LL Cool J relearns ‘how to rap’ on his first album in 11 years

FILE PHOTO: LL Cool J performs during the MTV Video Music Awards in Newark, New Jersey, on September 12, 2023. The rapper-actor will release “The F.O.R.C.E.,” his first album in 11 years. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/Associated Press, File)

NEW YORK — The Grammy award-winning rapper-actor-author LL Cool J will release his first new album in 11 years, “The FORCE” in September – 40 years into his hip-hop career.

Not that he hasn’t been making music in that time. “I’ve always tinkered around in the studio here and there,” he told The Associated Press over Zoom. But over the last two or so years, inspiration really struck. He started working with a producer and pursuing music-making more seriously.

Then he hit a roadblock. “I just felt like the tracks that this producer was giving me were better than the songs that I was writing,” he said. Then the late Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest came to him in a dream. “He told me, ‘Yo, man, that new music you’re working on is great, man.’ But he had a look on his face like a Cheshire cat, like he was lying to me,” he said.

It was a wakeup call – and something told him to call A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip to work together. The move worked: Q-Tip produced every track and made all the beats on “The FORCE,” which will be released September 6.

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LL Cool J describes the process of making his 14th studio album as “going back to the drawing board and learning how to rap again … making sure I was really inspired by the things I was saying. That’s why there isn’t a lot of fluff on this album.”

“The LeBrons, the Stephs, the Jordans, and the Kobes, they all go back to the drawing board, they always try to make themselves better,” he continued. “I wasn’t trying to do trendy, and I wasn’t trying to recapture anything I did before.”

“The FORCE” is an inventive rap record, informed by LL Cool J’s lengthy career, touching on various themes, like the power of self-motivation (“Passion”), full-force swag (“Murdergram Deux,” a long-awaited collab with Eminem ), not-safe-for-work sensuality (“Proclivities” featuring Saweetie), and cautionary tales, as evidenced in the lead single, “Saturday Night Special” featuring Rick Ross and Fat Joe.

Particularly effective is the one-two punch of “Huey in the Chair,” – a reference to a famous photo of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton – what the rapper describes as “taking a stand for what you believe in,” into the funky downtown beats of “Basquiat Energy,” a celebration of the namesake artist’s innovative spirit. The rapper said the American icons share an ability to “express their personal truths,” something he aimed to do on this album.

In that way, “The FORCE,” which stands for “frequencies of real creative energy,” became an unofficial mantra for the release.

“That’s what we wanted to present to the world,” he said. “It’s about wanting to vibrate at a high level.”

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And following the 50th anniversary of hip-hop last year, LL Cool J says he “wanted to show people that artists that have had long storied careers, so to speak, can make modern contributions to hip-hop that have a major impact. I hadn’t seen that done before. It was another challenge: Can I create something that sounds new and fresh?”

He’s not leaning into fads here – expect to hear rappers actually rapping – but no one should consider this a play at nostalgia. The album is stacked with features, even beyond Ross, Fat Joe, Saweetie, and Eminem: Snoop Dogg, Sona Jobareth, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., and Don Pablito are among them.

“The one thing I wanted to do is, I wanted to meet people where I’m at now. I wasn’t trying to be preachy,” he said. “I’m not trying to tell people necessarily how to live. I did want to express with people where I’m at artistically at this point in my life and give them that. And then they can take that and do whatever they want with it.”

“The FORCE” Track List:

1. “Spirit of Cyrus” (feat. Snoop Dogg)

2. “The FORCE”

3. “Saturday Night Special” (feat. Rick Ross and Fat Joe)

4. “Black Code Suite” (feat. Sona Jobarteh)

5. “Passion”

6. “Proclivities” (feat. Saweetie)

7. “Post Modern”

8. “30 Decembers”

9. “Runnit Back”

10. “Huey In Da Chair” (feat. Busta Rhymes)

11. “Basquiat Energy”

12. “Praise Him” (feat. Nas)

13. “Murdergram Deux” (feat. Eminem)

14. “The Vow” (feat. Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., and Don Pablito)