Still Doin' It Well

Ahead of the release of his new album, The FORCE, LL Cool J told Newsweek of his strong desire to keep contributing to the hip-hop culture he helped create

- WILLIAM E.KETCHUM III

TO GET AN IDEA OF HOW FAR BACK LL COOL J'S contributions to hip-hop go, take a close listen to his recollection of a conversation with Q-Tip that became the genesis of his new album The FORCE.

Q-Tip is one-fourth of the revered rap group A Tribe Called Quest; their penchant for meshing jazz samples with thoughtful, Afrocentric lyricism made them one of the most original acts of the 1990s.

Tribe is widely acknowledged as a noted predecessor to superstars including Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and others. For most millennials and younger, Q-Tip would be as much of a forefather as hip-hop has to offer. But when LL Cool J reached out to work with him, that emeritus status took on a different tone.

"I called Q-Tip and he answered on the first ring. He's like, 'what up, big bro?!" LL remembers. He recalls the talk excitedly while speaking to Newsweek on a Friday morning Zoom call. It may seem like an indistinct epithet, but it's a powerful one: it's a tone of reverence. LL Cool J is an elder sibling to innumerable artists who surfaced in the decades after him, but the amount of rappers who he can look up to can be counted on one hand. With his new album, he wants to show that he can still contribute to the culture that he helped build from the ground up.

"By me becoming a fan of hip-hop at about 8, starting to rhyme at like 9 or 10, and starting to write around 11 or 12, I've been here since day one. I haven't been professional since day one, but I've been a part of it since day one," LL says. "I found out that I'm more of [Grandmaster] Flash's generation than I thought I was. Now, when I back up and I look at it, I'm a little more self-aware."