#and through refusing to play along becomes a revolutionary and establishes himself as a powerful force on the server

[mrbeeboi]

Tempted to make a short comic based on the events that took place on the old SMP my friends and I made together

[lajulie24]

Quiet Storm

This one goes out to @organanation, who rightly pointed out that there are few, if any, fics in which Han and Leia are actually secretly dating (not fake dating or just sleeping together). She also offered to grovel in exchange for fic, but it didn’t take much convincing. Title is a lyric from Sade’s “The Sweetest Taboo.”

Luke strode through the hangar toward the Falcon’s berth, glad to finally be back on base after three days of scouting missions with the Rogues. Not only was he eager to see his friends, but the mess was featuring ration bars again, and chances were pretty good Han had something better on hand than that.

But as he got closer, he approached more cautiously. Jizz music was playing from the Falcon’s sound system, which normally meant one thing: Han had a date, or was preparing for one.

Luke checked his chrono. It was relatively early, so perhaps Han’s date was making their appearance later. He could knock, and if Han answered, that meant they were yet to arrive. Luke could at least say hello, give him a little friendly ribbing, maybe nab a decent snack or drink before he left. Heck, Han might be willing to part with more just to get Luke out of the way; as casual and open as Han tended to be, he was pretty protective of his privacy when it came to his love life. Even Luke and Leia had no idea whom Han was seeing at the moment, though rumors abounded. Chewie claimed not to know either, though Luke suspected he knew something.

“Luke?” asked a familiar voice behind him.

“Leia!” He turned around, delighted to see her again. She hadn’t been in the command center when he’d dropped by earlier.

She ran up and hugged him. “When did you get back?” she asked, evidently happy to see him as well, judging from her smile. Luke loved that smile of hers, especially since it seemed like he, Han, and Chewie were the only ones who got to see it. Most people got a much more subdued version. This was the real one.

“Just about an hour ago,” he said. “Was on my way to see Han, but he might, ah, have company.”

Leia raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

“The jizz music. He plays it when he’s getting ready for a date.”

“Hmph. Guess this assignment—” she gestured to the datapad in her hand— “can keep till after he’s done entertaining.” She rolled her eyes. “So how was the scouting mission?” she asked, leading Luke away from the Falcon.

Han’s comm buzzed, and he groaned as he read the terse text message that came through.

Sunshine’s back early. Close call. Be there when I can.

It’s not like she was never late; their dates were constantly getting delayed by something coming up at the Command Center, or a briefing she couldn’t get out of. They’d had close calls before, too, but usually that was because of the Rogues showing up looking for a sabacc game and a bit of decent whiskey. “Sorry, boys,” Han would say with a wink, “expectin’ someone.” Then he’d close the hatch and send her an urgent comm (usually just “Rogues”) and she’d know to stay away until later in the evening.

But the Kid was the whole reason they were being secret about this in the first place. And the last thing either of them wanted to do was hurt his feelings. Which was sure to happen if Luke discovered that Han and Leia had been dating on the sly for the last six months.

Han poured himself a glass of whiskey, poured another for Leia, and sat down to wait.

He had to chuckle at himself a bit; this was like something out of a bad holodrama. The princess and the smuggler dating was preposterous enough. Different worlds, all that. The princess who also was a revolutionary dating a smuggler who had somehow also gotten roped into becoming a revolutionary was another thing entirely. And that they were secretly dating so that their best friend with otherworldly powers (who had a crush on at least one and probably both of them) didn’t feel left out was—damn ludicrous. If they weren’t careful, someone was probably going to get amnesia or have a secret love child or a long-lost twin or something.

Not to mention the price on all their heads, and the gangster Han still owed money to. That was the other reason they were keeping it quiet; if Han waited long enough, eventually someone else would cross Jabba and the money Han owed him would be old news. But if Jabba got wind of him dating one of the Empire’s most wanted, the Last Princess of Alderaan, both he and Leia would be even more attractive targets for bounty hunters.

Han took another sip of whiskey. Yep. Bad holodrama for sure. But so far, it had been worth it.

Thankfully, it hadn’t taken Leia long to get Luke off the trail; not long after Han had finally finished his glass of whiskey, he’d gotten a knock at the hatch.

He opened it to find her looking stern, datapad in hand. She’s a little too good at this, he thought as he greeted her, throwing in a stray “Your Worship” for good measure, in case anyone outside was listening.

As soon as they were safely alone, the stern look dropped, replaced by a wry, teasing smile. “Jizz music? Really?”

“I thought you liked jizz music.”

“Apparently it’s what you play for all your dates.” She was still scolding him, but there was no heat in it. Her eyes were twinkling, her smile fond.

He approached her, a grin spreading slowly across his face. “All my dates. You’re the only date that matters,” he said, winding an arm around her waist to pull her close to him.

She laughed softly. “Smooth,” she said, but tipped her head back to meet his kiss.

This never got old, their banter silenced with a slow, luxurious kiss. Plenty of time to enjoy the feeling of her lips on his, her arms around him. This was a habit he could get used to. Had gotten used to.

“Mmm,” Leia said as they finally pulled apart. “You taste like whiskey.”

He smiled, quirking an eyebrow at her. “Got a glass of Whyren’s with your name on it,” he said. “Dinner’s still warm, too. Go sit down.” He headed to the galley to get the food.

Leia laughed again when he revealed their meal: grilled nerf cheese sandwiches with starfruit on the side.

“’S not much,” he said apologetically, “but we were all out of nerf steaks and malla petals, so y’know—had to make do.”

Despite her laughter, Leia was already digging in greedily. “Oh, I’m not complaining,” she said between bites. “Had so many ration bars lately, I forgot food could actually have taste.”

Han was eating his meal at a slightly more leisurely pace, and watched her for a moment. “How’s your day?” he asked. “You forget to eat lunch again?”

She looked up, a little self-conscious, and put her sandwich down for a minute. “Sorry. I’m just wolfing this down, aren’t I? How was your day?”

He noticed her attempt to change the subject, and played along, to a point. “Fine. Fixed the forward thrusters. Gearin’ up for another supply run,” he answered casually, before narrowing his eyes and giving her a serious look. “You skipped lunch again, didn’t you.”

It wasn’t really a question. Leia did this all the time, ran herself ragged for the Rebellion as if they gave out medals for food and sleep deprivation. And he knew she still felt like she wasn’t doing enough.

“I was busy,” she retorted. “And sick of ration bars.”

He rolled his eyes lightly, shaking his head. Stubborn as all hells. He’d learned already that he couldn’t argue Leia Organa out of anything when she was convinced she was right. Not that it necessarily stopped him from trying.

Enough about this. “Got a new holo,” he said, turning the conversation to the evening’s entertainment “One Night on Akahista.”

Leia smiled and nodded her approval, picking up her sandwich again.

Leia had to admit, Han had created quite the cozy little den out of the rarely-used third cargo bay of the ship. It had been filled with what he and Chewie agreed was junk—random smuggled goods of various types that they’d been stuck with after someone refused to pay, or the job had gone south. Han had draped blankets and gathered cushions to create a warm little sitting area amid the stored treasures, tacked up a white sheet onto which he projected holos for them to watch. And since Chewie had all but written off this cargo area, they never had to worry about him discovering them. It was like their own little world.

Sometimes the pleasures Leia missed most were innocent ones like this: watching a heist movie and sharing a bowl of bang-corn as you cuddled up to your date. Or boyfriend, or whatever the hell Han was to her. They had both sort of avoided defining that too precisely. They had established that they were dating, and that neither of them were interested in dating other people, but everything felt far too ephemeral to specify beyond that.

