April 28, 2023 • 30 mins
LL Cool J stopped by the Cruz Show to talk about his new Tour & Music + he spoke some fire Spanish with the Cruz crew & talked about being self confident, working with Q-Tip on his new album & more. LL also told the Cruz Show about touring in the Def Jam Days & Rentign 2 panthers
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
What's good, it's a lot ofit's good. That's been Staples. What
up? It's must and you checkingout the Cruise Show podcast? Make sure
to subscribe right and ship. Thisis so my norm now it's real foul
a slick every other sentences. Youmake me sity, make me sity,
(00:22):
make the six. My name isEll. You feel so good. Nothing
in the world represent she was raised. My name is Hell. Hell.
They called meloj as hard as don'tdon't call it a cup back. Yo,
(00:50):
it's safe to say ll Coulj's ona cruise show. What up?
What up? Cruising? Baby?It would be crazy. I would have
had another artist's name, right,it would have definitely been different. Cool
Jay, the man, the myth, the legend is here. Man,
how are you do? Excellent?Man? Cat you man, You've been
excellent all my life. Thank you, man. I appreciate the cat.
(01:10):
You dog. Seriously, how doyou? How do you look like this?
Still? I mean, you know, what is it? Give it
to me? Pause? It's Melanie. Oh it's Melanie, baby, just
a little Melanie, you know whatI mean? But I just yeah,
that's it, yeah, yeah,yeah it is. I appreciate you.
You're loved by the right woman.That helps. That helps, That helps,
(01:30):
That helps. But you you know, you can be loved by the
right woman. To eat too muchfried chicken and you know in twinkies,
you know, like I just know, Nah, I don't, I don't.
I don't believe that. I don'tbelieve that. I don't believe that.
I just try to be the bestI could be. You know what
I'm saying. I feel like,you know, you know, just just
work out minimum four times a week, you know what I'm saying, try
(01:51):
to You know, I don't likestove myself, but I try to eat
decent and then on the weekends Ieat what I want and just kind of
keep it simple, you know whatI mean? Right, that's right.
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with tellinganother man how handsome he is. I
don't think there is, you know. I mean, you know it's up
to you. I mean, Idon't choose to do that on a daily
basis, you know what I mean. But I don't. I'm not.
Yeah, I'm not. I'm justnot gonna make me uncomfortable. But I
(02:13):
choose to do it, you knowwhat I mean? Yo, speaking a
beautiful man. Shout out the DJFuse who produced that intro. Here was
that was dope, man, Thankyou, thank you for that. Man.
That was crazy. That was dope. That was a dope intro.
Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah,if you want it, it's five hundred
dollars. I pay it, Ipay it, Cruise checks in the mail.
Baby I got don't worry about it. He's got you got you there,
(02:34):
he's five hundred, been making moneyforever. Do got it. Let's
go, man. So we're ontour, We're doing a thing. We're
on stage, man, We're doingwhat we love and we were born to
do. Yeah, that's what it'sall about. TV movies. That's fine,
right, that's great. But thatstage, that's what really mattered one
hundred percent because that's you know whereyou know, hip hop started. It
started as a live experience. Youknow what I'm saying. It started in
(02:55):
the parks, it started, youknow. And the thing is what I
want to do is I just wantto give people an opportunity to see it
served on a silver platter and witha high level of execution and a NonStop
performance where you know, you know, myself, the Roots and all the
other artists that we're gonna bring allthese incredible special guests that we're gonna bring
out. When once you walk intobuilding, when we start, it keeps
(03:16):
going. So it's kind of likewhat we did on the Grammys in terms
of the energy and the approach,you know, that's what inspired it.
And so it's like, you knowwhat, I feel like, this generation,
the day one fans and the peoplewho grew up on it and the
people who are a little younger,we owe it to them to give them
this experience and give them an opportunityto experience, you know, hip hop
(03:38):
like this, you know, andI think that you know, I would
be it would be wrong of menot to deny people an opportunity to see
this, especially in the fiftieth yearof hip hop, you know. So
it's like these fans, they deserveit. I think there's so many fans
that are curious that want to seesome who are familiar, some who aren't.
You have people who you know,grew up watching me whole shows,
They saw me doing TV stuff.They know me as maybe a celebrity,
(04:00):
but not as familiar with my musicand what I do on stage, And
like, this is an opportunity forme and other artists to give them that
experience that they've never had. Andso you know that to me is is
the is a creative responsibility that Iwant to take on and just give people
something special. Brother, No man, nobody does it better than that.
I'm telling thank you, thank you. Live It's crazy. The energy is
(04:24):
out of here. When you sayhip hop and started in the parks,
were Latinos there telling me? Ofcourse you had so many you had Prince
whip a whip you know from theum you know the uh Ruby D want
Ruby d rather you had? Um? Uh, I mean Charlie Chase you
had, you know, crazy legs. I mean so many, so many
different acts, so many artists.You know, when hip hop first starting
(04:45):
in the bronx man, I mean, Latinos and blacks together created the whole
thing. You know what I'm saying, um, And that's you can't really
change that. You know what I'msaying. Um? You know do yeah?
Yeah, yeah, okay. Whenwhen I got you know, third
block on me and Espio is noproblem part of me, No, no,
(05:08):
no, no, no no nono pquitostante. You know. Yeah,
last week I moved in and Ijust wanted to communicate. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, people people wanted to communicate, you
know, a little vibe. Yeah, absolutely, that was good everywhere.
(05:28):
Yeah, no question. Now,you know you mentioned doing shows and and
and and people knowing you from thatas well. When that dude broke into
your house, did he know thatit was J's house? He found out
real? No, no, no, no, no, no, he
didn't know. He didn't know.It was a random you know, that
area that I was living in atthe time, there were a lot of
older people there, a lot ofretirees, a lot of people who had
(05:51):
kind of settled into a different typeof life. And he, you know,
he didn't expect but when he sawyou, was he like he might
get a selfie? Not quite,you know, no, I think he.
I think he would have preferred toleave, you know what I mean,
like without a picture. Well,we got into it. We had
to because you know, I mean, look like I like, I like
(06:11):
I told my man a little whileago, like I'm a good guy.
I'm not a nice guy, youknow what I'm saying. There's a difference,
and so you know, being agood guy is fine. Nice guy
you just gonna get walked all overus, you know what I mean.
So it's different. So so inthat in that particular instance, you know,
it was you know, important thatI, you know, show him
why he shouldn't be in my homeat two in the morning uninvited. Yea,
(06:34):
it was very important that I expressedthat to him. I'm gonna say
it for you to him, noquestion, no question. I whooped his
motherfucking ass. Yeah yeah, noquestion. Yeah, yeah, you could
guarantee you you know, God blesshim me, you know what I mean,
Yeah, no question, no questionis here. You know, we
(06:55):
lost the legend man, Jerry Springeris no longer with her. Oh yeah,
I saw that. I saw that, right, Yeah, yeah,
he um. You know, ina lot of ways, he brought a
lot of joy to a lot ofpeople, you know, back when his
show was like on it on theair, you know, and he brought
a lot he was like he waslike viral and social before you know,
the Internet in a lot of ways. But like screaming j Janry, Janry,
(07:17):
Jerry, So resting power to Jerry, Springing for Sure. Seventy nine
L COUJ The Tour The Force Frequenciesof Real Creative Energy, headlined by L
COUJ, featuring the legendary roots crew, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Z Trip,
It's a it's a night of it'sgonna be wild, and it's gonna
be some other special guests as well. You know what I'm saying, You
(07:39):
have ice, you have you know, it'll be a lot of people.
