LL COOL JAY: DOCUMENTARY - LADY'S LOVE JAMES TODD SMITH:

James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James),[3] is an American rapper and actor.[4] He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip hop acts Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. Signed to Def Jam Recordings in 1984, LL Cool J's breakthrough came with his single "I Need a Beat" and his landmark debut album, Radio (1985). He achieved further commercial and critical success with the albums Bigger and Deffer (1987), Walking with a Panther (1989), Mama Said Knock You Out (1990), Mr. Smith (1995), and Phenomenon (1997). His twelfth album, Exit 13 (2008), was his last in his long-tenured deal with Def Jam. He later re-signed with the label and released his fourteenth album, The FORCE (2024). LL Cool J has appeared in numerous films, including Halloween H20, In Too Deep, Any Given Sunday, Deep Blue Sea, S.W.A.T., Mindhunters, Last Holiday, and Edison. He played NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna in the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Hawaiʻi. LL Cool J was also the host of Lip Sync Battle on Paramount Network.[5][6] A two-time Grammy Award winner, LL Cool J is known for hip hop songs such as "Going Back to Cali", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", "Rock the Bells", and "Mama Said Knock You Out", as well as R&B hits such as "Doin' It", "I Need Love", "Around the Way Girl" and "Hey Lover". In 2010, VH1 placed him on their "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time" list.[7] In 2017, LL Cool J became the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors.[8] In 2021, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category.[9] Early life and family James Todd Smith was born on January 14, 1968, in Bay Shore, on Long Island, New York to Ondrea Griffith (born January 19, 1946) and James Louis Smith Jr,[10] also known as James Nunya.[11][12][13] His grandfather, who adopted Smith's mother, is of Barbadian descent.[14] His 1997 memoir says his father abused his mother.[15] According to the Chicago Tribune, "[As] a kid growing up middle class and Catholic in Queens, life for Smith was heart-breaking. His father shot his mother and grandfather, nearly killing them both. When 4-year-old Smith found them, blood was everywhere."[16] In 1972, Smith and his mother moved into his grandparents' home in St. Albans, Queens, where he was raised.[17][18] He suffered physical and mental abuse from his mother's ex-boyfriend Roscoe.[16] Smith began rapping at the age of 10, influenced by the hip-hop group The Treacherous Three. In 1984, sixteen-year-old Smith was creating demo tapes in his grandparents' home.[19] His grandfather, a jazz saxophonist, bought him $2,000 worth of equipment, including two turntables, an audio mixer and an amplifier.[20] During this time, Smith reconciled with his father who "made amends for a lot of things" by offering him guidance at the start of his music career.[16][12][21] His mother was also supportive of his musical endeavors, using her tax refund to buy him a Korg drum machine.[22] Smith has stated that by the time he received musical equipment from his relatives, he "was already a rapper. In this neighborhood, the kids grow up in rap. It's like speaking Spanish if you grow up in an all-Spanish house."[20] This was at the same time that NYU student Rick Rubin and promoter-manager Russell Simmons founded the then-independent Def Jam label. By using the mixer he had received from his grandfather, Smith produced and mixed his own demos and sent them to various record companies throughout New York City, including Def Jam.[20] 1985–1987: Radio Radio was released to critical acclaim, both for production innovation and LL's powerful rap.[27] Released November 18, 1985, on Def Jam Recordings in the United States,[28] Radio earned a significant amount of commercial success and sales for a hip hop record at the time. Shortly after its release, the album sold over 500,000 copies in its first five months, eventually selling over 1 million copies by 1988, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.[29][30] Radio peaked at number 6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and at number 46 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.[31] It entered the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart on December 28, 1985, and remained there for 47 weeks, while also entering the Pop Albums chart on January 11, 1986,[31] remaining on that chart for thirty-eight weeks.[31] By 1989, the album had earned platinum status from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with sales exceeding one million copies; it had previously earned a gold certification in the United States on April 14, 1986.[30] "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells" were singles that helped the album go platinum. It eventually reached 1,500,000 copies sold in the U.S.[32]