Besides, those kinds of discussions took valuable time away from kissing.

And Goddess, how Han Solo could kiss. It made her weak in the knees, made her forget everything but the taste of him, the feel of his lips on hers. He didn’t so much claim her mouth as invite her in, like they were dancing together. And it never got boring, either. Sometimes it was languid and tender, taking the limited time they had together and stretching it out with each pass of their lips. Other times, it was fervent, breathless, leaving them panting and pleading with each other, shakily breathing the other’s name.

They had to be careful, of course, particularly Leia. She’d noted with some bitterness that while Han was expected to be playing the field, having a being in every port, that sort of thing, she was apparently supposed to be guarding her purity even more closely than the Death Star plans. So Han didn’t have to hide that he was preparing for a date; he just let people assume it was with one of several potential people on base, and no one would question him if a bit of lipstick stained his cheek or he showed up to a briefing with bedhead or a mark on his neck. Leia, on the other hand, couldn’t leave with so much as a hair out of place, and certainly could not be seen leaving the Falcon in the middle of the night. So their dates tended to end early, with Han resorting to various shenanigans to sneak her into her office in the Command Center or a briefing room close to the hangar.

Sometimes he would even go back to the Command Center and ask people if they’d seen her, pretending either to be concerned about her lack of sleep or looking to chastise her for interrupting his date earlier.

“What I do on my own time is my business, Sweetheart. Just ‘cause you’re jealous, you don’t have to come knocking all hours with business could wait till morning,” he’d say, and she’d meet him with the coldest reply she could muster.

They were getting a little too good at this little play, but Leia tried not to think about that. She had a Rebellion to run, he had a gangster to avoid. They couldn’t afford to let this little diversion get in the way of their friendship, or their priorities. And neither of them could afford to get attached.

A few weeks later, Leia was in the midst of an argument that was making her want very much to punch Jan Dodonna in the face. And she was a pacifist.

She took another deep breath and turned back to him, channeling all the diplomatic tricks she’d learned over her years of study. “With all due respect, General, I fail to see the issue,” she began again. “We either move on this now, or miss our chance.”

Carlist Rieekan, bless him, was quick to back her up. “She’s right,” he said. “He knows the sector, they’ve run plenty of missions together before, and he’s the best we’ve got for the job.”

“Best for the job?” Jan sputtered, stubbornly refusing to cede the point. “To—to pose as her—her—“

“I appreciate the attempt to defend my honor,” Leia said patiently, trying a new tack. “And while Captain Solo might not have been my choice, and certainly is a little rougher around the edges than I might like, he’s effective in the field. And he’s a friend,” she added. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I’ll be fine.”

“But Skywalker—Antilles—“

“—Are not here, and time is of the essence,” Leia pointed out. “It’s Captain Solo, or nothing. Assuming he’s even willing to do the mission.”

General Dodonna grumbled something unintelligible, then finally nodded.

“I don’t know how you managed this, Sweetheart,” Han said after they hit hyperspace, “but I like it. Just the two of us for four days. Pretending we’re newlyweds. No sneakin’ around.”

Leia grinned. “Some sneaking around. We’re here for a mission, not a vacation,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, I know. But maybe you could let yourself have a little fun for once?”

“Maybe,” Leia allowed, raising her eyebrow coyly.

Han leaned over and caught her lips with his, and she sank into the kiss. Maybe a little bit like a vacation, she thought.

It felt even more like a vacation when they reached the resort where they’d be staying, a massive hotel on a beach with snow-white sands and clear blue water. Despite her commitment to the Rebellion, Leia had to admit that a tiny part of her wanted to ditch the mission entirely in favor of lying on that beach, diving into that water, kissing Han in the surf—

She was definitely getting ahead of herself.

She stepped off the elevator on their floor. Han had gone upstairs earlier to check the room for bugs or cameras, and Leia had distracted the concierge with a barrage of questions about snorkeling excursions and pool hours while she evaluated the hotel’s security situation.

At their room, Han greeted her with a rather serious look on his face. “All clear,” he assured her, preventing her from drawing her blaster. “But Sweetheart, there is something I have to tell you about the conditions for this mission.”

He led her into the suite’s bedroom, still with that serious look on his face. “There’s only one bed.”

“Oh, no,” Leia said with a smile. “Whatever will we do?”

“I have a few ideas,” he said, and kissed her.

[blackkudos]

LL Cool J

James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love CoolJames), is an American rapper, actor, author, and entrepreneur from Queens, New York. He is known for such hip hop hits as "I Can't Live Without My Radio", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", "Rock The Bells" and "Mama Said Knock You Out", as well as romantic ballads such as "Doin' It", "I Need Love", "Around the Way Girl" and "Hey Lover".

LL Cool J is also known as one of the forefathers of pop rap. He has released 13 studio albums and two greatest hits compilations. His twelfth album Exit 13 (2008), was his last for his long-tenured deal with Def Jam Recordings. His latest album, Authentic, was released in April 2013. In 2010, VH1 considered him to be in their "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time" list.

LL Cool J has also appeared in numerous films, including In Too Deep, Any Given Sunday, S.W.A.T., Mindhunters, and Edison. He currently stars in an action role as NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles. LL Cool J is also the host of Lip Sync Battle on Spike.

Early life

LL Cool J was born James Todd Smith on January 14, 1968, in Bay Shore, New York, the son of Ondrea Griffeth (born January 19, 1946) and James Louis Smith, Jr. In an episode of Finding Your Roots, LL learned his mother was adopted by Eugene Griffith and Ellen Hightower. The series' genetic genealogist CeCe Moore identified LL's biological grandparents as Ethel Mae Jolly and Nathaniel Christy Lewis through analysis of his DNA. LL's biological great-uncle was hall of fame boxer, John Henry Lewis.

He began rapping at age 9 and was influenced by hip-hop group The Treacherous Three. In March 1984, when NYU student Rick Rubin and promoter-manager Russell Simmons founded the then-independent Def Jam label, 16-year-old Hollis, Queens-native James Todd Smith was creating demo tapes in his grandparents' home. His grandfather, a jazz saxophonist, bought him $2,000 worth of equipment, including two turntables, an audio mixer and an amplifier. Smith later discussed his childhood background and rapping, stating that "By the time I got that equipment, I was already a rapper. In this neighborhood, the kids grow up in rap. It's like speaking Spanish if you grow up in an all-Spanish house. I got into it when I was about 9, and since then all I wanted was to make a record and hear it on the radio." By using the mixer he had received from his grandfather, Smith produced and mixed his own demos and sent them to various record companies throughout New York City, including Simmons' and Rubin's own Def Jam Recordings.

In a VH1 documentary (Planet Rock: the Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation), LL Cool J, at 14 years of age, revealed that he initially wanted to call himself J-Ski but did not want to associate his stage name with the cocaine culture (the rappers who use "Ski" or "Blow" as part of their stage name e.g., Kurtis Blow, Joeski Love were associated with the rise of the cocaine culture as depicted in the 1983 remake of Scarface).

Under his new stage name, LL Cool J (an abbreviation for Ladies Love Cool James), Smith was signed by Def Jam, which led to the release of his first official record, the 12-inch single "I Need a Beat" (1984). The single was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy song with spare beats and ballistic rhymes. Smith later discussed his search for a label, stating "I sent my demo to many different companies, but it was Def Jam where I found my home." That same year, Smith made his professional debut concert performance at Manhattan Center High School. In a later interview, LL Cool J recalled the experience, stating "They pushed the lunch room tables together and me and my DJ, Cut Creator, started playing. ... As soon as it was over there were girls screaming and asking for autographs. Right then and there I said 'This is what I want to do'." LL's debut single sold over 100,000 copies and helped establish both Def Jam as a label and Smith as a rapper. The commercial success of "I Need a Beat", along with the Beastie Boys' single "Rock Hard" (1984), helped lead Def Jam to a distribution deal with Columbia Records the following year.