You know what I'm saying. Yeah, I'll bringing out Jack your mirrors that.
Yeah, she's gonna come do herthing. You know what I mean.
Yeah, you're thinking something, you'rethinking something. Can always figure it
out. Women figure it out.Man. This is these an actual Well,
I'm clear about that as well,clear about that as well, clear
(08:01):
about that as well, very clearabout that. When someone like Eminem says
that you inspired him to wrap andlike other people tell me like you know
you inspired me, how does thatmake you feel? It feels me.
It makes me feel incredibly blessed andgrateful, you know what I'm saying.
And inspired. You know, anytimeyou could be you know, source material
or the inspiration behind another artist andwhy they do what they do. That's
(08:24):
an amazing position of being and it'sa blessing because everything they do is in
turn and extension in a in away of who you are and what you
brought to the game. So there'sso many artists out there that have said
things like that, and I alwaystruly respect them and I'm thankful. It's
dope, It's crazy. Yeah,man, you love you deserve, you
(08:45):
get the love and respect you deserve. Absolutely, Yeah, you feel absolutely
you have to because the love andrespect that you deserve has to start with
you, you know what I'm saying. It's not about you know, walking
into a room feeling like are youguys or am I being loved and respected
in this room? It's about howdo you feel about you? Because when
you feel a certain when you giveyourself the love and respect that you deserve,
(09:07):
you're gonna put yourself and you're onlygonna be in positions where you feel
like you're receiving that type of love, you know what I mean, in
that respect, or else you willremove yourself from those environments, you know
what I mean. So all ofthose questions, it's about what's going on
on the inside. It's not aboutthe external, you know, like what
others are saying, it's like,how do you feel about you? You
(09:28):
unders I'm saying, because you eitherchange, you change how you feel about
the environment, or you remove yourselffrom it. Yeah. Yeah, you
have to have the balls to removeyourself from it, no question. And
that's okay, that's right. Courageis very is a key because courage gives
you the ability to make decisions,you know what I'm saying, and live
(09:48):
with the consequences of those decisions.You know what I'm saying. You have
to have that a bit. Soyeah, courage is righty, confidence you
see it, you feel it nowthat I'm seeing you, I can feel
it as well. Did you everhave insecure moments? Come from an insecure
place as a child? Of course, like we all go through it because
of your dad or your mom orI think it's there are many reasons,
you know what I'm saying. Ultimately, though, we have to grow up,
(10:11):
you know what I'm saying, andyou gotta find out who you are.
You gotta stop, You gotta beself aware, and you gotta like
take responsibility, you know what I'msaying. If you grab a hot fine
pran, it's you know, um, you know, you grab the hot
frying pan, Like whether somebody leftthe stove on or not, you chose
to grab it. You could havegrabbed the handle, but you touched the
(10:31):
pan, Like, so in lifeyou gotta just kind of own that.
That's not always easy and it's notalways fun. And I'm not saying that
we want to go out there andyou know, have to own a bunch
of mistakes because hopefully we don't makethem. But I'm just saying being like
being accountable, like knowing who youare and taking responsibility for who you are.
That's where it starts. So it'snot about pointing fingers in life,
(10:52):
you know what I mean, Becausethen you can when you when you decide
to own yourself in own situations,then you can make real decisions. Then
you can really take it to thenext level because you know that ultimately you
are responsible for what goals on andthen you're gonna put the people around you
that assisting you're achieving that vision orthat goal or that strategic objective so to
(11:13):
speak. You feel me, yeah, yeah, at what age did you
feel that you feel you felt fullyconfident in yourself? Well, I've always
felt confident, you know. Thequestion was more about like, yeah,
the question was more about like vulnerabilityand all that. Like, of course
there are moments, but I've always, for the most part, felt confident
(11:35):
because that's how I was raised,you know, to believe in myself.
You know, my mother would tellme you could do anything you put your
mind to. You know what I'msaying, And I believe that and so
but that getting roasted by your momof course. Of course, of course
she would saying, you know,Todd, close your mouth, flies are
gonna go in there. You knowwhat I'm saying that, Yeah, yeah,
(11:56):
exactly, Yeah, of course ofcourse snap on me, crazy crazy
crazy, But you know that comesand that's the other thing too, And
that's what like, we can't takeourselves too seriously, you know what I'm
saying, Like you could take yourwork, your craft. Yeah, you
gotta be you know, be youknow, just relaxed, right, like,
yeah, you know what I meanfor sure? Man. Yo.
(12:20):
Yesterday Garcia was at the title ofthe creator show Right. He had a
pop up show, Right City cameout. It was crazy, and he
brought you up Okay. Started hestarted talking about what happened. He was,
He did one of his slower songsright right, and he equated himself
to you Okay to the crowd,which was pretty dope. By actually having
the audio okay recording it. Youknow, I think that the creator Todd
(12:56):
to create them, Todd to createit, Todd to create it. I'm
tired to create a baby. Yeah, the creator. Yeah, I have
ideas, I have things I wantto accomplish. Pause Tied Todd to create.
Yo. I like Tyler Man.Tyler's my man. All much love
to Tyler. You know what I'msaying, shout out, Yeah, yeah,
(13:16):
that's question, no question. Assomeone who's just who's just killing it
right now, definitely know and it'sjust saluting the greats. Yo. I
think it's beautiful man. I loveit man, and and I think,
um, it's guys like that whenI say that, you know, like
this, this tour and everything thatwe're doing that I owe to the culture.
It's moments like that. It's whatI'm talking about, because you know,
(13:41):
our artists like that deserves to beable to come see an LL cool
J show with all of these differentacts that we get this incredible lineup that
we're putting together and enjoy themselves.So that's why this is even that much
more important. I don't I believeit would be unfair of me, especially
with us celebrating the fiftieth DEA ofhip hop for me to stay away from
the game and not give people thisexperience. I mean, the Stones go
(14:01):
out, they give people an experience. The YouTube gives people an experience that
Bruce Springsteen gives people an experience,you know. So I think that as
as hip hop artists, we haveto remember our fans. And sometimes we
get so comfortable that we forget togo on the road and we forget that
they want a new record, andwe forget because all we think about is,
(14:22):
Okay, you're not fifteen, somaybe you shouldn't make a record or
you're not fifteen, but you forget, like, they want to hear you,
they love you, they want yourmusic, they want to see your
show, they want to go toa concert, they want to be there.
They want to know that you care. And so that's why I'm doing
what I'm doing this year, andwhy I'm like doing this tom while I'm
coming out with a new album thisyear, and why I'm doing all these
(14:43):
things because of that, because ofthe fans. Yeah, now you had
one album ready to go and thenyou scrapped it. Yeah, I had
I had done you you publicly saidI thought it was good enough. But
I feel that it isn't now,so I'm moving on. Oh no,
that was you talk my No,Actually that was a joke I did on
on on i G where I said, yeah, I said, I said,
(15:05):
yeah, yeah, I know,yeah, yeah that was good.
