Award-winning American rapper, LL Cool J is returning to the music industry with a full-length studio album after years of dropping the microphone.
Dubbed ‘FORCE’, the forthcoming album is scheduled to be released on the 6th of September 2024 via Def Jam Recordings and Virgin Music Group.
Fans and music lovers eagerly await the release as it has been a long time since LL Cool J released a full project. Anticipation is building among fans following the unveiling of the tracklist and features of the album.
Speaking on his forthcoming fourteenth release in an interview with the Associated Press, LL said he “tinkered around” in the studio, over the past few years he felt more inspired before hitting a wall with the producer he was working with on new music.
“I just felt like the tracks that this producer was giving me were better than the songs I wrote,” he said.
The rapper also spoke about his encounter with late A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ) member Phife Dawg in a dream. According to him, he got an inspirational message from beyond in the dream.
“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.” he said while narrating the dream.
The encounter with the late Phife inspired LL to tap ATCQ fellow rapper Q-Tip who produced the entire album and made its beats. Being a long time, LL said he had to brush up on his mic technique.
He said the process required “going back to the drawing board and learning how to rap again. making sure I was inspired by the things I was saying. That’s why there isn’t a lot of fluff on this album. The LeBrons, the Stephs, the Jordans and the Kobes, all go back to the drawing board, they always try to make themselves better. I wasn’t trying to do trendy, and I wasn’t trying to recapture anything I did before.”
The tracklist of the 14-track project was unveiled in July. Collaborations feature artists such as Snoop Dogg (“Spirit of Cyrus”), Rick Ross and Fat Joe (“Saturday Night Special”), Sona Jobarteh (“Black Code Suite”), Saweetie (“Proclivities”), Busta Rhymes (“Huey in Da Chair”), Nas (“Praise Him”), Eminem (“Murdergram Deux”) and Mad Squablz, J-S.A.N.D. and Don Pablito (“The Vow”).
‘FORCE’ explores “themes like racial injustice, law enforcement abuses, isolation and observations brought on by the pandemic, legacy, and musings on LL’s place in the canon, while remaining vital, fun, and some of LL’s most urgent lyrical work.” according to a press statement.