Musical career

1985–1987: Radio

Radio was released to critical acclaim, both for production innovation and LL's powerful rap. Released November 18, 1985, on Def Jam Recordings in the United States, Radio earned a significant amount of commercial success and sales for a hip hop record at the time. Shortly after its release, the album sold over 500,000 copies in its first five months, eventually selling over 1 million copies by 1988, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Radio peaked at number 6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and at number 46 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It entered the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart on December 28, 1985, and remained there for forty-seven weeks, while also entering the Pop Albums chart on January 11, 1986. Radio remained on the chart for thirty-eight weeks. By 1989, the album had earned platinum status from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), after earning a gold certification in the United States on April 14, 1986, with sales exceeding one million copies. "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells" were singles that helped the album go platinum. It eventually reached 1,500,000 in US sales.

With the breakthrough success of his hit single "I Need a Beat" and the Radio LP, LL Cool J became one of the first hip-hop acts to achieve mainstream success along with Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C.. Gigs at larger venues were offered to LL as he would join the 1986-'87 Raising Hell tour, opening for Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys. Another milestone of LL's popularity was his appearance on American Bandstand as the first hip hop act on the show, as well as an appearance on Diana Ross' 1987 television special, Red Hot Rhythm & Blues.

The album's success also helped in contributing to Rick Rubin's credibility and repertoire as a record producer. Radio, along with Raising Hell (1986) and Licensed to Ill (1986), would form a trilogy of New York City-based, Rubin-helmed albums that helped to diversify hip-hop. Rubin's production credit on the back cover reads "REDUCED BY RICK RUBIN", referring to his minimalist production style, which gave the album its stripped-down and gritty sound. This style would serve as one of Rubin's production trademarks and would have a great impact on future hip-hop productions. Rubin's early hip hop production work, before his exit from Def Jam to Los Angeles, helped solidify his legacy as a hip hop pioneer and establish his reputation in the music industry.

1987–1993: Breakthrough and success

LL Cool J's second album was 1987's Bigger and Deffer, which was produced by DJ Pooh. This stands as his biggest-selling career album, having sold in excess of three million copies in the United States alone. It spent 11 weeks at #1 on Billboard's R&B albums chart. It also reached #3 on the Billboard's Pop albums chart. The album featured the singles "I'm Bad", the revolutionary "I Need Love" - LL's first #1 R&B and Top 40 hit, "Bristol Hotel", and "Go Cut Creator Go". LL Cool J's third album was 1989's Walking with a Panther. Released in 1989, the album was a commercial success, with several charting singles ("Going Back to Cali," "I'm That Type of Guy," "Jingling Baby," "Big Ole Butt," and "One Shot at Love"). The album however was often criticized by the hip-hop community as being too commercial and materialistic, and for focusing too much on love ballads. According to Billboard, the album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 and was LL Cool J's second #1 R&B Album where it spent four weeks.

While the previous album Bigger and Deffer, which was a big success, was produced by The L.A. Posse (at the time consisting of Dwayne Simon, Darryl Pierce and, according to himself the most important for crafting the sound of the LP, Bobby "Bobcat" Ervin), Dwayne Simon was the only one left willing to work on producing Walking with a Panther. Bobcat said he wanted more money for the album after realizing how much of a success the previous album really had become but Def Jam refused to change the contract which made him leave Cool J. According to Bobcat this is the reason that Walking with a Panther was met with very mixed reception at the time of its release.

In 1990, LL released "Mama Said Knock You Out", his fourth studio album. The Marley Marl produced album received critical acclaim and eventually went double Platinum selling over two million copies according to the RIAA. LL won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1992 for the title track.

1993–2005: Continued success and career prominence

After acting in The Hard Way and Toys, LL Cool J released 14 Shots to the Dome. The album had three singles ("How I'm Comin'", "Back Seat" and the strangely titled "Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings") and guest-featured labelmates Lords of the Underground on "NFA-No Frontin' Allowed". The album went gold.

LL Cool J starred in In the House, an NBC sitcom, before releasing Mr. Smith (1995), which went on to sell over two million copies. Its singles included "Doin' It" and "Loungin". Another of the album's singles, "Hey Lover", featured Boyz II Men sampling Michael Jackson's "The Lady in My Life," which eventually became one of the first hip-hop music videos to air on VH1. The song also earned him a Grammy Award. Yet another single from the album, "I Shot Ya Remix", included vocal work by Foxy Brown. In 1996, Def Jam released this "greatest hits" package, offering a good summary of Cool J's career, from the relentless minimalism of early hits such as "Rock the Bells" to the smooth-talking braggadocio that followed. Classic albums including Bigger and Deffer and Mama Said Knock You Out are well represented here. In 1997, he released the album Phenomenon. The singles included "Phenomenon" and "Father". The official second single from Phenomenon was "4, 3, 2, 1," which featured Method Man, Redman & Master P and introduced DMX and Canibus.

In 2000, LL Cool J released the album G.O.A.T., which stood for the "greatest of all time." It debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts, and went platinum. LL Cool J thanked Canibus in the liner notes of the album, "for the inspiration". LL Cool J's next album 10 from 2002, was his 9th studio (10th overall including his greatest hits compilation All World), and included the singles "Paradise" (featuring Amerie), "Luv U Better", produced by Pharrell and The Neptunes and the 2003 Jennifer Lopez duet, "All I Have". The album reached platinum status. LL Cool J's 10th album The DEFinition was released on August 31, 2004. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard charts. Production came from Timbaland, 7 Aurelius, R. Kelly, and others. The lead single was the Timbaland-produced "Headsprung", which peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single was the 7 Aurelius–produced, "Hush", which peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

2006–2012: Later career and touring

LL Cool J's 11th 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" featuring Jennifer Lopez. They 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 Cool J 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 was originally scheduled to be executively produced by fellow Queens rapper 50 Cent. Exit 13 was originally slated for a fall 2006 release, however, after a 2-year delay, it was released September 9, 2008 without 50 Cent as the executive producer. Tracks that the two worked on were leaked to the internet and some of the tracks produced with 50 made it to Exit 13. LL Cool J partnered with DJ Kay Slay to release a mixtape called "The Return of the G.O.A.T.". It was the first mixtape of his 24-year career and includes freestyling by LL Cool J in addition to other rappers giving their renditions of his songs. A track entitled "Hi Haterz" was leaked onto the internet on June 1, 2008. The song contains LL Cool J rapping over the instrumental to Maino's "Hi Hater". He toured with Janet Jackson on her Rock Witchu tour, only playing in Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and Kansas City. In September 2009, LL Cool J released a song about the NCIS TV series. It is a single and is available on iTunes. The new track is based on his experiences playing special agent Sam Hanna. "This song is the musical interpretation of what I felt after meeting with NCIS agents, experienced Marines and Navy SEALs," LL Cool J said. "It represents the collective energy in the room. I was so inspired I wrote the song on set."

In March 2011 at South by Southwest, LL Cool J was revealed to be Z-Trip's special guest at the Red Bull Thre3Style showcase. This marked the beginning of a creative collaboration between the rap and DJ superstars. The two took part in an interview with Carson Daly where they discussed their partnership. Both artists have promised future collaborations down the road, with LL Cool J calling the duo "organic" One early track to feature LL's talents was Z-Trip's remix of British rock act Kasabian's single "Days Are Forgotten", which was named by influential DJ Zane Lowe as his "Hottest Record In The World" and received a favorable reception in both Belgium and the United Kingdom. In January 2012, the pair released the track "Super Baller" as a free download to celebrate the New York Giants Super Bowl victory. The two have been touring together since 2011, with future dates planned through 2012 and beyond.