Yeah yeah, yeah, that's becauseyou didn't keep watching the post to the
end. Clicked off. Yeah youclicked off? Yea, you clicked off.
You gotta watch that to the end. What I actually said was what
I actually said is, you know, I've decided that I'm not putting the
record out, um because it's toofucking good. That was the reason.
(15:30):
And that was what I said.And um, I was playing and having
fun with it. But q Tipexecutive produced the album and um, the
whole entire record with me, anduh, I think it's real special.
So that'll be coming out this yearas well. Yeah, oh yeah,
it's it's it's that sounds like it'sI think it's amazing, you know what
I'm saying. I think what hedid, what we do. Oh man,
(15:50):
it's new. It's new. It'snot recapturing anything old and it's not
chasing anything new. It's a Imean, it's in terms of what's out
there now, it's a new thing, because look, when James Cameron does
a movie, when he does anavatall, when Steven Spielberg goes and does
a new film, there's a certainlevel of creativity and magic that has to
(16:10):
be involved with that. So Ilook at it like when l COOJ does
an album. There has to bea certain level of magic and creativity associated
with that, and it has tobe new in that way. It can't
just be me trying to sound likesomething that's out there, and it can't
be me trying to recapture a soundthat I did many years ago. It
has to be a new thing.And I think we've accomplished that. Wow,
you know what I'm saying. Can'twait for it, man, Yeah,
(16:33):
shoot it to me early. That'dbe amazing. That would be amazing
thing for him. Take it fromsaying right now. September three, what's
up, Jackie? What was thefastest song that you've ever written? Oh?
So many? I mean so many? Oh yeah, so many.
(16:57):
That depends on the song and theinspiration. Like I wrote doing it super
quick, I wrote I wrote up, I need Love very fast. I
wrote UM, I I wrote I'mbad you know, driving in a car,
I wrote, UM, just rememberedit. I wrote so many songs
so quick, A lot of them, A lot of them. Yeah,
there's a few albums of student songson my new album that The Power of
(17:18):
God. I wrote really really quick, streaming Consciousness. On the Mama album
Mama Sidnock You Out, I wrotereally fast. There's a lot of them,
A lot of them. Is therelike a song on the album that,
like, you know, took time, and you know that was more
challenging because you wanted to get itright. Um, like a song like
Rock the Bells, but not becauseof the writing, more because of the
(17:38):
production and the song itself and whatit what it turned out to beat.
That was a little more challenging becauseI didn't know I had. I had
one idea for Rock the Bells,and then Rick Rubin back then, you
know, he took that, nottook, but the idea that I wanted
to do for Rock the Bells.He actually did Peter Piper with run DMC
(18:00):
and when they when when they didthe Peter Pipers on those Mardy Girl bells
is what I was originally gonna usefor Rock the Bells. So then I
had to rethink how to do Rockthe Bell. I'm like, Yo,
Rick, why you why do youuse that? I don't worry about it.
Be fun. I'm like, whatare you talking about? Rock the
bell? Don't do it like thatwas the point. Like, but I
like, I don't my man.What were we doing? Yeah? What
are you doing? But we cameup with it. I did original.
(18:22):
I didn't like that one. Thenwe did another one and it was perfect.
Yeah, So so there's been somechallenging once. To Yo, those
early Deaf Jam touring days must havebeen crazy. Run dmcl COO J Beastie
boys like Yo, and it musthave been. It was why. It
was as wild as you wanted tobe man, man, Oh yeah,
it was everything you love. Imean, if I mentioned something crazy it
was, that depends on what itis. It was, Yo, It
(18:45):
was definitely um, a lot offun, a lot of energy. That
The thing that was the most importantabout it is that we really were out
there for the love of hip hop, and out there for the love of
the fans, and really out therefor the love of the experience. There
was no um it was. Iwasn't there. I look, I wanted
to make money, don't get mewrong, but it wasn't like I was
(19:07):
doing a trade off. In otherwords, it wasn't like I was out
there and I was sacrificing for themoney. I was out there doing what
I love and then some money andsuccess followed that. So it was really
all about the fans. Ultimately,it's about the fans, man, It's
about It's about the fans, man, It's about It's about the fans,
you know what I'm saying. It'sabout the fans. Like they gotta know
(19:30):
you care. They gotta know that, you know, Like I will never
be too good for the fans.I'll never be, you know, too
good to go to a radio stationand talk to people like you know,
a lot of people wouldn't expect meto do things like this, you know
what I mean, Like they wouldsay, oh, you're doing radios Mann,
we appreciate you, like I wouldnever will like not acknowledge, you
(19:52):
know, where I came from asan artist, because that's what keeps me
in spite. When I talk toyou guys and listen to you, that
keeps me in spite. Know,that makes me in spire, That makes
me want to walk away and sayyo, okay cool. It puts things
in perspective for me energy exchange exactlyexactly, you know what I'm saying.
So you know coming up right.You got money early, and I'm sure
(20:14):
you wild out right. Did youbuy anything crazy? Did you buy a
tiger? Well, I had apanther on my cover, so I didn't
buy one, but I definitely rentedone. I rented a panther, you
know what. I actually rent ittoo. I rent it too because the
first one we was we turned onthe smoke machines and he went nuts.
Yeah, because we didn't realize theinstinct. So we talked we was gonna
(20:34):
do it with the smoke. Hesaw that smoke start jumping up in the
wall. He felt like he wasjust he thought it was a fire.
Oh yeah, panther rental car.I don't. I don't remember. Shows
you how smart I am. Probablymore. It was probably more than it
should have been. I'll tell youthat about Let me get let me get
a couple of panthers. Yeah,yeah, but no, you you splurred.
(20:56):
You gotta go definitely, Yeah,I had listen. I did go
crazy. I bought my mother's house. I stayed in my room and I
had ten cars outside. I stayedin my grandmother's house in my same room.
I had ten cars outside and boughtmy mother when I was too young
to leave. Remember, I startedprofessionally recording a sixteen. We started death
(21:17):
Gym. When we started Deaf Gam, I was sixteen years old, you
know what I'm saying. So Ihad records out seventeen eighteen nineteen. I
got ten cars outside, like Iain't want to leave home. Where I'm
going? Yeah, exactly where amI going? My love is here.
Yeah, I'm good. I'm inthe house. But I got cars,
top dressing full of money. I'mtalking crazy. You know I'm bringing You
know, I might bring a younglady downstairs, you know for some or
(21:41):
nerves and um and um. Youknow my grandmother been like I ain't now
full now and you know that.You know, I know what's happening to
I know everything. You don't getout of here with dad. So when
(22:02):
did you move out of Grandma's house? I moved out around like I bought
a house. Well, I firstI moved into a condo in Jamaica,
says I must have been about Imust have like on an all. First
of all, I was on theroad a lot. So even though I
lived there. I was on theroad a lot, right, so I'm
going home, I'm in my room, but I'm on the road a lot.
