[Music] foreign
s do love him but rapper songwriter record producer and actor LL Cool J's road to success
was a rather bumpy one full of trauma drama and addiction James Todd Smith known professionally
as LL Cool J short for ladies love cool James was born in Bayshore New York his parents were
divorced when LL was very young and he would then be raised by his mother and queens and her
parents in Long Island by 10 he began rapping his family nurtured his talent by supporting
him any way they could his grandfather bought him two thousand dollars worth of equipment
including turntables and audio mixer and an amplifier and his mother used her tax return
to purchase a professional drum machine that LL would use to create the demo that would change
everything at the same time LL was honing his rap skills New York University student Rick
Rubin and promoter slash manager Russell Simmons had founded the then independent
Def Jam label LL sent his demo to Rick as well as numerous other records companies throughout
New York City he told CBS News in 2017 that he would call Rick every day to inquire whether he
received the tank when Rick finally did and listened to it he knew he'd found something
special LL would drop out of high school and sign his first record deal with Def Jam recordings at
the age of 16 with the Breakthrough success of his first single I need to be followed by
his debut album radio released the following year LL became one of the early hip-hop acts
to achieve mainstream success along with Curtis blow and Run DMC he would go on to achieve further
commercial and critical success with 1987's bigger Endeavor 1989's walking with a panther
1990s Mama Said Knock You Out 1995's Mr Smith and 1997's phenomenon which all went platinum
five of his other projects also went gold the two-time Grammy Award winner dominated
the rap r b and pop charts from the mid-80s to the 2000s with endless hits such as I need
love going back to Cali Mama Said Knock You Out hey lover doing it lounging and
headspong in 2010 VH1 placed LL on their 100 greatest artists of all time list he's also
cultivated a nice little acting career for himself it almost didn't happen though for
what LL would later call a ridiculous reason he became interested in acting long before
he actually took the plunge to do it but held back because he didn't want to take his hat off
so what made him reconsider Debbie Allen the more he refused the more she pushed back until
he finally relented they then went on to Star together in the 90s sitcom in the house that ran
for five seasons in addition to in the house LL is also secured another long-standing role in NCIS
Los Angeles which is currently airing their 14th season his performance on the show has garnered
him four NAACP image Awards he's not a bad host either holding down gigs for the Grammy Awards and
musical reality competition series lip sync battle ll's tackled the big screen as well appearing in
dozens of films including Halloween H2O deep blue sea Any Given Sunday Deliver Us from Evo and last
holiday he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016 for his achievement in music in
2017 LL became the first rapper ever to be chosen for the Kennedy Center Honors America's highest
achievement for any performer fellow peers Queen Latifah Quest love and Busta Rhymes were all in
attendance to honor the Queen's rap Legend after six nominations LL Cool J was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with an award for musical excellence in 2021 Behind the Music
though ll's dealt with his fair share of negative life experiences and battled many personal demons
one of the darkest places he found himself in as a child was dealing with the aftermath
of a near fatal domestic violence incident out of frustrations over the couple's divorce ll's father
shot his mother in the back and ll's grandfather in the stomach LL was only four years old at the
time but he remembers the moment vividly and recounts it in his Memoir I make my own rules
in the kitchen there was blood everywhere it was splattered on the refrigerator on the floor on the
walls deep dark red all over the place there were bullet holes in the wall and in the refrigerator
mercifully both survived the brutal attack that violent episode sadly wouldn't be the the last LL
would experience during his formative years his mother's next relationship would be with a man
named Roscoe whom LL describes as a drug addict according to LL Roscoe took every opportunity to
beat him whenever he had the chance Roscoe beat me for just about anything he would beat me for
watching television for looking at him funny for looking out the window watching other kids play
he didn't need a good reason it was just a Power Trip eventually ll's mother ended the relationship
but after all of the trauma LL suffered it was too little too late the abuse turned him into a
schoolyard bully who toted knives and guns shortly after the publication of ll's memoir a man named
Gaston Roscoe Granger told the Daily Press that he was the man LL referred to in his book while he
admitted to smoking Mary Jane reportedly never in front of LL he denied all other wrongdoing later
on ll's father did come back into his son's life and helped him out in the early stages
of his budding rap career in the official role of manager unfortunately that new relationship also
turned sour when he mismanaged ll's funds causing him to end up owing two million dollars to the IRS
as a result LL fired him and hired a new manager the two seemed to rebuild their relationship once
more until the end of ll's Father's life in 2012 when LL told the world his dad had died on Twitter
and thanked him for the lessons he taught LL that would continue to live on in his heart a good side
effect of ll's experience with his dad was the fact that it made him take a closer look at the
other people around him including his friend and co-manager Brian letourne according to LL Brian
had been doing numerous things that rubbed LL the wrong way but the real breaking point was
when LL told him to give his other manager Cornell Clark some money to lessen the pain
he was suffering in while dying of AIDS it wasn't until after Cornell's death that LL realized Brian
never followed his instructions eventually they parted ways on a more positive note the success
LL experienced with his first song I Need a Beat allowed him to comfortably pay his bills as well
as purchase an 80 000 Porsche Plus us half a dozen other cars and nearly as many houses in the early
90s LL was on top of the world professionally that is his personal life however was in shambles he
was participating in outrageous raunchy Liaisons with groupies and obsessed with XXX content
mixed in the rotation of women which included kadata Jones daughter of producer Quincy Jones
from 1992 to 1994 was his on-again off-again girlfriend of many years Simone one year into
their relationship Simone became pregnant with their first child not quite ready for fatherhood
LL dipped only to come back long enough for them to produce a second child their roller
coaster relationship would continue for years until the two finally married in 1995 coupled
with his addiction to women LL also got caught up with drugs he told MTV in 2002 I smoked angel
dust I smoked Coke I did a lot of things and the only reason that I'm able to stand here right
now is because I stopped doing it I'm feeling really great about that that makes me feel good
on a 2016 episode of PBS's Finding Your Roots LL learned that his mother was adopted meaning the
grandparents who raised him were not his blood relatives while this did come as a surprise to
LL he said it didn't change how he viewed the family that raised him today LL Cool J and his
wife Simone have been married for more than 25 years and they share four children in 2004 she
was diagnosed with stage 3 chondrosarcoma a rare bone cancer after a 15-hour surgery on
her right leg and a two-year recovery process where LL was by her side the entire time Simone
was able to beat the disease and has been cancer-free ever since as for the reason
behind their lasting Union Simone told Oprah putting God first we both come from a spiritual
background and compromise a lot of compromise picking your battles respecting each other
thank you