2012–present: Authentic, G.O.A.T. 2 and future projects

In June 2012, LL Cool J began work on his thirteenth studio album. Stating, "I'm going to be doing a little bit of the album on the [My Connect Studio], make sure that it is official."

On October 6, 2012, LL Cool J released a new single from Authentic Hip-Hop called "Ratchet". Following that, on November 3, 2012, LL Cool J collaborated with Joe and producers Trackmasters with his 2nd single, "Take It".

LL Cool J hosted the 55th Grammy Awards on February 10, 2013, as well as the 57th Grammys on February 9, 2015.

On February 8, 2013, it was announced the album title would be changed from Authentic Hip-Hop to Authentic with a new release date of April 30, 2013, and a new cover was unveiled at the same time. At around the same time, it was announced that LL Cool J had collaborated with Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen on two tracks on the album.

On October 16, 2013, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced LL Cool J as a nominee for inclusion in 2014.

In October 2014, he announced his upcoming 14th studio album will be called G.O.A.T. 2 with a release window of 2015. LL Cool J stated about the album "the concept behind the album was to give upcoming artists an opportunity to shine, and put myself in the position where I have to spit bars with some of the hardest rhymers in the game." However, the album had been put on hold and has yet to be released. LL Cool J explained the reason for the album being put on hold, saying "didn't feel like it was feel it was ready yet".

On January 21, 2016, LL Cool J received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In March 2016, LL Cool J had announced his retirement on social media, but quickly announced coming out of retirement and that another new album is on the way.

In July 2016, LL appeared on ABC's Greatest Hits.

Acting career

While LL Cool J first appeared as a rapper in the movie Krush Groove (performing "I Can't Live Without My Radio"), his first acting part was a small role in a high school football movie called Wildcats. He continued to pursue acting, landing the role of Captain Patrick Zevo in the 1992 film Toys in which he shared the silver screen with Robin Williams. In 1995, he landed his own television sitcom, In the House. He starred as an ex-Oakland Raiders running back who finds himself in financial difficulties and is forced to rent part of his home out to a single mother and her two children.

In 1998, he had a role in the film Halloween H20. In 1999's Deep Blue Sea, he played the wise-cracking cook on a top-secret sea base besieged by genetically enhanced sharks. He received rave reviews for his role as Dwayne Gittens, an underworld boss, nicknamed "God" in In Too Deep. Later that year, he had a starring role in Any Given Sunday, in which he played Julian Washington, the talented but selfish running back on the dysfunctional Miami Sharks. Since then, LL Cool J has appeared in a variety of films, such as the 2002 remake of Rollerball, Deliver Us from Eva, Mindhunters, and S.W.A.T.

In 2005, he returned to television in a guest starring role on the Fox medical drama House as a death row inmate felled by an unknown disease in the episode "Acceptance".

LL Cool J also appeared as Queen Latifah's love interest in the 2006 movie Last Holiday.

He also guest starred on 30 Rock in the 2007 episode "The Source Awards" as the hip-hop producer Ridikulous, who Tracy Jordan fears is going to kill him.

LL Cool J appeared in Sesame Street's 39th season where he introduced the word of the day, "Unanimous", in episode 4169 (Sept. 22, 2008) and performing "The Addition Expedition" in episode 4172 (Sept. 30, 2008).

LL Cool J is currently a series regular on the CBS police procedural NCIS: Los Angeles, a spin-off of NCIS (which itself is a spin-off of the naval legal drama JAG). He portrays NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, an ex–Navy SEAL who is fluent in Arabic and an expert on West Asian culture. The series debuted in autumn of 2009, but the characters were introduced in an April 2009 crossover episode on the parent show.

LL Cool J appeared in a cameo role, where he is credited with being the product lead of Google's Gmail Tap, an April Fool's Day joke launched by the Gmail team, purporting to bring a Morse Code keyboard to the platform.

Since April 2015, LL has hosted the show Lip Sync Battle.

Other ventures

LL Cool J worked behind the scenes with the mid-1980s hip-hop sportswear line TROOP. LL Cool J launched a clothing line (called "Todd Smith"). The brand produces popular urban apparel. Designs include influences from LL's lyrics and tattoos, as well as from other icons in the hip-hop community. LL Cool J has written four books, including 1998's I Make My Own Rules, an autobiography cowritten with Karen Hunter. His second book was the children-oriented book called And The Winner Is... published in 2002. In 2006, LL Cool J and his personal trainer, Dave "Scooter" Honig, wrote a fitness book titled The Platinum Workout. His fourth book, LL Cool J (Hip-Hop Stars) was cowritten in 2007 with hip-hop historian Dustin Shekell and Public Enemy's Chuck D.

LL Cool J 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. With the Rock The Bells label, he had artists such as Amyth, Smokeman, Natice, Chantel Jones and Simone Starks. Rock the Bells Records was also responsible for the Deep Blue Sea soundtrack for the 1999 movie of the same name. Rufus "Scola" Waller was also signed to the label, but was released when the label folded. LL Cool J founded and launched Boomdizzle.com, a record label / social networking site launched in September 2008. The website accepts music uploads from aspiring artists, primarily from the hip-hop genre, and the site's users rate songs through contests, voting, and other community events.

He also appeared in an introduction to Wrestlemania 31.

Political involvement

In 2002, LL Cool J supported Republican Governor of New York George Pataki's bid for a third term. In 2003, LL Cool J appeared before a senate committee hearing on P2P file-sharing, voicing his support alongside the RIAA, expressing that he just wished "music could be downloaded legitimately." He has also voiced his support for New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, during an appearance on the senator's local television show and has worked with Smith in putting on the annual Jump and Ball Tournament (since 2003) in the rapper's childhood neighborhood of St. Albans, Queens. In a February 10, 2012 televised interview with CNN host Piers Morgan, LL Cool J expressed sympathy for President Obama and ascribed negative impressions of his leadership to Republican obstruction designed to "make it look like you have a coordination problem." He was quick to add that no one "should assume that I'm a Democrat either. I'm an Independent, you know?" In LL Cool J's Platinum 360 Diet and Lifestyle, he included Barack Obama in a list of "People I admire" saying, "He accomplished what people thought was impossible."

His song "Mr President" on his album Exit 13 questioned the rationale for the Iraq War, and also expressed sympathy with illegal immigrants.

Legacy

With the breakthrough success of his hit single "I Need a Beat" and the Radio LP, LL Cool J became one of the first hip-hop acts to achieve mainstream success along with Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C.. Gigs at larger venues were offered to LL as he would join the 1986-'87 Raising Hell tour, opening for Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys. Another milestone of LL's popularity was his appearance on American Bandstand as the first hip hop act on the show.

The album's success also helped in contributing to Rick Rubin's credibility and repertoire as a record producer. Radio, along with Raising Hell (1986) and Licensed to Ill (1986), would form a trilogy of New York City-based, Rubin-helmed albums that helped to diversify hip-hop. Rubin's production credit on the back cover reads "REDUCED BY RICK RUBIN", referring to his minimalist production style, which gave the album its stripped-down and gritty sound. This style would serve as one of Rubin's production trademarks and would have a great impact on future hip-hop productions. Rubin's early hip hop production work, before his exit from Def Jam to Los Angeles, helped solidify his legacy as a hip hop pioneer and establish his reputation in the music industry.