So when I finally got my spot, it's probably like nineteen twenty,
(22:22):
like like eighteen nineteen, because Ibought my mother a house when I was
seventeen. Yeah yeah, right,so so maybe about nineteen twenty, like
I had a condo, but Iwas on the road. And then when
I was like I think I waslike eight, like nineteen or something,
I bought a house for myself.Wow. A regular job, no,
No, the only not, tobe honest, all I've ever done is
hip hop. I had one.I had one little. I had like
(22:47):
a two week stint as a paperboywhen I was fourteen. Yeah, that
was it, and I you know, the guy had the guy. First
of all, it was two momentsthat happened that was crazy. First of
all, I was I was onfifty semestreet selling papers and a cab driver
drove by. He cracked his windowlike three four inches. Uh you know,
I handed it on paper and hedrove off the papers like twenty five
(23:08):
cent a quarter. I'm like,I saw laughing. I'm like, yo,
you're robbing little kids. I'm thinkingabout, say you're robbing I started
laughing. I'm out here like,yo, he's robbing little kids for newspapers.
They're like really, like really it'slike that. That to me was
like bananas. Like even as akid, I'm like, yo, he's
literally robbing little kids for newspapers.Be like that's crazy to me. Like
(23:30):
that was the first thing. Thenthe second. The second thing is the
guy who ran up the newspaper deliveryservice or whatever. He gave me an
envelope that first week or that secondweek, and they had like two dollars
and twenty six cent in it,and I opened it up and I was
like I went after he left,I was like, oh, yeah,
thank you, Dare. Yeah.I went up the block. I threw
all the papers in the sewer.I said, ye ain't doing this,
(23:51):
You're not doing it. Yeah.I couldn't remember the addresses. I was
like confused. I'm like, I'mgoing, Yo, I'm going like I'm
going two blocks up to a highI'm going four blocks across town to another
house that I'm reading the next address, it's two blocks. It's four blocks
back where I just came from.Yo, Like the way he's yeah,
yeah, I ain't got Google Match. It's nasty. It was nasty,
(24:12):
y'all. I was nasty. Iwas nasty with that. Like it was
just like I couldn't get my mindaround them addresses. He didn't hand them
to be organized. I wasn't organizingthis ship. I wasn't interested in organizing
that ship. I was listening tohip hop. So I just said,
yo, that was it. Sothat was the only thing. But no,
I never went to like you know, like I ain't going to no
(24:32):
proms. You know what I'm saying. I never I never experienced none of
that. Yeah, none of thatschool trip, none of that fields,
none, none of that. Wellwhen I maybe in in junior high,
in grade school, yeah, ingrade school. But you know he got
you know, like when we started, Jeff jam when I left, I
dropped down the ninth grade. Wow, you know what I'm saying. I
left school in the ninth grade andand you know in November, right,
(24:59):
you know, so just to beclear, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know, I did a Theyhad a we had a shop class,
and I convinced man Bimmy could convincedthem to let me do a show in
shop class, and I went anddid my song I need to Beat in
shop class and I left out theback of the school. I never came
back. And I used to drive, Yeah, and I used to during
winter break. I was out.I was out, yea. I used
(25:22):
to walk through the hallways with mytwelve inch vinyl in my hand. And
you know, people I saw usmy record. They used to tell me
I was lying and all that.Wow yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,
real with that, like do youalways carry that? I still have something
to prove you? Do you goback to that or have we healed from
Well, it's more about having somethingto contribute, you know. I'm not
really trying to what I do wantto prove. Yes, I have one
(25:45):
thing I want to prove. Iwant to prove that I want to show
people that you can have a long, impactful and dynamic hip hop career where
you you make new music at differentstages and it's impactful. That's something I
don't want to prove to people.And I believe with my new record,
I'll be able to show people that. That's something I want to show people
because why why is that important?It's important because it'll allow kids to understand
(26:10):
that as artists, they can havea long term career. You don't have
to be a flash in the pan. You don't have to start talking about
retiring, because with that, reallywhen you're really just nervous about being able
to continue to be successful, soyou start floating these ideas out about retirement.
You're not an athlete. Okay,you don't have to retire at a
certain age. You can keep going. As long as you stay curious in
(26:34):
your mind, and you stay innovative, and you stay sharp, you could
keep doing what you're doing. Andso I just want to show people that
we can do this like the sameway. Mick Jagger did this, the
same way. Michael Jackson did ithis entire life, the way the same
way so many greats did it.James Brown did it his entire life.
Barbara streisand has been doing it herentire life, Frank Frank Sinatra did it
(26:55):
his entire life. You don't haveto This idea that somehow I have to
pretend to be a kid is unfairto the kids and unfair to me because
that's not giving them an opportunity tosee the next level. My job is
to show you the next level.I'm not I'm not trying to pretend that
I'm to go to guy for youand your friends. What I'm saying is
(27:17):
check check unk out, check himout, and let me show you what
it can be. I'm here toshow you where you can go. I'm
not here to pretend that I'm yourfriend that has one album and a single
out and we're streaming and you know, we're doing the you know, you
know what I mean, the bankhad bounced from back in the days.
You know what I'm saying, Like, my job is like to show you
what's possible, and that's the reasonwhy I'm doing all of this, you
(27:38):
know what I mean. Yeah,man, you don't have to have a
shelf life. No you don't,because because it's creativity. It's art.
You know what I'm saying. It'sart, and that's right. It's art.
And as an artist and as aas a as a hip hop artist
and it you we should be ableto continue and do great work. The
key though, is that you can'tbe lazy, and you have to care
(28:02):
about the fans and you have toreally take the time and be thoughtful and
creative when you put things together forthe fans. You know what I mean,
like do that. But other thanthat, there's no reason why ll
cool J can't put out a recordthat's credible, that's impactful, that people
love and enjoy. There's no reasonfor me not to Why why why?
(28:22):
You like, you can't be afraidof the challenge of continuing to create.
And I think a lot of peopleare responding to the fear. That's why
they talk all that retirement and allthat, because they're they're afraid, you
know, and I'm not gifing serveman, serve as long as there you
go, there you go. Ifyou said it better than me, if
you have a gift serve, yeah, that's your gift serve. Well you
(28:47):
did. Yeah, let me rushand get my alm out because I know
you're gonna be You're gonna be aproblem. Yeah, yeah, you're gonna
be a problem. Yeah, letme let me rush and get this out.
I signed to clean the toilets.What I'm saying, how like important
the fans are to you? Becauseyou keep mentioning the fans, And I
feel like a lot of this likenew generation, they just kind of like,
(29:08):
well it's not as important to them. Yeah, I just I just
know because you know, first ofall I started off as as a super
fan, an ultimate fan, youknow what I'm saying. And then secondly,
like the fans, that's the partthat's the most fulfilling for me,
is to give you a new work, give you a piece of art,
(29:30):
put together a tour, put togethera show, put together a concert,
do something on TV, and yourespond like me being able to go to
the iHeart Radio Awards. And thendo you know more of an a cappella
thing for a whole bunch of forfor a majority audience, for a lot
of people who know me for otherthings other than the music. They know
me. They may recognize me hereand there, but they may not have
(29:52):
experienced certain things. It's like knowingJordan for the Sneakers, but not for
his game, you know what Imean. So so for a lot of
them, like even your listeners rightnow, someone them absolutely know me.
Others might be like it's like Jordan'sSneakers instead of knowing them for the game.
So tips as a musician though,as a hip hop artist, you
get the chance to play for them. You don't have to like sit on
(30:14):
the bench. You can actually playfor them and they can experience you.
So that's what I want to do. That's why the fans so for me.
