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Listen to LL COOL J’s ‘THE FORCE’ album special on his new SiriusXM channel
Check out the special on LL COOL J’s THE FORCE Channel for a limited time
LL COOL J talked about his new album, ‘THE FORCE’, collaborating with Eminem on the track “Murdergram Deux”, crediting Michael Jackson as a writer on the song “The FORCE”, learning to rap again, and much more during a track-by-track album special on his new SiriusXM channel, LL COOL J’s THE FORCE Channel.
Featuring LL COOL J’s Rock the Bells Radio host Roxanne Shanté and a live audience, “LL COOL J ‘THE FORCE’ Track-By-Track Album Special” premieres on LL COOL J’s THE FORCE Channel today (September 6) at noon ET and will be available to stream on the SiriusXM app.
During the show, LL went through his process working with Eminem.
“Me and Em actually went to Dr. Dre’s studio and recorded it out in LA,” LL COOL J said. “We went together in the studio. And the way the process was: I would write my rhyme. Then I would lay it. He would come in, he would hear it, I would leave. He would write his rhyme. He would record. And we went back and forth in the booth without seeing each other record until we did the very last thing together, where I kinda come together with him a little bit.”
Tune in to LL COOL J’s THE FORCE Channel on channel 79 from now through September 19 at 3am ET in cars and through October 3 at 3am ET on the SiriusXM app.
You’ll hear songs from LL’s new album, ‘THE FORCE’, and greatest hits from beloved albums like “Radio”, “Mama Said Knock You Out”, and “Mr. Smith”, as well as deep cuts, collaborations, and exclusive LL mixes by some of Hip-Hop’s best DJs.
Additionally, listen to the “LL COOL J ‘THE FORCE’ Track-By-Track Album Special” starting today at noon ET, with rebroadcasts throughout the channel’s run.
The full special will also be available to stream on the SiriusXM app.
In addition to this limited-run channel, LL COOL J also created and oversees LL COOL J’s Rock the Bells Radio (Ch. 43) and three other year-round SiriusXM channels and hosts the show “Influence of Hip-Hop”.
Available today, ‘The FORCE (Frequencies of Real Creative Energy)’ is LL’s 14th studio album and his first in more than 10 years.
Entirely produced by Q-Tip, the project features 14 tracks and special guest appearances from Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Sona Jobarteh, Saweetie, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., and Don Pablito.
‘THE FORCE’ Tracklisting:
- Spirit of Cyrus featuring Snoop Dogg
- THE FORCE
- Saturday Night Special featuring Rick Ross & Fat Joe
- Black Code Suite featuring Sona Jobarteh
- Passion
- Proclivities featuring Saweetie
- Post Modern
- 30 Decembers
- Runnit Back
- Huey In Da Chair featuring Busta Rhymes
- Basquiat Energy
- Praise Him featuring Nas
- Murdergram Deux featuring Eminem
- The Vow featuring Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., & Don Pablito
What LL Cool J Wants Fans to Understand About Album ‘THE FORCE’
Audience Member: My question is, what was your vision with the album picking the artists and the beats to choose to appeal to the youth and the traditional hip-hop today?
LL Cool J: So, here’s the thing. I didn’t go after, you know, like “Proclivities” for example, right now is starting to do really well at radio and you know, I’m sure you’re starting to see that. It’s spreading and it’s playing on the channels, you know, young hip-hop channels and, you know, it’s playing, it’s going, right? But I didn’t make that song trying to do that. I just made what I loved, but the thing about it is it’s kind of like being a director of a movie, right? I’m making a new movie, B. I’m not, you know, gonna make, you know, like James Cameron isn’t gonna make the first “Avatar.” He’s gonna make a new “Avatar.” I’m not gonna give you my old movie. I’m gonna give you a new movie and if you, as an artist, that should be enough. You look at the great artists. You look at Michael Jackson, you look at Prince, you look at artists. They know how to make new shit. You gotta make some new shit, man. Just make some new. You don’t have to follow because see, that’s the other thing about a lot of artists, when they mature in the game, they mature in the game to a place where they stop trusting their own judgment and they think they need somebody who’s 19 to tell ’em what to do, but my thing is, when I was 19, I knew a lot of corny 19-year-olds. Ain’t know shit. It was corny as hell, so why am I gonna, I can’t trust you just ’cause you 19. That’s not enough. How do I know you have good taste? So, it’s about taste ultimately to me. You know what I’m saying? And then, you know, look. You gotta be true to you first, man. You know what I’m saying? I can’t pretend to be, ain’t nobody, I don’t have to pretend to be 20, man. It’s not necessary. We also haven’t seen a hip-hop artist go away for a long time and come back and have a real major impact the way Santana did or the way I’m doing now. A lot of times producers do it, but they have different rappers on the beat, so that’s a little different, but you know, as an artist, you know, as the lead artist on your project, it really is about just the passion and the love. You know what I’m saying? And just, you know, being true to it. You know what I’m saying? And that’s it.
