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INTERVIEW BY RICHARD SCURTI
 LL COOL J IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF STAYING POWER. HE ENTERED THE GAME AT AGE 15 WITH A POLYSYLLABIC FLOW, BRASH COCKINESS, AND SEX APPEAL BEYOND HIS YEARS, AND HE HASN’T BEEN OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT SINCE. SMOOTH RAPPED WITH UNCLE L ABOUT HOW HE GOT TO WHERE HE IS TODAY AND WHAT MAKES HIM “THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME.”
Your career has outlasted those of almost all of your contemporaries. How do you account for your longevity?
A lot of times in life, you need to go through change, and change is good because it keeps you focused. I want to be the very best there is out there. I like what I’m doing, and I just try to stay positive with everything, refusing to quit. I don’t care what it is that I’m doing; I just want to enjoy myself and have fun with it, whether I’m putting out my latest album or starring in a movie with Samuel L. Jackson.
You seem to get inspired by some of the feuds you’ve had with other rappers like Kool Moe Dee and Canibus, and even with movie stars
like Jamie Foxx. Why do you think that is?
That’s mostly stuff that goes back to the rap battles. You want to prove that you’re the best there is, so you step to someone just to see who’s better. There are no hard feelings or anything like that. You just want to know who’s the very best, so I don’t have any hard feelings toward anybody.
You’ve been in a lot of movies over the years, but you got your start in Krush Groove.
Tell us a little about that.
Well, the movie wasn’t even about me or anything. I didn’t even have a real role in it. I was only in maybe 90 seconds of it. I knew they were filming it, and I just hung around Russell and Run-DMC. I loved being there, so I talked to Russell and got a little bit part in it. A lot of people say that I stole the show.
In the early 90’s, you moved on to Hollywood films like The Hard Way (with James Woods and Michael J. Fox) before you got your first starring role in Out of Sync. How was that experience
for you?
I got started doing small parts, and to work alongside those guys who were already established actors was a real challenge. I learned a lot just by being on the set with them. It really helped set me up for starring in Out of Sync, which was the first time I had to carry a picture.
Continued in Issue #24
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