The fans are super import Hey checkget Rich from the Cruise Show.
Thanks for listening to The Cruise Showpodcast. To make sure to subscribe and
hit auto download so you don't missan episode of So to s
What's good, it's a lot ofit's good. That's been Staples. What
up? It's must and you checkingout the Cruise Show podcast? Make sure
to subscribe right and ship. Thisis so my norm now it's real foul
a slick every other sentences. Youmake me sity, make me sity,
(00:22):
make the six. My name isEll. You feel so good. Nothing
in the world represent she was raised. My name is Hell. Hell.
They called meloj as hard as don'tdon't call it a cup back. Yo,
(00:50):
it's safe to say ll Coulj's ona cruise show. What up?
What up? Cruising? Baby?It would be crazy. I would have
had another artist's name, right,it would have definitely been different. Cool
Jay, the man, the myth, the legend is here. Man,
how are you do? Excellent?Man? Cat you man, You've been
excellent all my life. Thank you, man. I appreciate the cat.
(01:10):
You dog. Seriously, how doyou? How do you look like this?
Still? I mean, you know, what is it? Give it
to me? Pause? It's Melanie. Oh it's Melanie, baby, just
a little Melanie, you know whatI mean? But I just yeah,
that's it, yeah, yeah,yeah it is. I appreciate you.
You're loved by the right woman.That helps. That helps, That helps,
(01:30):
That helps. But you you know, you can be loved by the
right woman. To eat too muchfried chicken and you know in twinkies,
you know, like I just know, Nah, I don't, I don't.
I don't believe that. I don'tbelieve that. I don't believe that.
I just try to be the bestI could be. You know what
I'm saying. I feel like,you know, you know, just just
work out minimum four times a week, you know what I'm saying, try
(01:51):
to You know, I don't likestove myself, but I try to eat
decent and then on the weekends Ieat what I want and just kind of
keep it simple, you know whatI mean? Right, that's right.
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with tellinganother man how handsome he is. I
don't think there is, you know. I mean, you know it's up
to you. I mean, Idon't choose to do that on a daily
basis, you know what I mean. But I don't. I'm not.
Yeah, I'm not. I'm justnot gonna make me uncomfortable. But I
(02:13):
choose to do it, you knowwhat I mean? Yo, speaking a
beautiful man. Shout out the DJFuse who produced that intro. Here was
that was dope, man, Thankyou, thank you for that. Man.
That was crazy. That was dope. That was a dope intro.
Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah,if you want it, it's five hundred
dollars. I pay it, Ipay it, Cruise checks in the mail.
Baby I got don't worry about it. He's got you got you there,
(02:34):
he's five hundred, been making moneyforever. Do got it. Let's
go, man. So we're ontour, We're doing a thing. We're
on stage, man, We're doingwhat we love and we were born to
do. Yeah, that's what it'sall about. TV movies. That's fine,
right, that's great. But thatstage, that's what really mattered one
hundred percent because that's you know whereyou know, hip hop started. It
started as a live experience. Youknow what I'm saying. It started in
(02:55):
the parks, it started, youknow. And the thing is what I
want to do is I just wantto give people an opportunity to see it
served on a silver platter and witha high level of execution and a NonStop
performance where you know, you know, myself, the Roots and all the
other artists that we're gonna bring allthese incredible special guests that we're gonna bring
out. When once you walk intobuilding, when we start, it keeps
(03:16):
going. So it's kind of likewhat we did on the Grammys in terms
of the energy and the approach,you know, that's what inspired it.
And so it's like, you knowwhat, I feel like, this generation,
the day one fans and the peoplewho grew up on it and the
people who are a little younger,we owe it to them to give them
this experience and give them an opportunityto experience, you know, hip hop
(03:38):
like this, you know, andI think that you know, I would
be it would be wrong of menot to deny people an opportunity to see
this, especially in the fiftieth yearof hip hop, you know. So
it's like these fans, they deserveit. I think there's so many fans
that are curious that want to seesome who are familiar, some who aren't.
You have people who you know,grew up watching me whole shows,
They saw me doing TV stuff.They know me as maybe a celebrity,
(04:00):
but not as familiar with my musicand what I do on stage, And
like, this is an opportunity forme and other artists to give them that
experience that they've never had. Andso you know that to me is is
the is a creative responsibility that Iwant to take on and just give people
something special. Brother, No man, nobody does it better than that.
I'm telling thank you, thank you. Live It's crazy. The energy is
(04:24):
out of here. When you sayhip hop and started in the parks,
were Latinos there telling me? Ofcourse you had so many you had Prince
whip a whip you know from theum you know the uh Ruby D want
Ruby d rather you had? Um? Uh, I mean Charlie Chase you
had, you know, crazy legs. I mean so many, so many
different acts, so many artists.You know, when hip hop first starting
(04:45):
in the bronx man, I mean, Latinos and blacks together created the whole
thing. You know what I'm saying, um, And that's you can't really
change that. You know what I'msaying. Um? You know do yeah?
Yeah, yeah, okay. Whenwhen I got you know, third
block on me and Espio is noproblem part of me, No, no,
(05:08):
no, no, no no nono pquitostante. You know. Yeah,
last week I moved in and Ijust wanted to communicate. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, people people wanted to communicate, you
know, a little vibe. Yeah, absolutely, that was good everywhere.
(05:28):
Yeah, no question. Now,you know you mentioned doing shows and and
and and people knowing you from thatas well. When that dude broke into
your house, did he know thatit was J's house? He found out
real? No, no, no, no, no, no, he
didn't know. He didn't know.It was a random you know, that
area that I was living in atthe time, there were a lot of
older people there, a lot ofretirees, a lot of people who had
(05:51):
kind of settled into a different typeof life. And he, you know,
he didn't expect but when he sawyou, was he like he might
get a selfie? Not quite,you know, no, I think he.
I think he would have preferred toleave, you know what I mean,
like without a picture. Well,we got into it. We had
to because you know, I mean, look like I like, I like
(06:11):
I told my man a little whileago, like I'm a good guy.
I'm not a nice guy, youknow what I'm saying. There's a difference,
and so you know, being agood guy is fine. Nice guy
you just gonna get walked all overus, you know what I mean.
So it's different. So so inthat in that particular instance, you know,
it was you know, important thatI, you know, show him
why he shouldn't be in my homeat two in the morning uninvited. Yea,
(06:34):
it was very important that I expressedthat to him. I'm gonna say
it for you to him, noquestion, no question. I whooped his
motherfucking ass. Yeah yeah, noquestion. Yeah, yeah, you could
guarantee you you know, God blesshim me, you know what I mean,
Yeah, no question, no questionis here. You know, we
(06:55):
lost the legend man, Jerry Springeris no longer with her. Oh yeah,
I saw that. I saw that, right, Yeah, yeah,
he um. You know, ina lot of ways, he brought a
lot of joy to a lot ofpeople, you know, back when his
show was like on it on theair, you know, and he brought
a lot he was like he waslike viral and social before you know,
the Internet in a lot of ways. But like screaming j Janry, Janry,
(07:17):
Jerry, So resting power to Jerry, Springing for Sure. Seventy nine
L COUJ The Tour The Force Frequenciesof Real Creative Energy, headlined by L
COUJ, featuring the legendary roots crew, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Z Trip,
It's a it's a night of it'sgonna be wild, and it's gonna
be some other special guests as well. You know what I'm saying, You
(07:39):
have ice, you have you know, it'll be a lot of people.
