Dec 15

LL Cool J

Greatly Appreciated

LL COOL J
 
 
LL Cool J  (born James Todd Smith; January 14, 1968) is an American rapper, actor, author and entrepreneur from Queens, New York.  He is known for such hip hop hits as “Going Back to Cali”, “I’m Bad”, “The Boomin’ System”, “Rock the Bells”, and “Mama Said Knock You Out”, as well as romantic ballads such as “Doin’ It”, “I Need Love”, “Around the Way Girl”, and “Hey Lover”.  LL Cool J has released 13 studio albums and two greatest hits compilations.  LL Cool J has also appeared in numerous films, including In Too Deep, Any Given Sunday, S.W.A.T., Mindhunters, and Edison.  He currently stars in an action role as NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

In 1998, an organization called Native American Music Association & Awards was started in order to bring awareness of the contributions of Native Americans to music in all its forms; the Awards have been presented annually since that time.  The surprise at taking even a quick glance at their “Did You Know” roster at www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/halloffame.cfm is the incredible number of stars of popular music who have Native American blood – the tribe or confederation name(s) are given in parentheses here and elsewhere in this post:  Elvis Presley (Cherokee), Jimi Hendrix (Cherokee), Hank Williams (Choctaw), Willie Nelson (Cherokee), Ritchie Valens (Yakui), Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers (Choctaw/Cherokee), Loretta Lynn and her sister Crystal Gayle (Cherokee), Kitty Wells (Cherokee), Wayne Newton (Powhatan), Michael Jackson and the Jacksons (Choctaw/Cherokee), Link Wray (Shawnee), Richie Havens (Blackfoot), Robbie Robertson of the Band (Mohawk), Tina Turner (Navaho), Cher (Cherokee), Rita Coolidge (Cherokee), Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen (Native Hawaiian – Native Americans who are not among those often called Indians), Tori Amos (Cherokee), Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille (Cherokee), Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter Miley Cyrus (Cherokee), Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mohican), LL Cool J (Cherokee), Beyoncé (Creole), etc.  

 

Tommy Allsup (Cherokee) was a member of Buddy Holly’s new band in 1959; he “lost” a coin flip with Ritchie Valens and was thus not on board the airplane that crashed on the day the music died.   

 

(August 2013)

 

*       *       *

 

 
 
LL Cool J, Mr. Smith – I will have more to say about this gentleman, one of the founding fathers of rap, in a later post when I try to do an overview of the hip hop scene (wish me luck!).  This album came out in 1995, a decade after his 1985 debut Radio; it was a #1 album for LL Cool J and represented something of a comeback for the artist (4 years after he famously started off one of his best known hits, “Mama Said Knock You Out” with the lyrics, "Don’t call it a comeback / I’ve been here for years”).
 
(December 2015)
 
*       *       *
 
 
 
LL Cool J – the initials stand for “Ladies Love Cool James” (his real name is James Todd Smith) – is one of the forefathers of pop rap according to Wikipedia.  To date, he has released 13 albums and 2 greatest-hits collections.
 About his first album, Radio (1985), Wikipedia says:  “Reflecting the new school and ghettoblaster subculture in the U.S. during the mid-1980s, Radio belongs to a pivotal moment in the history and culture of hip hop.  Its success contributed to the displacement of the old school with the new school form and to the genre’s mainstream success during the period.  Its success also served as a career breakthrough for LL Cool J and [producer] Rick Rubin.  Radio has been recognized by music writers as one of the first cohesive and commercially successful hip hop albums.”
 
(September 2016)
 
* * *
 
Since I am down to a quarterly schedule rather than a monthly schedule, my annual list is a lot shorter, so I will try listing all of the people that I have discussed in some depth rather than just the Under Appreciated Rock Band and the Story of the Month. They are all punk rock bands of one kind or another this year (2015-2016), and the most recent post includes my overview of the early rap/hip hop scene that an old friend, George Konstantinow challenged me to write – probably so long ago that he might have forgotten.
 
(Year 7 Review)
Last edited: March 22, 2021