooksLL Cool J has authored three books, with his first venture in 1998 “I Make My Own Rules”, his autobiography co-written with Karen Hunter. His second venture into the literary world came with the children-oriented book called “And The Winner Is...” in 2002. In 2006, LL and with his personal trainer, Dave "Scooter" Honig wrote a book providing detailed information on how and what people can do to better themselves physically in terms of diet, workout, philosophy and ideology. Businessman and entrepreneurLL has started his own businesses in the music industry such as the music label in 1993 called P.O.G. (Power Of God) and formed the company Rock The Bells to produce music. Acting careerLL has had his share of acting roles and cameos in various television shows and movies. LL has stated that his main inspiration and influence for becoming an actor is from the late martial artist Bruce Lee[5]. His first acting role was as Captain Patrick Zevo, the militant cousin of Robin Williams in the cult classic Toys, although previously he had a non acting cameo in the 1985 hiphop movie, Krush Groove. LL has appeared in many TV series, with one of his earliest guest appearance as the teacher Mr. Throneberry on the cult Nickelodeon children's series The Adventures Of Pete & Pete, to more recent as a death row convict on the show House (TV series). His most notable role on television was the role he played as Marion Hill in the NBC and UPN sitcom In the House for 5 seasons before the show was cancelled. They originally centered around the interaction between Marion and Jackie Warren (Debbie Allen), but with the introduction of new characters the show turned to the story behind his sport clinic. The show received rave reviews for its depiction of African-American males (Marion was a vegetarian, meditated, and rarely swore). LL has also expanded his career with providing voice-over for animations where he was originally in the film Rugrats Go Wild! as the voice of a Piki doll, but his character was removed from the final cut LL is currently working CBS pilot called "The Man" with The OC's Melinda Clarke to be shown in 2007. Trademarks
Honors and dedications
ControversyLL has had an illustraious career as a battle rapper, rivalry with MC Shan, Ice-T, MC Hammer, Kool Moe Dee, Wyclef Jean, Jamie Foxx & Canibus. He has also shown his disapproval of Mike Tyson and Naomi Campbell in his songs, "The Ripper Strikes Back" and "Rasta Imposta" respectively. His rivalry with Ice-T has presumebly ended as they both appeared at Vh1 Hip Hop Honors both had individual live acts, and both were seen enjoying each others performances. LL has lyrically battled Jay-Z and Jaz-O whilst at an industrial party during the early 90's.[6] LL Cool J was apparently robbed by the Original 50 Cent(Kelvin Martin) at a white Castle parking lot for his Gold rope.[7] LL performed with the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the song "I Make My Own Rules" for the Private Parts soundtrack, but his name was not credited due to Def Jam threatening legal action if Warner Bros. had placed his name in the credits. LL said, "It was something that I wanted to do because I think that as an artist I should explore all different avenues of music, and I think that [Def Jam] was afraid that me doing a rock record might tamper with [the image I have] from some of the other music like "Hey Lover" and "Doin' It'." Trivia
DiscographyAlbums
Singles
Filmography
Upcoming:
Awards
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
Rock The Vote Award
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