You know what I'm saying. Yeah, I'll bringing out Jack your mirrors that.
Yeah, she's gonna come do herthing. You know what I mean.
Yeah, you're thinking something, you'rethinking something. Can always figure it
out. Women figure it out.Man. This is these an actual Well,
I'm clear about that as well,clear about that as well, clear
(08:01):
about that as well, very clearabout that. When someone like Eminem says
that you inspired him to wrap andlike other people tell me like you know
you inspired me, how does thatmake you feel? It feels me.
It makes me feel incredibly blessed andgrateful, you know what I'm saying.
And inspired. You know, anytimeyou could be you know, source material
or the inspiration behind another artist andwhy they do what they do. That's
(08:24):
an amazing position of being and it'sa blessing because everything they do is in
turn and extension in a in away of who you are and what you
brought to the game. So there'sso many artists out there that have said
things like that, and I alwaystruly respect them and I'm thankful. It's
dope, It's crazy. Yeah,man, you love you deserve, you
(08:45):
get the love and respect you deserve. Absolutely, Yeah, you feel absolutely
you have to because the love andrespect that you deserve has to start with
you, you know what I'm saying. It's not about you know, walking
into a room feeling like are youguys or am I being loved and respected
in this room? It's about howdo you feel about you? Because when
you feel a certain when you giveyourself the love and respect that you deserve,
(09:07):
you're gonna put yourself and you're onlygonna be in positions where you feel
like you're receiving that type of love, you know what I mean, in
that respect, or else you willremove yourself from those environments, you know
what I mean. So all ofthose questions, it's about what's going on
on the inside. It's not aboutthe external, you know, like what
others are saying, it's like,how do you feel about you? You
(09:28):
unders I'm saying, because you eitherchange, you change how you feel about
the environment, or you remove yourselffrom it. Yeah. Yeah, you
have to have the balls to removeyourself from it, no question. And
that's okay, that's right. Courageis very is a key because courage gives
you the ability to make decisions,you know what I'm saying, and live
(09:48):
with the consequences of those decisions.You know what I'm saying. You have
to have that a bit. Soyeah, courage is righty, confidence you
see it, you feel it nowthat I'm seeing you, I can feel
it as well. Did you everhave insecure moments? Come from an insecure
place as a child? Of course, like we all go through it because
of your dad or your mom orI think it's there are many reasons,
you know what I'm saying. Ultimately, though, we have to grow up,
(10:11):
you know what I'm saying, andyou gotta find out who you are.
You gotta stop, You gotta beself aware, and you gotta like
take responsibility, you know what I'msaying. If you grab a hot fine
pran, it's you know, um, you know, you grab the hot
frying pan, Like whether somebody leftthe stove on or not, you chose
to grab it. You could havegrabbed the handle, but you touched the
(10:31):
pan, Like, so in lifeyou gotta just kind of own that.
That's not always easy and it's notalways fun. And I'm not saying that
we want to go out there andyou know, have to own a bunch
of mistakes because hopefully we don't makethem. But I'm just saying being like
being accountable, like knowing who youare and taking responsibility for who you are.
That's where it starts. So it'snot about pointing fingers in life,
(10:52):
you know what I mean, Becausethen you can when you when you decide
to own yourself in own situations,then you can make real decisions. Then
you can really take it to thenext level because you know that ultimately you
are responsible for what goals on andthen you're gonna put the people around you
that assisting you're achieving that vision orthat goal or that strategic objective so to
(11:13):
speak. You feel me, yeah, yeah, at what age did you
feel that you feel you felt fullyconfident in yourself? Well, I've always
felt confident, you know. Thequestion was more about like, yeah,
the question was more about like vulnerabilityand all that. Like, of course
there are moments, but I've always, for the most part, felt confident
(11:35):
because that's how I was raised,you know, to believe in myself.
You know, my mother would tellme you could do anything you put your
mind to. You know what I'msaying, And I believe that and so
but that getting roasted by your momof course. Of course, of course
she would saying, you know,Todd, close your mouth, flies are
gonna go in there. You knowwhat I'm saying that, Yeah, yeah,
(11:56):
exactly, Yeah, of course ofcourse snap on me, crazy crazy
crazy, But you know that comesand that's the other thing too, And
that's what like, we can't takeourselves too seriously, you know what I'm
saying, Like you could take yourwork, your craft. Yeah, you
gotta be you know, be youknow, just relaxed, right, like,
yeah, you know what I meanfor sure? Man. Yo.
(12:20):
Yesterday Garcia was at the title ofthe creator show Right. He had a
pop up show, Right City cameout. It was crazy, and he
brought you up Okay. Started hestarted talking about what happened. He was,
He did one of his slower songsright right, and he equated himself
to you Okay to the crowd,which was pretty dope. By actually having
the audio okay recording it. Youknow, I think that the creator Todd
(12:56):
to create them, Todd to createit, Todd to create it. I'm
tired to create a baby. Yeah, the creator. Yeah, I have
ideas, I have things I wantto accomplish. Pause Tied Todd to create.
Yo. I like Tyler Man.Tyler's my man. All much love
to Tyler. You know what I'msaying, shout out, Yeah, yeah,
(13:16):
that's question, no question. Assomeone who's just who's just killing it
right now, definitely know and it'sjust saluting the greats. Yo. I
think it's beautiful man. I loveit man, and and I think,
um, it's guys like that whenI say that, you know, like
this, this tour and everything thatwe're doing that I owe to the culture.
It's moments like that. It's whatI'm talking about, because you know,
(13:41):
our artists like that deserves to beable to come see an LL cool
J show with all of these differentacts that we get this incredible lineup that
we're putting together and enjoy themselves.So that's why this is even that much
more important. I don't I believeit would be unfair of me, especially
with us celebrating the fiftieth DEA ofhip hop for me to stay away from
the game and not give people thisexperience. I mean, the Stones go
(14:01):
out, they give people an experience. The YouTube gives people an experience that
Bruce Springsteen gives people an experience,you know. So I think that as
as hip hop artists, we haveto remember our fans. And sometimes we
get so comfortable that we forget togo on the road and we forget that
they want a new record, andwe forget because all we think about is,
(14:22):
Okay, you're not fifteen, somaybe you shouldn't make a record or
you're not fifteen, but you forget, like, they want to hear you,
they love you, they want yourmusic, they want to see your
show, they want to go toa concert, they want to be there.
They want to know that you care. And so that's why I'm doing
what I'm doing this year, andwhy I'm like doing this tom while I'm
coming out with a new album thisyear, and why I'm doing all these
(14:43):
things because of that, because ofthe fans. Yeah, now you had
one album ready to go and thenyou scrapped it. Yeah, I had
I had done you you publicly saidI thought it was good enough. But
I feel that it isn't now,so I'm moving on. Oh no,
that was you talk my No,Actually that was a joke I did on
on on i G where I said, yeah, I said, I said,
(15:05):
yeah, yeah, I know,yeah, yeah that was good.
Yeah yeah, yeah, that's becauseyou didn't keep watching the post to the
end. Clicked off. Yeah youclicked off? Yea, you clicked off.
