LL Cool J ( Ladies Love Cool James )

LL Cool J 70's Music Performer



- Releasing his first single "I Can't Live Without My Radio" in 1985 when he was just 17 years old.

- LL Cool J (given name: James T. Smith) was probably the best looking of the early/mid 80s rappers, and he's exploited his sex appeal to the max (his stage name stands for "Ladies Love Cool James"). But there's a lot more to LL than that; he's got an incredible voice that moves from a powerful roar to a gentle bedside croon - he has more emotional range than any other rapper I've heard, when he chooses to use it. Unfortunately, most of his later albums have been recorded on auto-pilot, so tread carefully. (DBW)

- LL Cool J initially was a hard-hitting, street-wise B-Boy with spare beats and ballistic rhymes.

- Upon his album release, Radio received generally positive reviews and praise from "street and dance music" aficionados and mainstream music critics, including Robert Christgau of the Village Voice who described it in a January 1986 article as "the most engaging and original rap album of the year".


- With the breakthrough success of his hit single "I Need Beat" and the Radio LP, LL Cool J became one of the first hip-hop acts to achieve mainstream success along with Kurtis Blow and Run D.M.C..


- James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968 in Queens, New York), better known as LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James), is a Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor signed to Def Jam. He has released twelve studio albums over his 27 year career, has starred in numerous feature films and currently plays Agent Sam Hanna on the hit show NCIS: Los Angeles.


- Born in Bay Shore, New York, and raised between St. Albans, New York and Hollis, New York in the borough of Queens. The only child of Ondrea (née Griffith) and James Smith, Jr. Smith is of both African American and Native American descent. He spent his youth singing in the church choir, participating in the Boy Scouts and delivering newspapers.

 - Def Jam released his first record, the 12” single “I Need a Beat” in 1983. The single sold over 100,000 copies. The success of “I Need a Beat” helped lead to a distribution deal with Def Jam and Columbia Records in 1985. Soon after, he dropped out of Andrew Jackson High School to record his debut album.