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56-year-old rapper and actor LL Cool J, aka James Todd Smith, recently claimed that he had unreleased music with the iconic Michael Jackson. In an interview with Variety dated September 13, LL stated:
"Me and Michael Jackson went to the studio man."
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The artist also confirmed that he had sampled the King of Pop's voice on the title track of The FORCE, his 14th studio album released in 2024.
"Mike showed a lot of love to me in general, and definitely to hip-hop. Let’s be clear: For me, he’s the king. I’m a Michael Jackson fan, B. His talent speaks for itself,” the rapper added.
Talking further about being associated with Michael Jackson, he said that his song I'm Bad was released before Jackson's track Bad. The 56-year-old continued:
"[Former Def Jam chief] Russell [Simmons] played my record for him and Quincy [Jones], and they got inspired. That's OK. That’s what art is."
LL Cool J released a studio album after 11 years
The most significant highlight for LL Cool J this year would be dropping an album on September 6, 2024, approximately 11 years after his previous one titled Authentic, which was released back in 2013.
LL Cool J has also been participating in several shows. Last month, he performed with Jadakiss and the Lox at New York’s Terminal 5. He even made a surprise appearance with Busta at Missy Elliott’s Out Of This World tour.
According to Variety, LL Cool J had organized private promotional events for his 14th album. These events included private listening sessions for a select group of guests, including Questlove and Jermaine Dupri.
The rapper, in his interview, also addressed the issue of ageism in the industry and discussed how his confidence had helped him deal with it. He added:
"It’s like breaking the four-minute mile. Nobody thought it could be broken until Roger Bannister did it, and then a lot of people started breaking it."
LL continued with regard to his upcoming album and its subsequent effect on hip-hop in general:
"Now you’ll see, when [‘The FORCE’] has success, you’re see people believing that they can make it happen, and it’s gonna extend the life of hip-hop in general."
Talking further about the existing ageism narrative in the music industry, LL mentioned people's reactions to him wanting to make relevant music.
"When I told people, ‘Yo, I wanna do a culturally relevant album’ in the midst of all these [younger artists], people looked at me like I had nine heads," added LL.
As of now, LL seems to stay focused on his recently released album, which includes singles like Saturday Night Special (ft. Fat Joe and Rick Ross), Passion, Proclivities (ft. Saweetie), and Murdergram Deux (ft. Eminem), Spirit of Cyrus (ft. Snoop Dogg), and Praise Him (ft. Nas).
