Tag: LL Cool J (1-9 of 9)

Apr 12 2013 10:01 AM ET

LL Cool J on 'Accidental Racist': 'The song wasn't perfect' -- VIDEO

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Image Credit: Jerod Harris/ACMA2013/Getty Images

Now that Brad Paisley has taken his turn trying to defend the batty lyrics to “Accidental Racist,” it’s time for LL Cool J to make his defense.

Last night on The Tonight Show, LL addressed the conversations over the song from Paisley’s new album Wheelhouse, which contains multiple lyrics that some judged insensitive to the actual struggles against racism. Paisley wanted credit for starting a conversation about difficult issues, while LL took a different approach.

“I feel good,” the rapper told Jay Leno when asked about the Internet fervor over the tune. “The song wasn’t perfect. You can’t fit 300 or 400 years of history into a three or four minute song.”

He continued, somewhat turning on the song. READ FULL STORY »

Apr 8 2013 07:13 PM ET

Brad Paisley and LL Cool J's 'Accidental Racist': Here's what people are tweeting

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Image Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images

As you’ve probably heard by now, Brad Paisley and LL Cool J released a controversial duet called “Accidental Racist,” a song that, among other things, compares do-rags to confederate flags.

EW spoke to Paisley earlier today about the song and the uproar it has caused (you can read that post here). The country singer admitted,  ”It’s such a complicated issue.” Indeed, it is! And Twitter, where complicated issues go to get made fun of, has reacted swiftly to the song.

Here’s a roundup of what a selection of people (comedians, musicians, writers, and countrymen) are tweeting about Paisley and LL’s “Accidental Racist”:

READ FULL STORY »

Apr 8 2013 03:43 PM ET

Brad Paisley talks about his LL Cool J duet 'Accidental Racist'

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Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Today, the internet is abuzz over a provocative new track from Brad Paisley and LL Cool J (yes, like Nelly and Tim McGraw before them, they recorded a duet) called “Accidental Racist,” which appears on Paisley’s ninth studio album Wheelhouse, available tomorrow.

The song covers Paisley’s struggle to deal with race issues as a white man in the South, who feels like people are “walking on eggshells” whenever the subject comes up. The lyrics describe him (or at least the character he’s playing) walking into a coffee shop wearing a shirt that has a confederate flag on it. Paisley sings, “[I'm] just a proud rebel son with an ‘ol can of worms/Lookin’ like I got a lot to learn.” LL Cool J eventually answers Paisley’s verse with a rap of his own. “If you don’t judge my do-rag… I won’t judge your red flag,” the recent Grammy host says. “If you don’t judge my gold chains… I’ll forget the iron chains,” he continues.

When the earnestly delivered song floated through the EW office a few weeks ago, we knew it was destined to cause a ruckus. So we asked Paisley to share his motivation for recording “Accidental Racist” as part of print-edition feature on the stories behind some of his biggest career hits. An online version of that article was supposed to run tomorrow, but since everyone is talking about “Accidental Racist” now, the song merited its own post.

Here’s Paisley (with very light edits, just for clarity) on why he made “Accidental Racist”:

“At this point, after all these albums and all these hits, I have no interest in phoning it in, and I think that [the song] comes from an honest place in both cases, and that’s why it’s on there and why I’m so proud of it. This isn’t a stunt. This isn’t something that I just came up with just to be sort of shocking or anything like that. I knew it would be, but I’m sort of doing it in spite of that, really. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 11 2013 12:18 PM ET

Beyonce to headline 2013 Essence Festival

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Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Get out your freakum dress:  Beyoncé is going on tour, and she’s just added a special stop.

Over the July 4 holiday, Bey will be headlining one night at the 19th annual ESSENCE Festival taking place in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where she performed her halftime show last week.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Beyoncé back to the 2013 ESSENCE Festival line-up. She is truly the ultimate ESSENCE woman,” said Essence Communications President Michelle Ebanks in a release. “If you missed her tour de force in New Orleans, please join us this Fourth of July weekend so that you can experience it live for yourself at the ESSENCE Festival. The ESSENCE Festival features the best in music, culture, arts and entertainment—all of which Beyoncé captures through her extraordinary gifts.”

Other acts at the festival include Keyshia Cole, LL Cool J, Brandy and more.

Read more:
Grammys 2013: Best/Worst Style
Grammys 2013: See the Stars Mingle
 Grammys 2013: Red Carpet Style

Feb 10 2013 01:00 PM ET

LL Cool J celebrates Grammy hosting gig at dinner

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LL Cool J and wife Simone Smith. Image credit: David Livingston/Getty Images

LL Cool J spent the night before the Grammy Awards sipping Hennessy with some of his famous friends.

The 45-year-old rapper-actor and returning Grammy host was the guest of honor Saturday at a private dinner sponsored by the liquor brand. Celebrities such as Mark Cuban, Michael Bolton, Neil Patrick Harris, Mark Burnett, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Gene Simmons were among those who raised a glass when LL Cool J proposed a toast to “success in every form.”
Feb 2 2012 04:06 PM ET

New Grammys promo finally reveals something Taylor Swift isn't good at

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Unless something in her life eventually goes horribly awry, it is unlikely that Taylor Swift will ever release a rap album.

