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Queens rapper LL Cool J (AKA James Smith, AKA Ladies Love Cool James) has had one of the most successful long-term careers in hip hop, but don't call it a come back! LL Cool J's been around since rap's golden years, signing up with Def Jam after Rick Rubin and the Beastie Boys Ad Rock checked out his demo. Young James used rap music as an escape from a home life of intense domestic violence. His father was abusive to him and his mother, eventually gunning down her and LL's grandfather one night. They survived, but his mother's next boyfriend was almost as bad, beating LL for no reason. LL Cool J has frequently said that he began wearing his trademark hats compulsively as a way to hide. Fortunately, his grandparents and mother were musical and LL took after them, recording his first track at the age of 12. In 1984 he released the underground hit "I Need A Beat," and its pop-formatted verse/chorus structure took the rap world by storm. On the strength of the track, LL Cool J recorded his groundbreaking debut Radio. The hits "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells" took the album platinum, and LL's muscles and signature tongue flip didn't hurt his chances of living up to his name with the ladies. In 1987 he cut Bigger and Deffer and the first rap ballad, "I Need Love," one of the first rap tracks not obsessed with bragging and partying. The sensitive MTV video drove fans crazy but exposed him to ridicule from underground hip hop heads over "going pop." To answer the critics, LL dropped Mama Said Knock You Out, full of socially critical lyrics and party beats. His 1996 album Mr. Smith was a commercial hit with the MTV singles "Loungin'" and " Doin' It." LL Cool J's most recent album, Todd Smith, saw him collaborating with an A-list of hip hop players including Ginuwine, 112, Jermaine Durpi and Jennifer Lopez.

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