You gotta watch that to the end. What I actually said was what
I actually said is, you know, I've decided that I'm not putting the
record out, um because it's toofucking good. That was the reason.
(15:30):
And that was what I said.And um, I was playing and having
fun with it. But q Tipexecutive produced the album and um, the
whole entire record with me, anduh, I think it's real special.
So that'll be coming out this yearas well. Yeah, oh yeah,
it's it's it's that sounds like it'sI think it's amazing, you know what
I'm saying. I think what hedid, what we do. Oh man,
(15:50):
it's new. It's new. It'snot recapturing anything old and it's not
chasing anything new. It's a Imean, it's in terms of what's out
there now, it's a new thing, because look, when James Cameron does
a movie, when he does anavatall, when Steven Spielberg goes and does
a new film, there's a certainlevel of creativity and magic that has to
(16:10):
be involved with that. So Ilook at it like when l COOJ does
an album. There has to bea certain level of magic and creativity associated
with that, and it has tobe new in that way. It can't
just be me trying to sound likesomething that's out there, and it can't
be me trying to recapture a soundthat I did many years ago. It
has to be a new thing.And I think we've accomplished that. Wow,
you know what I'm saying. Can'twait for it, man, Yeah,
(16:33):
shoot it to me early. That'dbe amazing. That would be amazing
thing for him. Take it fromsaying right now. September three, what's
up, Jackie? What was thefastest song that you've ever written? Oh?
So many? I mean so many? Oh yeah, so many.
(16:57):
That depends on the song and theinspiration. Like I wrote doing it super
quick, I wrote I wrote up, I need Love very fast. I
wrote UM, I I wrote I'mbad you know, driving in a car,
I wrote, UM, just rememberedit. I wrote so many songs
so quick, A lot of them, A lot of them. Yeah,
there's a few albums of student songson my new album that The Power of
(17:18):
God. I wrote really really quick, streaming Consciousness. On the Mama album
Mama Sidnock You Out, I wrotereally fast. There's a lot of them,
A lot of them. Is therelike a song on the album that,
like, you know, took time, and you know that was more
challenging because you wanted to get itright. Um, like a song like
Rock the Bells, but not becauseof the writing, more because of the
(17:38):
production and the song itself and whatit what it turned out to beat.
That was a little more challenging becauseI didn't know I had. I had
one idea for Rock the Bells,and then Rick Rubin back then, you
know, he took that, nottook, but the idea that I wanted
to do for Rock the Bells.He actually did Peter Piper with run DMC
(18:00):
and when they when when they didthe Peter Pipers on those Mardy Girl bells
is what I was originally gonna usefor Rock the Bells. So then I
had to rethink how to do Rockthe Bell. I'm like, Yo,
Rick, why you why do youuse that? I don't worry about it.
Be fun. I'm like, whatare you talking about? Rock the
bell? Don't do it like thatwas the point. Like, but I
like, I don't my man.What were we doing? Yeah? What
are you doing? But we cameup with it. I did original.
(18:22):
I didn't like that one. Thenwe did another one and it was perfect.
Yeah, So so there's been somechallenging once. To Yo, those
early Deaf Jam touring days must havebeen crazy. Run dmcl COO J Beastie
boys like Yo, and it musthave been. It was why. It
was as wild as you wanted tobe man, man, Oh yeah,
it was everything you love. Imean, if I mentioned something crazy it
was, that depends on what itis. It was, Yo, It
(18:45):
was definitely um, a lot offun, a lot of energy. That
The thing that was the most importantabout it is that we really were out
there for the love of hip hop, and out there for the love of
the fans, and really out therefor the love of the experience. There
was no um it was. Iwasn't there. I look, I wanted
to make money, don't get mewrong, but it wasn't like I was
(19:07):
doing a trade off. In otherwords, it wasn't like I was out
there and I was sacrificing for themoney. I was out there doing what
I love and then some money andsuccess followed that. So it was really
all about the fans. Ultimately,it's about the fans, man, It's
about It's about the fans, man, It's about It's about the fans,
you know what I'm saying. It'sabout the fans. Like they gotta know
(19:30):
you care. They gotta know that, you know, Like I will never
be too good for the fans.I'll never be, you know, too
good to go to a radio stationand talk to people like you know,
a lot of people wouldn't expect meto do things like this, you know
what I mean, Like they wouldsay, oh, you're doing radios Mann,
we appreciate you, like I wouldnever will like not acknowledge, you
(19:52):
know, where I came from asan artist, because that's what keeps me
in spite. When I talk toyou guys and listen to you, that
keeps me in spite. Know,that makes me in spire, That makes
me want to walk away and sayyo, okay cool. It puts things
in perspective for me energy exchange exactlyexactly, you know what I'm saying.
So you know coming up right.You got money early, and I'm sure
(20:14):
you wild out right. Did youbuy anything crazy? Did you buy a
tiger? Well, I had apanther on my cover, so I didn't
buy one, but I definitely rentedone. I rented a panther, you
know what. I actually rent ittoo. I rent it too because the
first one we was we turned onthe smoke machines and he went nuts.
Yeah, because we didn't realize theinstinct. So we talked we was gonna
(20:34):
do it with the smoke. Hesaw that smoke start jumping up in the
wall. He felt like he wasjust he thought it was a fire.
Oh yeah, panther rental car.I don't. I don't remember. Shows
you how smart I am. Probablymore. It was probably more than it
should have been. I'll tell youthat about Let me get let me get
a couple of panthers. Yeah,yeah, but no, you you splurred.
(20:56):
You gotta go definitely, Yeah,I had listen. I did go
crazy. I bought my mother's house. I stayed in my room and I
had ten cars outside. I stayedin my grandmother's house in my same room.
I had ten cars outside and boughtmy mother when I was too young
to leave. Remember, I startedprofessionally recording a sixteen. We started death
(21:17):
Gym. When we started Deaf Gam, I was sixteen years old, you
know what I'm saying. So Ihad records out seventeen eighteen nineteen. I
got ten cars outside, like Iain't want to leave home. Where I'm
going? Yeah, exactly where amI going? My love is here.
Yeah, I'm good. I'm inthe house. But I got cars,
top dressing full of money. I'mtalking crazy. You know I'm bringing You
know, I might bring a younglady downstairs, you know for some or
(21:41):
nerves and um and um. Youknow my grandmother been like I ain't now
full now and you know that.You know, I know what's happening to
I know everything. You don't getout of here with dad. So when
(22:02):
did you move out of Grandma's house? I moved out around like I bought
a house. Well, I firstI moved into a condo in Jamaica,
says I must have been about Imust have like on an all. First
of all, I was on theroad a lot. So even though I
lived there. I was on theroad a lot, right, so I'm
going home, I'm in my room, but I'm on the road a lot.