Still, should the day ever come when she parlays her tag-team with T-Pain, her collaboration with T.I., and her acoustic take on “Lose Yourself” into a full-fledged hip-hop diva career, she should probably leave the beatboxing up to the professionals.

In a just-released promo for the Grammy Awards (which air next Sunday, Feb. 12), host LL Cool J and performer-nominee Swift are hanging out around a huge novelty award — you know, like they always do.

LL busts into some old-school beatboxing, but when Swift jumps in to add some mouth scratches and throat samples, things get goofy pretty fast (which, to her credit, she clearly realizes). Check it out below. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 28 2010 11:25 AM ET

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2011 nominees include Beastie Boys, Bon Jovi, LL Cool J: Who got left out?

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bon-jovi-beatie-boys-summersImage Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage.com; Ebet Roberts Redferns/Getty Images; Lester Cohen/Wireimage.comThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just announced its latest class of nominees via press release. The list of 15 artists covers a broad range of eras and sounds, from rock (Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi) to pop (Neil Diamond, Chic, Donna Summer) to folk (Donovan) to hip-hop (Beastie Boys, LL Cool J) and more. Inductees will be announced in December and honored at a ceremony next March.

As always, plenty of eligible acts didn’t make this first round. Last week names like Rush, T. Rex, the Smiths, Joan Jett, and KISS came up as potential nominees; none of them got the nod this time. (UPDATE: Rush documentary director responds to Hall of Fame snub: “It’s unfortunate”)

Take a look at the full list of this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees after the jump. Then let us know who you think the most egregious omissions are. Bear in mind that eligible artists must have debuted in 1985 or earlier. And, hey, if there’s anyone you’re glad the Hall did nominate — personally, I was psyched to see Chic, Darlene Love, and the Beastie Boys on the list — let us know about that, too. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 15 2010 08:40 PM ET

Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J play new Halo game, act like children

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halo-reach-reviewImage Credit: MicrosoftHalo: Reach, the latest iteration in the Halo franchise, was released yesterday, and some surprising inclusions to the legions of nerds already playing online are hip-hop artists Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J.

The two filmed a Funnyordie.com video of their game along with Wayne Newton — a.k.a. Mr. Las Vegas — and Chuck actor Zachary Levi, which provided at least one major revelation: Celebrities and seminal gangster rappers are just as infantile while playing video games as the rest of us.

Although Snoop seems to be the better player (he’s got the build of a gamer, after all), LL Cool J utters what probably should have been the tagline of the game: “Halo: Reach: You can’t ‘Reach’ me, baby.” Snoop, who plays under the handle “thedoggfather,”pays him back with an obscene in-game celebratory gesture. Way to keep it classy, Snoop.

Check out their gaming skills in the semi-NSFW video after the jump. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 31 2010 02:52 PM ET

Sarah Palin-hosted show won't include LL Cool J, because he says so

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palin-ll-cool-jImage Credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images; Bob Charlotte/PR PhotosBeing an upstanding citizen of the hip-hop community and being a member of the Republican party are two things that just don’t jibe. So yesterday (March 30) when Fox News announced that actor and veteran rapper LL Cool J would be on the Sarah Palin-hosted debut episode of Real American Stories this Thursday, I knew something fishy was up.

Sure enough, the Los Angeles Times has reported the man loved by ladies will not be on the show, nor did he ever plan on doing so. As the story goes, Fox News has an interview from 2008 LL gave for the network’s online project and planned to re-purpose it because his from-nothing-to-something story echoes the show’s theme.

Cool J, whose real name is James Todd Smith, immediately took to his Twitter page to clean up the mess.

“Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else and are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palin’s Show,” he tweeted.  “WOW.”

LL wasn’t available to comment, but his rep did pass along this statement: “Contrary to what was reported, LL Cool J was never scheduled to be a guest on Real American Stories with Sarah Palin this week.  The show had planned to use an interview from 2008 that was being re-purposed without LL’s permission.  This statement is not a reflection of any feelings LL has toward Fox News or Ms. Palin, whom he has never met, rather a clarification of what we have seen published in the media.”

The Times quoted a spokeswoman for the network who said, “Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith’s interview fit that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career.”

So that’s that. What do you guys think? Was Mrs. Alaska trying to pull the wool over our eyes? Or was this a just simple misunderstanding? By the way, did you catch that little jab at the end? The line about “his fledgling acting career”? As one of the leads on CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles and an actor for more than a decade, LL’s far from being a rookie. Cheap shot alert!

Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Lady Gaga announces new album details: ‘It is the anthem for our generation’
New Christina Aguilera, ‘Not Myself Tonight’: Listen and weigh in here!
Usher goes ‘OMG’ with will.i.am in new video: Watch it here
Justin Bieber goes to heaven in ‘Never Let You Go’ video: Watch it here

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