50 Cent Helps LL Cool J Recover From ‘Weak’ Album
“This record, I’m just pulling out my sword, dipping it in some melted vinyl, pulling it out and cutting everything in sight. Crazy!”
With talk like that, LL Cool J will have to deliver one of the most magnificent records of his career when Exit 13 finally drops next year.
“It’s an incredible feeling” said Cool J, who proclaims this is the best album he’s done in almost a decade. “And you know what? I have to give 50 props for that. If a guy calls you on the phone and says, ‘You know what? Your last record was kinda slow and this was a little weak.’ It was like, ‘Yo, I just thought the record was slow, man, don’t mess my LL up.’ It’s great. One of the most important things in making records, you can’t think you know everything in music. I’m humble. I’m confident, but I’m humble.
“I don’t mind having a conversation with a guy who seems to have his finger on the pulse and having a conversation with him and talking with him and seeing if he can push me a little bit and get my mojo back,” he added. “I didn’t feel I fell off, but I felt I was a little bit out of touch with the things I should be thinking about. I needed to get a little more focused and close to my people and closer to the street.
“It’s more honest,” he continued. “We haven’t worked together for months now, but [50] helped me set the fun. I got loose, I’ve been really just in the lab, but he helped me set the tone. I had fun getting loose again. It was competitive, ’cause we made records together, records that may or may not make the album. All types of hidden records. He pushed me. Now my vertical is back and I can dunk on all of them. I’mma dunk on them so crazy.”
Mixtape Monday heard some of the records recently. There’s “Champion,” which he boastfully describes as being “the apex of eroticism.” He says the title is like “putting the pedal to the metal and escaping the nonsense and drama and going 100 miles an hour on the highway at night looking at the white lines as they blend together. It’s vicious.” On “Rock the Pole” he’s being taken to the brink by a dancer.
“New York Gangsters” is the first song leaked off the LP. L plans to shoot a video for it soon. In it, he speaks about his aspirations as a shorty to be a drug dealer, but being swayed in a different direction.
“I never chose to talk about that because it just didn’t strike me as something to talk about,” he explained. “To be honest with you, the guys I grew up with in that life, we’re quiet. Maybe they got caught and got famous later, but when it came to being around that type of society, it wasn’t something to talk about. … Now it’s a way to flip it and say, ‘Yes, I hung out with them, and yes, I even wanted to be involved,’ but ultimately my man went to jail, and him going to jail allowed me to continue to pursue my music more relentlessly and make a decision to really focus on my music and career. It is possible to make a decision to not be in the life of dope pushin’. You can escape that life, take the same energy they use and apply it to something positive. This record is a great reminder of that fact.
“Me, personally, I get sick of all the elitist stuff that goes on,” he continued of the album’s subject matter. “For me, although I’ve done it from time to time, I think we’re getting to the place where [some rappers feel] if I don’t say I’m better than you or richer than you then I’m not supposed to say nothing. I don’t think I have to look down on all my hip-hop fans. I would never see Mick Jagger onstage talking about, ‘I’m fabulously wealthy. More money, immediately.’ I think it’s time to connect with people on a more realistic level. People are blue-collar. Everybody is not rich. People get tired of you telling them you’re better than them. Overall, it’s too much now. Enough with the frontin’ and flossing — just make a hot record.” …
