LL Cool J is putting everyone on notice to not expect his next album to have the pop stylings of today’s commercial Hip-Hop.
With 25 years in the music industry and 12 studio albums under his belt, LL Cool J has lived through numerous trends in Hip-Hop culture. He admits that while working on his latest project, he attempted to style his sound to appeal to current radio sensibilities. However, LL found the pop experimentation ultimately unsatisfying and is now taking his time to come up with something creative and unique for his fans.
“I’m not gonna do some sort of repurposed, reprocessed, cookie-cutter, manufactured, pop mash-up nonsense,” LL declared to the UK’s Metro. “That’s why it’s taking so long, because I just can’t do that. The few times I’ve dipped my toe in that kind of murk, I just didn’t like it.”
LL Cool J’s use of the word “murk” is an apt description of how he views the creativity of today’s mainstream Hip-Hop. Instead of a vast palate of production, lyricism and content, LL Cool J sees artists celebrating conformity over artistic daring and progression. The result is a music that was once cutting edge, has now become uninspired.
“I’m not interested in just trying to fit in,” he affirmed. “When you listen to the radio I mean God, man, it sounds like everybody’s just trying to sound as close to the last thing that came out as they can because it’s safe – it gets really boring.”
At press time, LL Cool J does not have a name or tentative release date for the new album. Earlier this week, the accomplished emcee celebrated his second consecutive nomination for induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.
******************************************************************
So does this means the Ripper is set to make a return? You know its bad when LL is disgusted by what he’s hearing on the radio. For the majority of his career, Cool J has been successful in adapting his sound to the accessible radio stylings of the day, while balancing harder tracks to show his lyrical chops. So for him to not even want to be bothered with doing what passes as mainstream Hip-Hop these days says a lot.
On the good side, that means no auto-tuned-laced LL Cool J love songs, which is a blessing for everyone’s ears. With LL’s longevity, there of course have been some questionable moves and duds littered across the resume. But even in the 21st century, when LL is on, he is ON. Don’t be surprised if Cool J delivers some heat on the next project.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 