How LL Cool J channeled “Lord of the Rings” for his first record in more than a decade
The original G.O.A.T. talks fantasy, reality, and enlisting Q-Tip for his comeback: "I said, 'Man… pickle juice, hot sauce, potato salad, pimento in the potato salad, all that. I want to make a crazy album.'"
For the past 11 years, LL Cool J has worn many hats beyond his iconic Kangol bucket: ex–Navy SEAL crime fighter, five-time Grammys host (and two-time Grammy winner), lip-sync emcee, Kennedy Center honoree, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, insurance pitchman. But there was one conspicuously missing during that stretch of time: rapper. That's set to change as the multi-hyphenate returns to the medium and label (Def Jam/Virgin Music Group) that birthed him with The Force, his 14th studio album, and first since 2013's Authentic. Not only is he undaunted by the challenge of getting back into the game after more than a decade, he seems to relish it.
"Especially in hip-hop, because it's a young genre, we're not used to acts going away for long periods of time and reemerging and having impact — we just don't see it," LL says. "We haven't seen our Santana Supernatural moment. We haven't seen those times when artists reemerge — not six months later or a year and a half later, saying, 'Don't call it a comeback,' but decades later — and are impactful, especially with so many changes in the industry and generational shifts."
To that end, the LP features appearances from a bevy of rap veterans, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Saweetie. But LL didn't limit himself to established hitmakers. With The Force, the 56-year-old artist uses his stature to shine a light on a new generation as well, even naming one of its tracks, "The Vow," after that commitment. "I made a vow that I wouldn't only work with superstars on the record," he says. "Mad Squablz, Don Pablito, and J-S.A.N.D. — who are from Southside Queens, Philadelphia, and Lafayette, Louisiana, respectively — I put them on the record with no strings attached, to give them an opportunity."
As he prepares to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 11 and take this fall by Force, LL talked to Entertainment Weekly about aging in hip-hop, channeling Lord of the Rings, and how a visit in a dream from the late rapper Phife Dog helped ignite his comeback.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Your main collaborator on The Force was Q-Tip, who produced it. How did you decide to work with him?
LL COOL J: So the way that happened was, I had a dream about Phife Dog. Phife Dog was a member of A Tribe Called Quest, may he rest in peace. I had a dream about him, and he came to me talking about a current project I was working on, and he told me it was going to be great — but he gave me a look like he was skeptical. And when he gave me that skeptical look about the project, something said to me, "Call Q-Tip." I said, "Yo, I can't call Phife, so let me call Q-Tip." So I call Q-Tip up. I'm like, "Yo." He's like, "What up, big bro?" I said, "Yo, I want to make an album, man." He's like, "What you want to make?" I said, "Man… pickle juice, hot sauce, potato salad, pimento in the potato salad, all that. I want to make a crazy album." He said, "Let's do it."
And how was it?
Working with Q-Tip was really fun for me because he's a real producer, not just a beat programmer. And he's a real musician. The one thing that was important to me with this album was, sonically, I wanted to have musical flexibility. So when you listen to it, it's real musicians playing.. It's not only samples. Yes, of course we use samples. Of course that's a part of technology, it's a part of the process, but there are real musicians.
Given how long it's been since your last album, was there any point during that time when you thought maybe you were done making music?
You know, I never felt like I was done with music. You can ask yourself the question, "Okay, if you were to approach it, how would you approach it, and what does that look like?" But that's a different conversation from being done, because I'm an artist at heart first. And you don't retire from being an artist. Like, Picasso doesn't turn, I don't know, 64 and say, "I don't want to paint anymore." It doesn't quite work the way sports does. And even those guys are always athletes — it's just their bodies change and they have to make decisions based on their bodies. Their souls and minds are still athletes. So, nah, I never considered not doing it.
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You actually talk about what it's like to return after spending years away in "30 Decembers," where you describe riding the subway again after quite a long time and the alienation you felt. How autobiographical was that?
Completely true. Everything I described in the song, I actually experienced on the subway, on the bus, going around to the projects, going around Coney Island and different parts of Brooklyn and Queens and Harlem and, like, all of that. So when I said, "[The lady] ain't wanna let me sit down," she really didn't. I got this mask on, I got this hoodie, I got these shades. She doesn't know who I am. She didn't want to let me sit down — "I ain't dealing with that s---." All of that was real — me looking over at people, people sitting across from me. And when I said, "The dude behind the counter had a million-dollar smile / But something told me he gonna make the world pay for it," like, I went in some sneaker shop uptown somewhere, and there was this guy behind the counter and he's smiling, but there was something about his smile that was very dangerous. It was like, who is it, Scar in The Lion King? Like seeing Scar's smile. Like there was something about it that had that vibe.
Both "Basquiat Energy" and "The Vow" include versions of your origin myth. The former is a little more straightforward and realistic, and the latter is more exaggerated, like a hip-hop equivalent of Muddy Waters' self-mythologizing. What made you want to look back on your arrival into this world?
[Laughs] I was reminded about why I'm doing this, why I loved it. But when you get reminded of why you're doing it and why you love it, you also get reminded of when it first took place, when I first met [record producer] Rick [Rubin]. I got kind of transported back into the kid that was like, "Yo," when I first met this dude, and I'm in NYU, I'm in the dorm: [quoting lyrics from "Basquiat Energy"] "Got to kickin' in the door / He standing by the drum machine, records on the floor… Knew we had to blow." That was a beautiful moment in my life because it was so important, because it was like all of my dreams coming true, right?
And then "The Vow," that one was more about the fantasy. That was like my Lord of the Rings, my Avatar moment: "There was smoke when the mother's water broke / The doc saw the horns, 'Oh my God, it's a GOAT' / The nurse cut the cord, got shocked with a million volts / Almost dropped him on the floor, but the baby started to float / Umbilical cord turned into a gold rope / A mic appeared in his hand, his body started to jolt." It was like I actually got reintroduced to my imagination.
You did 14 seasons of NCIS: Los Angeles, Ice Cube makes comedies and family movies, Will Smith was king of the blockbusters, and Snoop Dogg and Flavor Flav were adored as enthusiastic ambassadors for the Paris Olympics. Given how rap was sometimes vilified back in the '80s and '90s, is it weird that that whole generation is now essentially becoming the fun aunts and uncles of pop culture?
[Laughs] Nah, I think it's cool, man. I think people are just seeing the light, bro. You know, we all have different sides. You can make aggressive records, you can make dangerous records, but that don't mean you can't invite people to the cookout, you know what I'm saying? Because the one thing about the music — and this is for everybody — yes, a lot of it was aggressive and, yes, misunderstood, but at least it wasn't intentionally coming from a place of hatred. That wasn't the sentiment. That wasn't the intention. It may have been abrasive and aggressive, but it wasn't coming from a place of hating people. It was coming from a place of passionate expression of whatever the subject matter may have been.
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I'm looking at your hat [a white-on-white New York Yankees cap], and you're from Queens, but between your 14 seasons of NCIS: Los Angeles and "Going Back to Cali," you've become pretty firmly associated with California in the public imagination. How torn are you between the two coasts?
[Laughs] Dude, I ain't torn at all. I'm from New York, man. [laughs] I'm from Queens, baby. It's like a little old man who came over here from… you name the country. Estonia, I don't know, wherever you want to name. They're from where they from, man. I love everywhere, don't get me wrong, but you see me, you talking to New York. You talking to Queens, man. No doubt.
The Force is out now.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.