It has been 11 years since LL COOL J launched his final album and, after over a decade of teasing, the rapper is lastly giving followers what they have been ready for — his 14th studio album. The highly-anticipated challenge is aptly titled THE FORCE, and ET’s Rachel Smith acquired to talk with the 2021 Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame inductee about his inspiration at his album listening expertise.
“I’m just excited for [fans] to get to experience what me and Q-Tip have been working on all this time,” LL COOL J, 56, tells ET in regards to the upcoming album. “I know it’s been a long time since I put out an album that moved the culture and gave people my perspective on where I think the state of the art should be. And so, rather than get out here and talk about what should be, I decided to create some music and show people what I think hip-hop can sound like in 2024, you know what I’m saying?”
The rapper explains that THE FORCE, which drops on Sept. 6, stands for “Frequencies of Real Creative Energy.” Contemplating how LL COOL J has beforehand teased that the album options “a lot of collabs on there,” followers can count on quite a lot of numerous artistic vitality within the challenge.
The album covers a wide range of matters, from racial division to LL COOL J’s emotions of isolation throughout the COVID pandemic lockdown. Reflecting on his resolution to take his time with the album manufacturing and its many themes, LL COOL J tells ET that he is realized that “as times change, you got to learn how to just mix it up a little bit.”
“It’s kind of a matter of just being open to what’s going on in the world… It’s a lot of fun on [the album], lot of energy, good vibes,” he shares. “[There are] all kinds of themes on there so it’s not only a dark, heavy thing but there are some things on there that kind of touch the world from different perspectives.”
LL COOL J provides that he feels that his job as an artist is to “get out of the way and let the song speak.”
“This is where I was led and I feel like people are gonna really enjoy it,” he continues. “There’s got to be more to the music and more to hip hop than just the surface and so what I did was, I had fun with the surface — of course — but then there are moments in the album where it goes a little deeper and we get a little more profound and we have some deeper thoughts and deeper meanings. So it’s a combination of your normal, fun, mundane silliness combined with some things that I think are more important but said in an artistic way. I just wanted to make something cool, that’s all.”
The rapper informed ET one thing related whereas wanting again on his decades-long profession in February 2023.
Then, LL COOL J informed ET that when he acquired older he started to take into consideration his work another way and altered his scope. “As you mature and evolve, you start realizing, it was all about me and I [was] thinking about me. Now, I can look this way and say, ‘Make it about somebody else,'” he mentioned reflectively. “Now I can help other people. So the guys that I might have been competitive with back in the days, now I’m looking at [them] like, ‘How can I help you?'”
That mindset led the rapper to create his personal companies within the music trade, together with the corporate Rock the Bells. Initially a document label to supply music, Rock the Bells is now a international life-style model media firm that “focuses on content, commerce and experiences that honor the culture and the core elements of hip-hop.” Even with all his different work, the rapper is devoted to spreading the phrase of hip-hop and making certain the style receives the respect it deserves.
LL COOL J’s 14th studio album, The FORCE, can be obtainable Sept 6.
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