Radio's release coincided with the growing new school scene and subculture, which also marked the beginning of hip-hop's "golden age" and the replacement of old school hip hop. This period of hip hop was marked by the end of the disco rap stylings of old school, which had flourished prior to the mid-1980s, and the rise of a new style featuring "ghetto blasters". Radio served as one of the earliest records, along with Run-D.M.C.'s debut album, to combine the vocal approach of hip hop and rapping with the musical arrangements and riffing sound of rock music, pioneering the rap rock hybrid sound.

The emerging new school scene was initially characterized by drum machine-led minimalism, often tinged with elements of rock, as well as boasts about rapping delivered in an aggressive, self-assertive style. In image as in song, the artists projected a tough, cool, street b-boy attitude. These elements contrasted sharply with the 1970s P-Funk and disco-influenced outfits, live bands, synthesizers and party rhymes of acts prevalent in 1984, rendering them old school. In contrast to the lengthy, jam-like form predominant throughout early hip hop ("King Tim III", "Rapper's Delight", "The Breaks"), new school artists tended to compose shorter songs that would be more accessible and had potential for radio play, and conceive more cohesive LPs than their old school counterparts; the style typified by LL Cool J's Radio. A leading example of the new school sound is the song "I Can't Live Without My Radio", a loud, defiant declaration of public loyalty to his boom box, which The New York Times described as "quintessential rap in its directness, immediacy and assertion of self". It was featured in the film Krush Groove (1985), which was based on the rise of Def Jam and new school acts such as Run-D.M.C. and the Fat Boys.

The energy and hardcore delivery and musical style of rapping featured on Radio, as well as other new school recordings by artists such as Run-D.M.C., Schooly D, T La Rock and Steady B, proved to be influential to hip hop acts of the "golden age" such as Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy. The decline of the old school form of hip hop also led to the closing of Sugar Hill Records, one of the labels that helped contribute to early hip-hop and that, coincidently, rejected LL's demo tape. As the album served as an example of an expansion of hip hop music's artistic possibilities, its commercial success and distinct sound soon led to an increase in multi-racial audiences and listeners, adding to the legacy of the album and hip hop as well.

He is mentioned in the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton.

Discography

Radio (1985)

Bigger and Deffer (1987)

Walking with a Panther (1989)

Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)

14 Shots to the Dome (1993)

Mr. Smith (1995)

Phenomenon (1997)

G.O.A.T. (2000)

10 (2002)

The DEFinition (2004)

Todd Smith (2006)

Exit 13 (2008)

Authentic (2013)

Wikipedia

[96thdayofrage]

Let’s Talk About Bernie’s Capitulation To The Democratic Establishment

People keep asking me to write about the way my beloved Senator Sanders has been feeding more and more into the xenophobic McCarthyist hysteria of the corporate Democrats, and to be honest I’ve been avoiding it like the plague because if I don’t do a good job here it’s going to generate a bunch of painfully stupid arguments wherever it gets shared and help stagnate the national dialogue rather than bringing consciousness and skillful nuance to a critical issue. There are a lot of weird dynamics surrounding this one, so I would ask the reader to please try and set aside preconceived notions for a few minutes if possible and try to read with an open mind, and to please try to really hear one another in whatever dialogues this article opens up.

We all bring different gifts to this revolution. Some bring passion, some bring strategy, some bring resources, some bring dank memetic prowess, and we all bring our unique perspectives based on our own unique backgrounds and conditioning. All of these things are gifts, and we should be grateful for them. I bring a knack for coming up with colorful insults for CNN’s Chris Cuomo to the table myself, but that’s hardly a gift that we need in spades. Our diverse array of weaponry gives us the ability to attack the corporatist establishment with a dynamic agility that all their billionaire-funded think tanks and strategy teams simply cannot keep up with. We’re each a very important part of the equation, but none of us can do it all; we all have our own strengths and limitations.

Bernard Sanders has served on Capitol Hill since 1991, first as a member of the House of Representatives and now as a US Senator, and though he’s an Independent he caucuses with the Democrats so much that he’s become essentially a de facto party member when it comes to legislation. Like every single one of us, his position has advantages, and it has limitations. Bernie didn’t get to where he’s at by running as hard as he can toward the light like many of us clear-eyed rebels do, he got there by being a shrewd politician, by picking his battles, shoring up alliances, and grinding his way through the muck and the mire of Washington to try and inch us toward what he sees as the greater good from his own unique perspective as a congressional lawmaker. Clearly this is a powerful tool to have on our side. It is also clearly not enough.

Bernie has been bending over backwards to ingratiate himself so extensively to the Democratic establishment that today whenever you hear someone citing him as an authority on an issue, it’s a safe bet that they’re arguing in favor of the corporatist establishment. It’s obvious to anyone with some intuition and critical thinking skills that all the frenzy and freakouts over Russia are highly suspicious and are likely being used to manipulate us in a way that favors the political establishment, and Bernie’s been helping to forward that narrative. As we’ve discussed before, normal Americans do not actually care about Russia; the nationwide hysteria we’ve been seeing is deliberately manufactured, and Bernie has been helping to make this happen.

This is wrong. Bernie is wrong. We’re allowed to say that he’s wrong here. He should not be contributing to the psychological brutalization that the political establishment has been inflicting upon the American people month after month after month through media psy-ops and baseless fearmongering. He should not be collaborating with these intelligence agencies who lied to us about WMDs in Iraq in their attempt to force interventionism in Syria and increase tensions with a nuclear superpower. No.

Does this mean that Sanders isn’t a useful part of our team? He was obviously instrumental in waking a lot of us up and showing us how much power we have to fight the establishment, but does his subsequent capitulation to that establishment mean that his role in the revolution is over?

Personally, I doubt it. Bernie has never been perfect when it comes to foreign policy, but he’s a consistently powerful voice when it comes to domestic policy and economic justice for Americans. That’s a great gift to our movement and it will remain so for however long Bernie keeps it up.

That said, Bernie is not our leader. He isn’t. The extent to which the establishment has sunk their talons into him proves that we can’t afford to allow him to lead us. They will use him to steer us in unwholesome directions and guide us away from our desire to destroy their sick institutions. “Bernie says” should not be received with any more authoritative weight than “Noam Chomsky says,” “Julian Assange says” or “Caitlin Johnstone says”; it should always be taken as data about someone’s opinion, never as gospel truth.

We’re each seeing this thing from a slightly different angle but also —and this is important— those of us speaking from the outside have far more freedom to say what we see than those on the inside. It’s like telling a woman in an abusive relationship that she needs to just lay into him and leave. Sounds great and she knows you’re right but she knows better than anyone that doing so could get her killed, so getting mad at her for not standing up for herself is just victim-blaming. We can’t see the forces at play from the inside like Bernie Sanders can, and we don’t know what he’s up against.

Does that make him a liability? It turns out that it doesn’t. None of us are buying his Russia rubbish so it’s not dangerous to the woke ones.

It’s possible to trust him but not listen to him. He’s working his own magic in his own way every day now, getting more prime time exposure advancing ideas like universal healthcare than we ever dreamed possible during the primaries, and his revolutionary vision for working and middle-class Americans is becoming a part of the mainstream conversation and sounding more and more like the common sense approach that we know it is. That, my friends, is a miracle. Only a year ago, his ideas were seen as nutty and fringe and not doable. Now they are a standard part of the discourse. In that context, you can see how far he has taken us.

