LL Cool J

LL Cool J is a famous American rapper and actor. His name stands for «Ladies Love Cool James». LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James), an important figure in the hip-hop community, has managed to maintain popularity for over a decade. LL is equally famous for both romantic compositions ("I Need Love") and hard tracks ("I Can't Live Without My Radio"). LL Cool J is also a sex symbol for her gorgeous body. James Todd Smith was born on January 14, 1968 in New York. The musician came to the pseudonym LL Cool J by shortening the phrase "Ladies Love Cool James" ("ladies love cool James"). At the age of 4, after his parents divorced, he remained in the care of his grandparents. The rap legend began to dive into hip-hop culture back in the late 70s, when he was only 9 years old. At the age of 11, he already tried himself as an artist in a local team, and at 13 he began recording at his home mini-studio. James received the recording equipment from his grandfather instead of the constantly begging bike. Having sent out his demos to a few labels, the 15-year-old rapper received the only response from the just starting company Def Jam records. It was LL Cool J's debut album "Radio", dating from 1985, that became the first release of one of the largest rap labels in history. The disc instantly became a hip-hop classic and a favorite subject of music critics' discussion, and LL himself embarked on a world tour with Run DMC and the Beastie Boys.

LL Cool J titled his second album Bigger and Deffer, releasing it in 1987. This time, the rapper brought in the producers of the L.A. trio. Posse. To the surprise of all music publications, the disc became multi-platinum, and the singles “I’m Bad” and “I Need Love” did not descend from the Billboard five for a long time. Around the same time, the monsters of the industry such as Public Enemy, Eric B. & Rakim, Whodini and Doug E. Fresh got into the Def Jam campaign. In the wake of the explosion of the charts, LL received a dramatic increase in press attention. For example, the magazine "Playgirl" ranked him in the top ten sexiest music stars. 

In 1989 cool James, following the traditions of his unique style, released the equally successful album Walking With A Panther. On his third brainchild, rap "king kong", unexpectedly for many, began to mix street racist tones in his narratives. But this did not in the least prevent LL's collaboration with a huge list of celebrities, and in 1990 his work with co-producer Marley Marl resulted in the platinum-classic "Mama Said Knock You Out". After the release of this album, LL Cool J was the first rap artist to be featured on MTV's "Unplugged" program. He also begins to dabble in acting, first starring in The Hard Way and in 1992 in Toys. On LL Cool J's 1993 album "14 Shots To The Dome", an unexpected step towards gangsta rap began to appear. And only on his most successful multi-platinum album in 1995, Mr. Smith »LL finally got rid of musical experimentation. After countless filming and commercials, Mr. Smith married school friend Simone and started a family. In the subsequent four-year lull, he released only a collection of the best songs in 1996. And already in 1997 cool James returned with another classic album "Phenomenon", recorded with the help of a whole list of hip-hop culture legends - Diddy, Babyface, The Trackmasters, Busta Rhymes, Redman, Method Man and many more. The disc became multi-platinum again. Shortly before its release, LL had to wage a verbal war with rapper Canibus due to creative differences.

In 1997, the rapper received the MTV Vangaurd Awards for his music videos, and a little later released an autobiography called I Make My Own Rules. Creatively, LL Cool J is revealed on the 2000 album G.O.A.T. Featuring James T. Smith: The Greatest Of All Time ". The album turned out to be poignant, soaked with feelings and littered with guest assistants like DMX and Snoop Dogg. With this work, LL continued to move, bring something significantly different from the rest of rap musicians and, of course, proved that he can still compete in sales with young artists. 2002 brought us another work by James, a record entitled "10". Although she did not stand out in the same way as most of the previous ones, hardly any critic could say that she is frankly bad in some way. In it, you can still hear both calm things and more harsh ones. LL Cool J's latest eleventh album is titled "The Definition" and is essentially a club work with a strong production base, commercially reinforcing the already strong position of tough James.