LL Cool J Details First Album In 11 Years: “I Wasn’t Trying To Do Trendy”

LL Cool J is prepared to release his first new album in 11 years, but not without purpose.

The veteran rapper is set to drop The FORCE on Sept. 6, and according to a new interview, the music has come a long way. Detailing how he locked in the past two years with writing, rapping, and producing, the Queens representative made several changes along the way.

“I just felt like the tracks that this producer was giving me were better than the songs that I was writing,” the 56-year-old explained to the Associated Press. He continued to detail how he was visited by the late Phife Dawg in a dream adding, “He told me, ‘Yo, man, that new music you’re working on is great, man.’ But he had a look on his face like a Cheshire cat, like he was lying to me.”

Last year during a conversation on Way Up With Angela Yee, LL COOL J revealed the producer before Q-Tip to be Dr. Dre, detailing how they created 30-40 separate tracks and explaining, “What Dre was bringing to the table was super dope — but I felt like the writing, what I was bringing to these songs didn’t feel strong enough to me.”

From there, LL Cool J decided to change the pace and call Q-Tip, who produced all 14 tracks on the finalized work. This was not the only update in the musician’s process, as he explained to AP his practice of “going back to the drawing board and learning how to rap again … making sure I was really inspired by the things I was saying. That’s why there isn’t a lot of fluff on this album.”

He continued, “The LeBrons, the Stephs, the Jordans, and the Kobes, they all go back to the drawing board, they always try to make themselves better,” adding, “I wasn’t trying to do trendy, and I wasn’t trying to recapture anything I did before.”

The FORCE features Snoop Dogg, Saweetie, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Eminem, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., and more.

“The one thing I wanted to do is, I wanted to meet people where I’m at now. I wasn’t trying to be preachy,” elaborated the Grammy-winning rapper to AP.

“I’m not trying to tell people necessarily how to live. I did want to express with people where I’m at artistically at this point in my life and give them that. And then they can take that and do whatever they want with it.”

View LL Cool J’s The FORCE tracklist below.

1. Spirit of Cyrus (Featuring Snoop Dogg)
2. The FORCE
3. Saturday Night Special (Featuring Rick Ross and Fat Joe)
4. Black Code Suite (Featuring Sona Jobarteh)
5. Passion
6. Proclivities (Featuring Saweetie)
7. Post Modern
8. 30 Decembers
9. Runnit Back
10. Huey In Da Chair (Featuring Busta Rhymes)
11. Basquiat Energy
12. Praise Him (Featuring Nas)
13. Murdergram Deux (Featuring Eminem)
14. The Vow (Featuring Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D., and Don Pablito)