But he’s not our leader and he never was. It was never him, it was us. He knew that, and now we know it for sure. Like the leader of a cycling team, he took his turn out front taking the resistance and the flak and now he’s drifted back into the pack. That’s how collaboration works, and that’s how our way of leading will work. We are not sociopaths all vying for the number one spot, so our leadership will necessarily take a different form. The days of an alpha dictating everyone’s moves from a position of authority are numbered. As we move into our new healthy paradigm, we’ll see more and more examples of this style of rolling leadership where people like Sam Ronan or Michael Green or Tulsi Gabbard or that guy Zach who stood up for us to Donna Brazile at the post-mortem election meeting of the DNC — where these people pop up out of nowhere to take the lead for a moment and push humanity forward just a little more.

I welcome this new way. It naturally sheds corruption as we roll along while the wisdom of the group shakes off any pernicious mind viruses and we get things done much more organically and with less co-ordination and more inspiration. It’s also the reason why we’re winning this thing — the old way requires too much legwork, too much time and a lot more energy to sustain. If we trust our inner intuition first to know what to do, and we trust each other to do what they need to do, then we’re creating a very efficient model for getting shizz done.

So yeah, Bernie’s not perfect, and some of what he’s saying right now is wrong and weird to us, but he’s dominating the discourse in the Democratic party right now and that is an incredible victory for us all. We have a guy in the top spot and he’s doing great things, and moving mainstream America along in leaps and bounds, far beyond my wildest dreams way back when the mainstream media refused to even cover his campaign in the most rudimentary way. He really is working wonders and for that I am very grateful.

He’s totally wrong about Russia though. And that’s okay too. As long as we all stand confident in our own authority and our own respective strengths, we've got this.

[paulodebargelove]

Happy Birthday to James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love CoolJames), is an American rapper, actor, author, and entrepreneur from Queens, New York. He is known for such hip hop hits as “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”, “I’m Bad”, “The Boomin’ System”, “Rock The Bells” and “Mama Said Knock You Out”, as well as romantic ballads such as “Doin’ It”, “I Need Love”, “Around the Way Girl” and “Hey Lover”.

LL Cool J is also known as one of the forefathers of pop rap. He has released 13 studio albums and two greatest hits compilations. His twelfth album Exit 13 (2008), was his last for his long-tenured deal with Def Jam Recordings. His latest album, Authentic, was released in April 2013. In 2010, VH1 considered him to be in their “100 Greatest Artists Of All Time” list.

LL Cool J has also appeared in numerous films, including In Too Deep, Any Given Sunday, S.W.A.T., Mindhunters, and Edison. He currently stars in an action role as NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles. LL Cool J is also the host of Lip Sync Battle on Spike.

Early life

LL Cool J was born James Todd Smith on January 14, 1968, in Bay Shore, New York, the son of Ondrea Griffeth (born January 19, 1946) and James Louis Smith, Jr. In an episode of Finding Your Roots, LL learned his mother was adopted by Eugene Griffith and Ellen Hightower. The series’ genetic genealogist CeCe Moore identified LL’s biological grandparents as Ethel Mae Jolly and Nathaniel Christy Lewis through analysis of his DNA. LL’s biological great-uncle was hall of fame boxer, John Henry Lewis.

He began rapping at age 9 and was influenced by hip-hop group The Treacherous Three. In March 1984, when NYU student Rick Rubin and promoter-manager Russell Simmons founded the then-independent Def Jam label, 16-year-old Hollis, Queens-native James Todd Smith was creating demo tapes in his grandparents’ home. His grandfather, a jazz saxophonist, bought him $2,000 worth of equipment, including two turntables, an audio mixer and an amplifier. Smith later discussed his childhood background and rapping, stating that “By the time I got that equipment, I was already a rapper. In this neighborhood, the kids grow up in rap. It’s like speaking Spanish if you grow up in an all-Spanish house. I got into it when I was about 9, and since then all I wanted was to make a record and hear it on the radio.” By using the mixer he had received from his grandfather, Smith produced and mixed his own demos and sent them to various record companies throughout New York City, including Simmons’ and Rubin’s own Def Jam Recordings.

In a VH1 documentary (Planet Rock: the Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation), LL Cool J, at 14 years of age, revealed that he initially wanted to call himself J-Ski but did not want to associate his stage name with the cocaine culture (the rappers who use “Ski” or “Blow” as part of their stage name e.g., Kurtis Blow, Joeski Love were associated with the rise of the cocaine culture as depicted in the 1983 remake of Scarface).

Under his new stage name, LL Cool J (an abbreviation for Ladies Love Cool James), Smith was signed by Def Jam, which led to the release of his first official record, the 12-inch single “I Need a Beat” (1984). The single was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy song with spare beats and ballistic rhymes. Smith later discussed his search for a label, stating “I sent my demo to many different companies, but it was Def Jam where I found my home.” That same year, Smith made his professional debut concert performance at Manhattan Center High School. In a later interview, LL Cool J recalled the experience, stating “They pushed the lunch room tables together and me and my DJ, Cut Creator, started playing. … As soon as it was over there were girls screaming and asking for autographs. Right then and there I said ‘This is what I want to do’.” LL’s debut single sold over 100,000 copies and helped establish both Def Jam as a label and Smith as a rapper. The commercial success of “I Need a Beat”, along with the Beastie Boys’ single “Rock Hard” (1984), helped lead Def Jam to a distribution deal with Columbia Records the following year.

Musical career

1985–1987: Radio

Radio was released to critical acclaim, both for production innovation and LL’s powerful rap. Released November 18, 1985, on Def Jam Recordings in the United States, Radio earned a significant amount of commercial success and sales for a hip hop record at the time. Shortly after its release, the album sold over 500,000 copies in its first five months, eventually selling over 1 million copies by 1988, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Radio peaked at number 6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and at number 46 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It entered the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart on December 28, 1985, and remained there for forty-seven weeks, while also entering the Pop Albums chart on January 11, 1986. Radio remained on the chart for thirty-eight weeks. By 1989, the album had earned platinum status from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), after earning a gold certification in the United States on April 14, 1986, with sales exceeding one million copies. “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” and “Rock the Bells” were singles that helped the album go platinum. It eventually reached 1,500,000 in US sales.

With the breakthrough success of his hit single “I Need a Beat” and the Radio LP, LL Cool J became one of the first hip-hop acts to achieve mainstream success along with Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C.. Gigs at larger venues were offered to LL as he would join the 1986-'87 Raising Hell tour, opening for Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys. Another milestone of LL’s popularity was his appearance on American Bandstand as the first hip hop act on the show, as well as an appearance on Diana Ross’ 1987 television special, Red Hot Rhythm & Blues.

The album’s success also helped in contributing to Rick Rubin’s credibility and repertoire as a record producer. Radio, along with Raising Hell (1986) and Licensed to Ill (1986), would form a trilogy of New York City-based, Rubin-helmed albums that helped to diversify hip-hop. Rubin’s production credit on the back cover reads “REDUCED BY RICK RUBIN”, referring to his minimalist production style, which gave the album its stripped-down and gritty sound. This style would serve as one of Rubin’s production trademarks and would have a great impact on future hip-hop productions. Rubin’s early hip hop production work, before his exit from Def Jam to Los Angeles, helped solidify his legacy as a hip hop pioneer and establish his reputation in the music industry.