So when I finally got my spot, it's probably like nineteen twenty,
(22:22):
like like eighteen nineteen, because Ibought my mother a house when I was
seventeen. Yeah yeah, right,so so maybe about nineteen twenty, like
I had a condo, but Iwas on the road. And then when
I was like I think I waslike eight, like nineteen or something,
I bought a house for myself.Wow. A regular job, no,
No, the only not, tobe honest, all I've ever done is
hip hop. I had one.I had one little. I had like
(22:47):
a two week stint as a paperboywhen I was fourteen. Yeah, that
was it, and I you know, the guy had the guy. First
of all, it was two momentsthat happened that was crazy. First of
all, I was I was onfifty semestreet selling papers and a cab driver
drove by. He cracked his windowlike three four inches. Uh you know,
I handed it on paper and hedrove off the papers like twenty five
(23:08):
cent a quarter. I'm like,I saw laughing. I'm like, yo,
you're robbing little kids. I'm thinkingabout, say you're robbing I started
laughing. I'm out here like,yo, he's robbing little kids for newspapers.
They're like really, like really it'slike that. That to me was
like bananas. Like even as akid, I'm like, yo, he's
literally robbing little kids for newspapers.Be like that's crazy to me. Like
(23:30):
that was the first thing. Thenthe second. The second thing is the
guy who ran up the newspaper deliveryservice or whatever. He gave me an
envelope that first week or that secondweek, and they had like two dollars
and twenty six cent in it,and I opened it up and I was
like I went after he left,I was like, oh, yeah,
thank you, Dare. Yeah.I went up the block. I threw
all the papers in the sewer.I said, ye ain't doing this,
(23:51):
You're not doing it. Yeah.I couldn't remember the addresses. I was
like confused. I'm like, I'mgoing, Yo, I'm going like I'm
going two blocks up to a highI'm going four blocks across town to another
house that I'm reading the next address, it's two blocks. It's four blocks
back where I just came from.Yo, Like the way he's yeah,
yeah, I ain't got Google Match. It's nasty. It was nasty,
(24:12):
y'all. I was nasty. Iwas nasty with that. Like it was
just like I couldn't get my mindaround them addresses. He didn't hand them
to be organized. I wasn't organizingthis ship. I wasn't interested in organizing
that ship. I was listening tohip hop. So I just said,
yo, that was it. Sothat was the only thing. But no,
I never went to like you know, like I ain't going to no
(24:32):
proms. You know what I'm saying. I never I never experienced none of
that. Yeah, none of thatschool trip, none of that fields,
none, none of that. Wellwhen I maybe in in junior high,
in grade school, yeah, ingrade school. But you know he got
you know, like when we started, Jeff jam when I left, I
dropped down the ninth grade. Wow, you know what I'm saying. I
left school in the ninth grade andand you know in November, right,
(24:59):
you know, so just to beclear, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know, I did a Theyhad a we had a shop class,
and I convinced man Bimmy could convincedthem to let me do a show in
shop class, and I went anddid my song I need to Beat in
shop class and I left out theback of the school. I never came
back. And I used to drive, Yeah, and I used to during
winter break. I was out.I was out, yea. I used
(25:22):
to walk through the hallways with mytwelve inch vinyl in my hand. And
you know, people I saw usmy record. They used to tell me
I was lying and all that.Wow yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,
real with that, like do youalways carry that? I still have something
to prove you? Do you goback to that or have we healed from
Well, it's more about having somethingto contribute, you know. I'm not
really trying to what I do wantto prove. Yes, I have one
(25:45):
thing I want to prove. Iwant to prove that I want to show
people that you can have a long, impactful and dynamic hip hop career where
you you make new music at differentstages and it's impactful. That's something I
don't want to prove to people.And I believe with my new record,
I'll be able to show people that. That's something I want to show people
because why why is that important?It's important because it'll allow kids to understand
(26:10):
that as artists, they can havea long term career. You don't have
to be a flash in the pan. You don't have to start talking about
retiring, because with that, reallywhen you're really just nervous about being able
to continue to be successful, soyou start floating these ideas out about retirement.
You're not an athlete. Okay,you don't have to retire at a
certain age. You can keep going. As long as you stay curious in
(26:34):
your mind, and you stay innovative, and you stay sharp, you could
keep doing what you're doing. Andso I just want to show people that
we can do this like the sameway. Mick Jagger did this, the
same way. Michael Jackson did ithis entire life, the way the same
way so many greats did it.James Brown did it his entire life.
Barbara streisand has been doing it herentire life, Frank Frank Sinatra did it
(26:55):
his entire life. You don't haveto This idea that somehow I have to
pretend to be a kid is unfairto the kids and unfair to me because
that's not giving them an opportunity tosee the next level. My job is
to show you the next level.I'm not I'm not trying to pretend that
I'm to go to guy for youand your friends. What I'm saying is
(27:17):
check check unk out, check himout, and let me show you what
it can be. I'm here toshow you where you can go. I'm
not here to pretend that I'm yourfriend that has one album and a single
out and we're streaming and you know, we're doing the you know, you
know what I mean, the bankhad bounced from back in the days.
You know what I'm saying, Like, my job is like to show you
what's possible, and that's the reasonwhy I'm doing all of this, you
(27:38):
know what I mean. Yeah,man, you don't have to have a
shelf life. No you don't,because because it's creativity. It's art.
You know what I'm saying. It'sart, and that's right. It's art.
And as an artist and as aas a as a hip hop artist
and it you we should be ableto continue and do great work. The
key though, is that you can'tbe lazy, and you have to care
(28:02):
about the fans and you have toreally take the time and be thoughtful and
creative when you put things together forthe fans. You know what I mean,
like do that. But other thanthat, there's no reason why ll
cool J can't put out a recordthat's credible, that's impactful, that people
love and enjoy. There's no reasonfor me not to Why why why?
(28:22):
You like, you can't be afraidof the challenge of continuing to create.
And I think a lot of peopleare responding to the fear. That's why
they talk all that retirement and allthat, because they're they're afraid, you
know, and I'm not gifing serveman, serve as long as there you
go, there you go. Ifyou said it better than me, if
you have a gift serve, yeah, that's your gift serve. Well you
(28:47):
did. Yeah, let me rushand get my alm out because I know
you're gonna be You're gonna be aproblem. Yeah, yeah, you're gonna
be a problem. Yeah, letme let me rush and get this out.
I signed to clean the toilets.What I'm saying, how like important
the fans are to you? Becauseyou keep mentioning the fans, And I
feel like a lot of this likenew generation, they just kind of like,
(29:08):
well it's not as important to them. Yeah, I just I just
know because you know, first ofall I started off as as a super
fan, an ultimate fan, youknow what I'm saying. And then secondly,
like the fans, that's the partthat's the most fulfilling for me,
is to give you a new work, give you a piece of art,
(29:30):
put together a tour, put togethera show, put together a concert,
do something on TV, and yourespond like me being able to go to
the iHeart Radio Awards. And thendo you know more of an a cappella
thing for a whole bunch of forfor a majority audience, for a lot
of people who know me for otherthings other than the music. They know
me. They may recognize me hereand there, but they may not have
(29:52):
experienced certain things. It's like knowingJordan for the Sneakers, but not for
his game, you know what Imean. So so for a lot of
them, like even your listeners rightnow, someone them absolutely know me.
Others might be like it's like Jordan'sSneakers instead of knowing them for the game.
So tips as a musician though,as a hip hop artist, you
get the chance to play for them. You don't have to like sit on
(30:14):
the bench. You can actually playfor them and they can experience you.
So that's what I want to do. That's why the fans so for me.
The fans are super import Hey checkget Rich from the Cruise Show.
Thanks for listening to The Cruise Showpodcast. To make sure to subscribe and
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