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LL Cool J needs love — and no, we’re not talking about the chart-topping, award-winning single that came from his 1987 sophomore album of equal success.
The Queens-bred hip-hop mogul, who’s spent the past four decades transcending from the mic to movies and beyond, came to an interesting reflection on his own legacy following a recent fan interaction. Sharing the moment over the weekend via social media (see below), LL Cool J expressed that a man boldly told him that people would only show love to The FORCE, his new album released just a few weeks ago, under one concrete condition: “you’d have to die.”
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The 56-year-old Def Jam loyalist falls into an interesting category amongst his fellow elder statesmen of rap. Musically, he’s a pioneer to the genre who has sold millions of records that even led to his recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With that said, his last project was an independent release over a decade ago and came five years after his last appearance in the top ten on the Billboard 200 with Exit 13 back in 2008. That album itself paled in comparison to 2006’s Todd Smith, which went gold in a month, or the many hit releases of his golden years from the mid-90s to early 2000s. However, much of that “time away” from the game was put to good use over in Hollywood becoming a certified movie star in a handful of films and a TV takeover from NCIS to years of hosting The GRAMMYs.
The FORCE itself isn’t anything to slouch at either. To reiterate what LL stated himself in the aforementioned tweet, his fourteenth studio album is actually doing quite well for a project that was only released a little over three weeks ago. On “Murdergram Deux,” his latest single released alongside fellow Hall of Famer Eminem, proves he can in fact still keep up with the best of them.
To state the obvious, we most certainly do not think that LL Cool J has to “pass on” before his time in order to get a few extra eyes on his new album. Granted, it wouldn’t be too far off to assume that The FORCE would indeed surpass its current Billboard 200 peak at no. 50 in the event of such a cataclysmic event. What do you think?
Keep scrolling to see how some fans (including fellow rap legend Chuck D!) have reacted to LL Cool J being told that he’d “have to die” in order for his new album, The FORCE, to gain success in a new era of rap consumers. Let us know your take on the debate as well:
1. Totally a Grammy winner and a unprecedented timeline of an album. And ‘SPECTACLE may get you into the door but SPECTACULAR keeps you coming back for more’ FAnatics know that the REALITY is that these songs if chosen can be smashed LIVE before their eyes. Thats the difference between OGs and NEWGENS. The effort of sweat over tech.
via @MrChuckD
2. It’s one of your best albums. I think it’s because the younger generation doesn’t appreciate the true hip hop legends.
via @WookieMindTrix
3. fake love does roll in when you’re no longer here – but the ppl actually rockin with this album
via @Travonne
4. Not true at all …. 1st off you are a legend all of the accolades and #1 albums you have had, there is literally no pressure for you on any level…. You have bonafide fans thats going to buy it and new fans as well… People buy projects because they love the music but we are in a singles world now… People can choose which singles they want to download…. All of this has 0 to do with your star…
via @StyngrayChosen
5. I might be wrong but I think the force is your deepest album to date. Those are usually slow burns but you have some radio plays on there, though no one listens to radio anymore.
via @GeorgeLooney786
6. It’s a great album and a lot of folks don’t wanna say it but unfortunately it would catapult it to the very top. But you gotta think about it like this. When Michael Jackson died what happened with his music? That shit went number one real fast. It’s unfortunate but it’s the nature of the game. It’ll happen when Wayne, Ye, Em, Drake all pass too. It’s sad but we really don’t know what we got til it’s gone.
via @AintFredoYou
7. That wouldn’t really be appreciation though. That would be weirdo worship. I would rather listen to LL’s Next Joint than a bunch of weirdos born in 2005 lecturing everybody on why LL was the best rapper since Nas, just because you were dead.
via @contextflexed
8. If that’s the cost to go diamond, then that can wait until you grow as old as God allows. Your Legacy is carved and ain’t going no where. 👍🏽
via @IvanSalaberrios
9. I think what he’s saying is most people,don’t support an artist the way they should be until the artist pass away. In a way,I feel like he’s calling out the fake support people give. It’s not hard these days to have a fan base after death. Life After Death went Diamond
via @rich_1_04
10. I am going to stream it just to spite “that dude”
via @NerdinaThugShel