1987–1993: Breakthrough and success

LL Cool J’s second album was 1987's Bigger and Deffer, which was produced by DJ Pooh. This stands as his biggest-selling career album, having sold in excess of three million copies in the United States alone. It spent 11 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart. It also reached #3 on the Billboard’s Pop albums chart. The album featured the singles “I’m Bad”, the revolutionary “I Need Love” - LL’s first #1 R&B and Top 40 hit, “Bristol Hotel”, and “Go Cut Creator Go”. LL Cool J’s third album was 1989's Walking with a Panther. Released in 1989, the album was a commercial success, with several charting singles (“Going Back to Cali,” “I’m That Type of Guy,” “Jingling Baby,” “Big Ole Butt,” and “One Shot at Love”). The album however was often criticized by the hip-hop community as being too commercial and materialistic, and for focusing too much on love ballads. According to Billboard, the album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 and was LL Cool J’s second #1 R&B Album where it spent four weeks.

While the previous album Bigger and Deffer, which was a big success, was produced by The L.A. Posse (at the time consisting of Dwayne Simon, Darryl Pierce and, according to himself the most important for crafting the sound of the LP, Bobby “Bobcat” Ervin), Dwayne Simon was the only one left willing to work on producing Walking with a Panther. Bobcat said he wanted more money for the album after realizing how much of a success the previous album really had become but Def Jam refused to change the contract which made him leave Cool J. According to Bobcat this is the reason that Walking with a Panther was met with very mixed reception at the time of its release.

In 1990, LL released “Mama Said Knock You Out”, his fourth studio album. The Marley Marl produced album received critical acclaim and eventually went double Platinum selling over two million copies according to the RIAA. LL won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1992 for the title track.

1993–2005: Continued success and career prominence

After acting in The Hard Way and Toys, LL Cool J released 14 Shots to the Dome. The album had three singles (“How I’m Comin’”, “Back Seat” and the strangely titled “Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings”) and guest-featured labelmates Lords of the Underground on “NFA-No Frontin’ Allowed”. The album went gold.

LL Cool J starred in In the House, an NBC sitcom, before releasing Mr. Smith (1995), which went on to sell over two million copies. Its singles included “Doin’ It” and “Loungin”. Another of the album’s singles, “Hey Lover”, featured Boyz II Men sampling Michael Jackson’s “The Lady in My Life,” which eventually became one of the first hip-hop music videos to air on VH1. The song also earned him a Grammy Award. Yet another single from the album, “I Shot Ya Remix”, included vocal work by Foxy Brown. In 1996, Def Jam released this “greatest hits” package, offering a good summary of Cool J’s career, from the relentless minimalism of early hits such as “Rock the Bells” to the smooth-talking braggadocio that followed. Classic albums including Bigger and Deffer and Mama Said Knock You Out are well represented here. In 1997, he released the album Phenomenon. The singles included “Phenomenon” and “Father”. The official second single from Phenomenon was “4, 3, 2, 1,” which featured Method Man, Redman & Master P and introduced DMX and Canibus.

In 2000, LL Cool J released the album G.O.A.T., which stood for the “greatest of all time.” It debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts, and went platinum. LL Cool J thanked Canibus in the liner notes of the album, “for the inspiration”. LL Cool J’s next album 10 from 2002, was his 9th studio (10th overall including his greatest hits compilation All World), and included the singles “Paradise” (featuring Amerie), “Luv U Better”, produced by Pharrell and The Neptunes and the 2003 Jennifer Lopez duet, “All I Have”. The album reached platinum status. LL Cool J’s 10th album The DEFinition was released on August 31, 2004. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard charts. Production came from Timbaland, 7 Aurelius, R. Kelly, and others. The lead single was the Timbaland-produced “Headsprung”, which peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single was the 7 Aurelius–produced, “Hush”, which peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

2006–2012: Later career and touring

LL Cool J’s 11th 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” featuring Jennifer Lopez. They 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 Cool J 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 was originally scheduled to be executively produced by fellow Queens rapper 50 Cent. Exit 13 was originally slated for a fall 2006 release, however, after a 2-year delay, it was released September 9, 2008 without 50 Cent as the executive producer. Tracks that the two worked on were leaked to the internet and some of the tracks produced with 50 made it to Exit 13. LL Cool J partnered with DJ Kay Slay to release a mixtape called “The Return of the G.O.A.T.”. It was the first mixtape of his 24-year career and includes freestyling by LL Cool J in addition to other rappers giving their renditions of his songs. A track entitled “Hi Haterz” was leaked onto the internet on June 1, 2008. The song contains LL Cool J rapping over the instrumental to Maino’s “Hi Hater”. He toured with Janet Jackson on her Rock Witchu tour, only playing in Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and Kansas City. In September 2009, LL Cool J released a song about the NCIS TV series. It is a single and is available on iTunes. The new track is based on his experiences playing special agent Sam Hanna. “This song is the musical interpretation of what I felt after meeting with NCIS agents, experienced Marines and Navy SEALs,” LL Cool J said. “It represents the collective energy in the room. I was so inspired I wrote the song on set.”

In March 2011 at South by Southwest, LL Cool J was revealed to be Z-Trip’s special guest at the Red Bull Thre3Style showcase. This marked the beginning of a creative collaboration between the rap and DJ superstars. The two took part in an interview with Carson Daly where they discussed their partnership. Both artists have promised future collaborations down the road, with LL Cool J calling the duo “organic” One early track to feature LL’s talents was Z-Trip’s remix of British rock act Kasabian’s single “Days Are Forgotten”, which was named by influential DJ Zane Lowe as his “Hottest Record In The World” and received a favorable reception in both Belgium and the United Kingdom. In January 2012, the pair released the track “Super Baller” as a free download to celebrate the New York Giants Super Bowl victory. The two have been touring together since 2011, with future dates planned through 2012 and beyond.

2012–present: Authentic, G.O.A.T. 2 and future projects

In June 2012, LL Cool J began work on his thirteenth studio album. Stating, “I’m going to be doing a little bit of the album on the [My Connect Studio], make sure that it is official.”

On October 6, 2012, LL Cool J released a new single from Authentic Hip-Hop called “Ratchet”. Following that, on November 3, 2012, LL Cool J collaborated with Joe and producers Trackmasters with his 2nd single, “Take It”.

LL Cool J hosted the 55th Grammy Awards on February 10, 2013, as well as the 57th Grammys on February 9, 2015.

On February 8, 2013, it was announced the album title would be changed from Authentic Hip-Hop to Authentic with a new release date of April 30, 2013, and a new cover was unveiled at the same time. At around the same time, it was announced that LL Cool J had collaborated with Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen on two tracks on the album.

On October 16, 2013, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced LL Cool J as a nominee for inclusion in 2014.

In October 2014, he announced his upcoming 14th studio album will be called G.O.A.T. 2 with a release window of 2015. LL Cool J stated about the album “the concept behind the album was to give upcoming artists an opportunity to shine, and put myself in the position where I have to spit bars with some of the hardest rhymers in the game.” However, the album had been put on hold and has yet to be released. LL Cool J explained the reason for the album being put on hold, saying “didn’t feel like it was feel it was ready yet”.

On January 21, 2016, LL Cool J received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In March 2016, LL Cool J had announced his retirement on social media, but quickly announced coming out of retirement and that another new album is on the way.

In July 2016, LL appeared on ABC's Greatest Hits.

Acting career

While LL Cool J first appeared as a rapper in the movie Krush Groove (performing “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”), his first acting part was a small role in a high school football movie called Wildcats. He continued to pursue acting, landing the role of Captain Patrick Zevo in the 1992 film Toys in which he shared the silver screen with Robin Williams. In 1995, he landed his own television sitcom, In the House. He starred as an ex-Oakland Raiders running back who finds himself in financial difficulties and is forced to rent part of his home out to a single mother and her two children.

