Jump to content
JJFP reunite for 50 years of Hip Hop December 10 ×
Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince Forum

LL Cool J Throws Away Retirement Talk, Reveals Comeback Album Plans


bigted

Recommended Posts

Well the way that I see it, I think LL's "Exit 13" album is an underappreciated album like "14 Shots To The Dome" and I think that he's due to comeback strong like he did when he came out with "Mr. Smith", you can never count him out, I found this article just now on SOHH.com check it, I'm ready for it:

Rap veteran LL Cool J recently announced his intention to drop a follow-up to his "final" 2008 release, Exit 13.

The rap pioneer said he's not going to rush the untitled record.

"I will take my time, and if it takes two more years, it will take two more years," he said in an interview. "But it will be relevant for who I am at this point in my life as a human being. And those who want to hear it will be able to live with it and love it and those who can't appreciate it because it doesn't sound 'pop' enough, can absolutely ignore it. And I'm comfortable with that." (Hip Hop N More)
Last July, LL hinted at possibly making a return to the rap game.

"Two things, first of all, making albums is a way of expressing my creativity," LL explained. "So I can express my creativity through business. I can express my creativity through my clothing line. I can express my creativity through the different ventures I have. I still wanna do live music and I still do live concerts so people will see me on tour. I'm just not running around looking for a record deal like 'Please listen to my demo.' [laughs] Like right now, that's not what I want to do right now." ("The View")
His last album, Exit 13, dropped in 2008 and marked his final release under Def Jam.

The album title refers to the fact that this is LL's 13th album on Def Jam and the last on his contract. It's been a rocky relationship, with LL questioning some of Jay-Z's managerial decisions and claiming the label didn't properly promote some of his albums, but he says things are better now. "We're back on the same page, it feels great," says the MC, who has said he's glad that Jay-Z is no longer running the label. "It's my last record on the contract." (Rolling Stone)
LL previously spoke with SOHH about the project's overall feel and how much of an impact 50 Cent had on the release.

"50 is not executive producing the whole album be we did a whole album together and I used like four or five songs," he explained. "I didn't want to be '51 Cent.' I want to make sure that I was giving them L. God knows that the last thing I needed to do is wait 'til my 13th album and play son-son and all that." (SOHH)
No further details have been revealed as of now.

Edited by bigted
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I already announced a couple months ago that he was working on a new album. I kept the faith even when he originally said he was retiring. I like that he's taking his time. I though Exit 13 was an okay album....but I also thought it was his worst. When I burned a copy for the car I probably only put a half of the trax on it at the most....then filled the rest of the 80 minutes up with recent singles and favorites. Why he may have been more aggressive on Exit 13, I think he took some steps backwards lyrically than the previous 3 albums.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If "Exit 13" is LL's worst album then he does have to be the G.O.A.T. 'cause there hasn't been that many mcs to make albums on that level, especially in recent times, artists forgot the art of how to make complete albums since they only do mixtapes, that "Return Of The GOAT" mixtape that LL did is superior as well so that shows you he could be even more versatile and beat todays rappers at their game.... "Exit 13"'s my favorite album since 2008 by anybody, it's rarely left the CD player since that time just like after "G.O.A.T." came out, it should've gone platinum and got a grammy award but there's been less people saying that he went soft since he released it so it did the purpose he intended to do you could say, he knows that he has enough hits already so like he said he's not trying to please the pop audience he's just trying to keep his respect so I think this next album could have the potential to be even better, he usually releases music every 2 years and that's the reason why it's so great, it's not that long of a wait but it's long enough where he could come out with quality... On another note lately I've been discovering more of his unreleased material over on Youtube, if he puts some of those tracks out on CD in between the wait of this new album that'd earn back more respect as well 'cause a lot of his underground stuff is that raw hip hop that the true heads always respected him for, I'm still dying to find some of those tracks he said he worked with Rick Rubin during the "10" era...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I'm with u on that. I like that each of LL's album are different and have their own vibe that separates them from each other. That means that each person is gonna have a different favorite. My Exit 13 comment is strongly based off of some of the beats being so commercial. I didn't feel they were an extension of LL...I felt they were radio-ready beats that LL blessed with his mic skills. I didn't feel that that the production was honest to what LL does. It's the 1st album he's done that I've every felt that way. Overall, lyrically I don't feel he slipped. I just remember that the lyrics and subject matter on Exit 13 didn't always sit as well with me as all of his other albums. I believe that if proper Hip-Hop producers got their hands on the vocal tracks, they could rework Exit 13 to be a lot better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even like I said many times with Will's "Lost & Found", there shoulda been more Jazzy than Freshman and it'd sounded a lil' bit better, LL should do more work with Marley and Rubin on the next album, Rakim should work with Eric B. again, that's why I'm excited about the new KRS album with Premo 'cause besides the "Hip Hop Lives" he did in recent years with Marley the production on his last few albums dragged down some of his lyrics, that's sorta been the problem for why some of the veterans ain't as popular as they used to be they need the production to stand out like their earlier classics...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...