06/08/2026
Black Music 🎶 Month Artist ...
James Todd Smith, known professionally as LL Cool J,(1968 - present) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. With the breakthrough success of his single "I Need a Beat" and the Radio LP, LL Cool J became distinguished by hard, fast,sinuous rhymes and artfully arrogant phrasing, his first single, “I Need a Beat,” sold more than 100,000 copies. His first album, Radio, was released in 1985, the year he appeared in Krush Groove, the movie celebrating Def Jam’s origins. Thereafter he outlasted most of his competition by constantly creating daring, fresh modes of expression—gaining airplay with rap’s first romantic ballad, “I Need Love” (1987), and prefiguring West Coast rap with “Goin’ Back to Cali” (1988), recorded in California. Criticized by some for his crossover success, LL responded by teaming with producer Marley Marl for the musically and thematically innovative album Mama Said Knock You Out (1990), which included several hits, including the title track and “Around the Way Girl.”
He was an early hip hop act to achieve mainstream success along with Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC.
Johns CJ