In 1998, he had a role in the film Halloween H20. In 1999's Deep Blue Sea, he played the wise-cracking cook on a top-secret sea base besieged by genetically enhanced sharks. He received rave reviews for his role as Dwayne Gittens, an underworld boss, nicknamed “God” in In Too Deep. Later that year, he had a starring role in Any Given Sunday, in which he played Julian Washington, the talented but selfish running back on the dysfunctional Miami Sharks. Since then, LL Cool J has appeared in a variety of films, such as the 2002 remake of Rollerball, Deliver Us from Eva, Mindhunters, and S.W.A.T.

In 2005, he returned to television in a guest starring role on the Fox medical drama House as a death row inmate felled by an unknown disease in the episode “Acceptance”.

LL Cool J also appeared as Queen Latifah’s love interest in the 2006 movie Last Holiday.

He also guest starred on 30 Rock in the 2007 episode “The Source Awards” as the hip-hop producer Ridikulous, who Tracy Jordan fears is going to kill him.

LL Cool J appeared in Sesame Street’s 39th season where he introduced the word of the day, “Unanimous”, in episode 4169 (Sept. 22, 2008) and performing “The Addition Expedition” in episode 4172 (Sept. 30, 2008).

LL Cool J is currently a series regular on the CBS police procedural NCIS: Los Angeles, a spin-off of NCIS (which itself is a spin-off of the naval legal drama JAG). He portrays NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, an ex–Navy SEAL who is fluent in Arabic and an expert on West Asian culture. The series debuted in autumn of 2009, but the characters were introduced in an April 2009 crossover episode on the parent show.

LL Cool J appeared in a cameo role, where he is credited with being the product lead of Google’s Gmail Tap, an April Fool’s Day joke launched by the Gmail team, purporting to bring a Morse Code keyboard to the platform.

Since April 2015, LL has hosted the show Lip Sync Battle.

Other ventures

LL Cool J worked behind the scenes with the mid-1980s hip-hop sportswear line TROOP. LL Cool J launched a clothing line (called “Todd Smith”). The brand produces popular urban apparel. Designs include influences from LL’s lyrics and tattoos, as well as from other icons in the hip-hop community. LL Cool J has written four books, including 1998's I Make My Own Rules, an autobiography cowritten with Karen Hunter. His second book was the children-oriented book called And The Winner Is… published in 2002. In 2006, LL Cool J and his personal trainer, Dave “Scooter” Honig, wrote a fitness book titled The Platinum Workout. His fourth book, LL Cool J (Hip-Hop Stars) was cowritten in 2007 with hip-hop historian Dustin Shekell and Public Enemy’s Chuck D.

LL Cool J 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. With the Rock The Bells label, he had artists such as Amyth, Smokeman, Natice, Chantel Jones and Simone Starks. Rock the Bells Records was also responsible for the Deep Blue Sea soundtrack for the 1999 movie of the same name. Rufus “Scola” Waller was also signed to the label, but was released when the label folded. LL Cool J founded and launched Boomdizzle.com, a record label / social networking site launched in September 2008. The website accepts music uploads from aspiring artists, primarily from the hip-hop genre, and the site’s users rate songs through contests, voting, and other community events.

He also appeared in an introduction to Wrestlemania 31.

Political involvement

In 2002, LL Cool J supported Republican Governor of New York George Pataki’s bid for a third term. In 2003, LL Cool J appeared before a senate committee hearing on P2P file-sharing, voicing his support alongside the RIAA, expressing that he just wished “music could be downloaded legitimately.” He has also voiced his support for New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, during an appearance on the senator’s local television show and has worked with Smith in putting on the annual Jump and Ball Tournament (since 2003) in the rapper’s childhood neighborhood of St. Albans, Queens. In a February 10, 2012 televised interview with CNN host Piers Morgan, LL Cool J expressed sympathy for President Obama and ascribed negative impressions of his leadership to Republican obstruction designed to “make it look like you have a coordination problem.” He was quick to add that no one “should assume that I’m a Democrat either. I’m an Independent, you know?” In LL Cool J’s Platinum 360 Diet and Lifestyle, he included Barack Obama in a list of “People I admire” saying, “He accomplished what people thought was impossible.”

His song “Mr President” on his album Exit 13 questioned the rationale for the Iraq War, and also expressed sympathy with illegal immigrants.

Legacy

With the breakthrough success of his hit single “I Need a Beat” and the Radio LP, LL Cool J became one of the first hip-hop acts to achieve mainstream success along with Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C.. Gigs at larger venues were offered to LL as he would join the 1986-'87 Raising Hell tour, opening for Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys. Another milestone of LL’s popularity was his appearance on American Bandstand as the first hip hop act on the show.

The album’s success also helped in contributing to Rick Rubin’s credibility and repertoire as a record producer. Radio, along with Raising Hell (1986) and Licensed to Ill (1986), would form a trilogy of New York City-based, Rubin-helmed albums that helped to diversify hip-hop. Rubin’s production credit on the back cover reads “REDUCED BY RICK RUBIN”, referring to his minimalist production style, which gave the album its stripped-down and gritty sound. This style would serve as one of Rubin’s production trademarks and would have a great impact on future hip-hop productions. Rubin’s early hip hop production work, before his exit from Def Jam to Los Angeles, helped solidify his legacy as a hip hop pioneer and establish his reputation in the music industry.

Radio’s release coincided with the growing new school scene and subculture, which also marked the beginning of hip-hop’s “golden age” and the replacement of old school hip hop. This period of hip hop was marked by the end of the disco rap stylings of old school, which had flourished prior to the mid-1980s, and the rise of a new style featuring “ghetto blasters”. Radio served as one of the earliest records, along with Run-D.M.C.’s debut album, to combine the vocal approach of hip hop and rapping with the musical arrangements and riffing sound of rock music, pioneering the rap rock hybrid sound.

The emerging new school scene was initially characterized by drum machine-led minimalism, often tinged with elements of rock, as well as boasts about rapping delivered in an aggressive, self-assertive style. In image as in song, the artists projected a tough, cool, street b-boy attitude. These elements contrasted sharply with the 1970s P-Funk and disco-influenced outfits, live bands, synthesizers and party rhymes of acts prevalent in 1984, rendering them old school. In contrast to the lengthy, jam-like form predominant throughout early hip hop (“King Tim III”, “Rapper’s Delight”, “The Breaks”), new school artists tended to compose shorter songs that would be more accessible and had potential for radio play, and conceive more cohesive LPs than their old school counterparts; the style typified by LL Cool J's Radio. A leading example of the new school sound is the song “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”, a loud, defiant declaration of public loyalty to his boom box, which The New York Times described as “quintessential rap in its directness, immediacy and assertion of self”. It was featured in the film Krush Groove (1985), which was based on the rise of Def Jam and new school acts such as Run-D.M.C. and the Fat Boys.

The energy and hardcore delivery and musical style of rapping featured on Radio, as well as other new school recordings by artists such as Run-D.M.C., Schooly D, T La Rock and Steady B, proved to be influential to hip hop acts of the “golden age” such as Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy. The decline of the old school form of hip hop also led to the closing of Sugar Hill Records, one of the labels that helped contribute to early hip-hop and that, coincidently, rejected LL’s demo tape. As the album served as an example of an expansion of hip hop music’s artistic possibilities, its commercial success and distinct sound soon led to an increase in multi-racial audiences and listeners, adding to the legacy of the album and hip hop as well.

He is mentioned in the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton.

Discography

Radio (1985) Bigger and Deffer (1987) Walking with a Panther (1989) Mama Said Knock You Out (1990) 14 Shots to the Dome (1993) Mr. Smith (1995) Phenomenon (1997) G.O.A.T. (2000) 10 (2002) The DEFinition (2004) Todd Smith (2006) Exit 13 (2008) Authentic (2013)