LL Cool J

LL Cool J is an American Hip Hop artist, actor and entrepreneur, whose name means "Latest Love Cool James". Born as James Todd Smith in 1968, the artist started writing lyrics and making his own music by the age of 11. At 16, LL Cool J was signed to the Def Jam label in 1984, after the producer Rick Rubin and artistic manager Russell Simmons heard his demo.  In 1985, LL Cool J released his first album called the Radio, which received critical acclaim, both with production innovation and LL's rapping.  From his debut album until the early 90's, LL Cool J's records were produced by Rick Rubin, who introduced sound innovations to the recordings in order to attract alternative/indie listeners. Cool J scored an unexpected crossover rap/ballad hit in the UK charts in 1987, reaching no. 8 with I Need Love (from Bigger And Deffer). After the early 90's, LL Cool J's music went in a different direction, involving using different producers who moved his sounds into mainstream hip hop and contemporary R&B. This served to increase his popularity throughout the middle of the decade and led to a number 1 in 1997 with Ain't Nobody.

Links To Peel

Peel heard LL Cool J's debut album Radio in 1985 and played some tracks from it. During the 80's, many of LL Cool J's tracks were played by Peel, but after the early 90's, when LL Cool J decided to change his music into mainstream hip hop and contemporary R&B, John neglected to programme his recordings, as he did with other hip hop artists he felt to be guilty of sexism and misogyny. The latter is the main reservation JP experienced regarding Cool J: in one BFBS show, he felt that some of the tracks on Bigger And Deffer made him sound "a complete div." [1]

Shows Played 

1985

• 06 January 1985 (BFBS): I Need A Beat
• 25 November 1985: Rock The Bells (LP - Radio) Def Jam
• 26 November 1985: Dangerous (LP - Radio) Def Jam
• 03 December 1985: I Need A Beat (Remix) (LP - Radio) Def Jam

1986

• 01 January 1986: Rock The Bells (LP - Radio) Def Jam
• 12 March 1986: Rock The Bells (LP - Radio) Def Jam
• 18 March 1986: Rock The Bells (12") Def Jam

1987

• 13 May 1987: I'm Bad (12" - I'm Bad / Get Down) Def Jam
• 20 May 1987: Get Down (12" - I'm Bad / Get Down) Def Jam
• 27 May 1987: Go Cut Creator Go (LP - Bigger And Deffer) Def Jam (JP: "That I think is awe-inspiring...but there's a real problem with this LP, and I don't know how I shall resolve it. Most of the rest of the LP contains some of the most misogynist stuff I've ever heard in me life, some of it really quite sickening. That is not the only playable track on there, but it's by a mile the best of them, I think.")
• 02 June 1987: Go Cut Creator Go (LP - Bigger And Deffer) Def Jam (JP: 'I should warn you the rest of the LP or a lot of it anyway is viciously misogynous')
• 05 June 1987 (BFBS): I'm Bad (12" - I'm Bad / Get Down) Def Jam
• 05 June 1987 (BFBS) (Peel 062 (BFBS)): 'Go Cut Creator Go (LP-Bigger And Deffer)' (Def Jam Recordings) (JP: "From the lyrics on the rest of the LP, you'd imagine that LL Cool J was a complete div, but that track, I think it's terrific.")
• HO John Peel 2 1987: I'm Bad
• HO John Peel 2 1987: Dangerous
• 08 June 1987: The Do Wop (LP - Bigger And Deffer) Def Jam
• 19 June 1987 (BFBS): Go Cut Creator Go (LP - Bigger And Deffer) Def Jam
• Bill Brewster Mixtape 3: Get Down

1988

• 01 February 1988: Going Back To Cali (v/a LP - Less Than Zero (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)) Def Jam

1989

• Peel 111 (BFBS): (JP: 'I was going to say about L.L. Cool J., who was mentioned earlier on, cos somebody'd written in and asked what was his new LP like, and I dismissed it as a load of sexist codswallop, which is not too extreme a judgement by any means, I think. L.L. Cool J was first revealed as a bit of a ninny when I read in one of the music papers, I think it was the NME, that he'd fired the bloke whose job it was, when L.L. Cool J was on stage - I assume it was when he was on stage, it might have been when he was walking through the streets, I simply don't know - but there was a bloke in his entourage whose job it was, wherever L.L. Cool J went, to point to what my brother Alan referred to as his sub-navel delights. I just love the idea of this guy going to the Employment Agency and being asked what his previous job was, and wondering if this would catch on: intellectuals would hire people to go around pointing at their heads all the time.')

1990

• 25 January 1990: Illegal Search (12" - Jingling Baby (12" Mixes)) Def Jam
• 29 January 1990: Illegal Search (12" - Jingling Baby (12" Mixes)) Def Jam
• 22 February 1990: Illegal Search (12" - Jingling Baby (12" Mixes)) Def Jam
• 05 September 1990: The Power Of God (album - Mama Said Knock You Out) Def Jam Recordings 467315 1
• 11 September 1990: The Boomin System (12") Def Jam
• 12 September 1990: Cheesy Rat Blues (album - Mama Said Knock You Out) Def Jam Recordings 467315 1
• 21 September 1990 (BFBS): The Boomin System (12") Def Jam
• 27 September 1990: Mama Said Knock You Out (CD Album - Mama Said Knock You Out) Def Jam
• 28 September 1990 (BFBS): The Power Of God (album - Mama Said Knock You Out) Def Jam Recordings 467315 1
• 12 October 1990 (BFBS): Mama Said Knock You Out (CD Album - Mama Said Knock You Out) Def Jam
• 29 December 1990: Illegal Search (LP - Mama Said Knock You Out) Def Jam

See Also

• Record Collection: L

External Links

• Wikipedia
• IMDB
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