LL Cool J is Giving Michael Jackson’s Estate Credits on a Song
LL Cool J: This song is called “THE FORCE” and the thing I like, you know, just a fun fact because we said, you know, “The force has got a lot of power,” and you know, the force has got, had to get Mike’s estate a percentage of the song just so you know. So, the song is written by me, Q-Tip and Michael Jackson, which is I think pretty cool just in general, so I say that’s the only percentage I was ever really happy to give up.
Roxanne Shanté: I know that’s right.
LL Cool J: You know what I’m saying? Just ’cause he’s my favorite. You know what I’m saying? He’s the king.
LL Cool J on “Murdergram Deux” & Recording with Eminem
LL Cool J: This next song is a joint I did with Eminem. It’s called “Murdergram Deux.” I had a song on “Mama Said Knock You Out” called “Murdergram,” so I said, “You know what? We’re gonna do a song together,” and when Q-tip made the beat, I was sitting in there and he was playing that beat. I was like, “Yo, this is crazy.” I’m like, “Yo, me and Em would be crazy on here.” He’s like, “Yeah, yeah. Definitely big bro.” So, I call Em. I’m like, “Yo, I think I got a joint.” He’s like, “Oh, send it to me,” so I sent, you know, I sent him the song just to hear the beat. Once he heard the beat and he agreed to do it, then we went in the studio and what we actually did was me and Em actually went to Dr. Dre’s studio and recorded it out in LA. We went together in the studio, and the way the process was, is I would write my rhyme, right? Then I would lay it. Then I would leave. He would come in. He would hear it. I would leave. He would write his rhyme. He would record, and we went back and forth in the booth without seeing each other record until we did the very last thing together where I kind of come together with him a little bit, you know, with the, “Veni, vidi, vici, stomping ’em, makin’ ’em bonkers.” There’s one line where I came in the room and we kind of worked out the last part.
LL Cool J on Learning to Rap Again for ‘THE FORCE’
Jay (Audience Member): My name is Show Rocker. I’m from New Haven, Connecticut, and I’m a professor of lyricism at Pendulum Inc., so I’m curious as to how you maintain such high levels of lyricism in the era where people just focus on vibes.
LL Cool J: So, yeah. What I did was, when I decided to make the record, is I said, “You know what? I want to learn how to rap again.” You know what I’m saying? I think that, you know, I would watch guys like Kobe and Michael Jordan, and you would hear stories about how people would go and shoot, you know, 50,000 free throws before a playoff game and how they would put that extra work in, so, you know, I felt like in hip-hop especially because look. The elephant in the room, let’s give the elephant in the room some peanuts. Most of the time, the thing that you always hear, like if I tell somebody got an album coming out, the first thing they want to know is if he can still rap. It just pops in people’s minds because we’re used to people’s skills diminishing, or them not being able to be ahead of the curve in terms of their creative execution. You know what I’m saying? So, I ain’t want that problem B. You know what I’m saying? So, I was like, “Let me refocus and let me really, you know, read some literature, you know, get into some studies and really get into some things that’s going to make it fun for me,” you know, ’cause I love rhyming. You know what I’m saying? I like lyrics and I wanted to make sure that these lyrics on this song, this album, was just as surprising as, you know, the joints used to be back in the days ’cause our minds have to, we gotta keep evolving. You know what I’m saying? So, if you’ve evolved this far, if my day ones have evolved a certain, and I’m still stuck in fucking, you know, ’94 with a pin joint, you know, it’s gonna be nuts, so that was the thing. So, it was really about learning how to rap again and really focusing on that and being confident in doing that. You know what I’m saying? As opposed to just, “Yo, I got it down cold,” and just leaving it there.
LL COOL J’s ‘THE FORCE’ album is also available now to give a listen via…
SoundCloud:
Audiomack:
LL COOL J’s ‘THE FORCE’ album is also available now to stream and cop on all major digital streaming platforms